The UK's border security chief has described the continuing number of Channel crossings as "frustrating" but insists efforts to dismantle smuggling networks will succeed with time. Border Security Commander Martin Hewitt told MPs on Thursday that tackling the criminal gangs was never going to be quick, rejecting suggestions it was a "fool's errand".
Speaking to the Commons' Home Affairs Committee, Hewitt said he was convinced the government's plan would work. "I more than anybody, find the fact that the numbers are where they are frustrating and really challenging, and this issue could not be more high profile," he said. "But I am convinced that the plan, the sort of cross spectrum plan that we have in place, is a plan that will deliver, but we need to we need to keep pushing and delivering that plan."
Record crossing numbers continue
More than 36,000 people have made the dangerous Channel journey so far this year, representing an increase of around a third compared to the same period in 2024. The Border Security Command is coordinating a cross-government response but Hewitt warned results would not come quickly.
He emphasised that smuggling represents "an established criminality" and "an incredibly profitable criminality" with growing numbers of potential migrants. "I very firmly believe that there isn't one thing, or one or two things that will provide the answer," Hewitt told the committee.
Smuggling tactics force new approaches
Officials believe their interventions are beginning to force smugglers to change their methods for getting people across the Channel. Hewitt pointed to shifts in smuggling tactics as evidence that enforcement efforts are having some impact, though he stressed progress would take time.
France has agreed to review its maritime rules to allow officers to intervene in water, responding to smugglers' use of "taxi boats" where migrants board vessels already at sea rather than from beaches. Hewitt admitted it was "frustrating" that implementing this tactic had taken so long and said he had recently visited France to press the importance of tackling taxi boats.
Push and pull factors beyond control
The border security chief acknowledged that officials cannot stop "push factors" such as conflict and repressive regimes, nor "pull factors" like English language and diaspora communities in the UK. However, he stressed the importance of ensuring Britain's asylum system does not make the country more attractive than other destinations.
"What we absolutely have to do, I think, is ensure that there is nothing, there is as little as possible in our systems and our asylum systems that is making this particular place more attractive for someone than somewhere else," he said.
Digital ID cards show promise
Hewitt expressed support for the government's proposed digital ID cards to tackle illegal working and deter migrants. "There is no doubt that having an ability to make it significantly harder for somebody to work illegally is absolutely key," he said, describing the digital ID concept as having "potential advantage".
He noted that a consultation process would begin to determine how the digital ID system could add value to current enforcement efforts. The border chief emphasised that making illegal work significantly harder remained crucial to the overall strategy.
Sources used: "PA Media" Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
