Today I, jointly with German Interior Minister Faeser, convened Calais Group partners; Belgium, France, and The Netherlands, in London, in the presence of the European Commission and its agencies, Frontex and Europol to deliver real and tangible results on the fight against the dangerous people smuggling networks that threaten our collective border security.

At this important forum, all Calais Group partners agreed to jointly deliver the Calais Group Priority Plan in 2025. This plan is testament to our shared commitment to dismantle the people smuggling networks – it builds on our excellent joint working through existing structures and refocuses shared priorities to bring to justice those that undermine our border security.

The Priority Plan contains actions which will deliver enhanced cooperation in 2025, taking a whole of route approach to tackle the end-to-end criminality of migrant smuggling networks who continue to deploy more dangerous tactics, putting lives at risk.

The key areas of collaboration include:

- Coordinating preventative communications to deter irregular migrants from paying Organised Crime Groups (OCGs) to facilitate dangerous journeys.

- Strengthening our ability to work together via Europol to enhance targeting and disruption of prominent OCGs and their criminal supply chains through deepening intelligence and information sharing and ensuring there are effective and robust legislative frameworks criminalising the small boat supply chain with a focus on the evolving tactics and targeting the end-to-end criminality of the Kurdish/Iraqi OCGs involved in the smuggling of migrants into and across Europe.

- Tackling the use of social media by OCG’s to recruit and advertise dangerous journeys across Europe and the Channel to migrants.

- Targeting the illicit finance models of migrant smuggling networks to better target preventative, investigation and disruption efforts to take action on criminal finances and ensure that migrant smuggling is not a viable or profitable business.

- Enabling reciprocal exchange of the most pertinent information relating to migration flows and border security issues to better understand and respond to emerging trends and migrant flows.

It demonstrates the commitment of near neighbour partners to break the business model of migrant smuggling networks and reaffirms our resolve to use every tool available to ensure these criminals are brought to justice.

Alongside this crucial meeting, the Government is also today publishing a statement on Delivering Border Security, setting out our approach to establishing the Border Security Command, tackling organised immigration crime and improving the UK’s border security. The new Border Security Command will lead and drive forward the required step change in the UK’s approach to border security, including our international response.

Organised immigration crime is a global threat, with no respect for national boundaries. Tackling it requires working closely with international partners. The Border Security Command is scaling up efforts with key near neighbour partners and the EU, through the Calais Group to disrupt the people smuggling trade and the criminal gangs that profit from it.

Copies of the Calais Group Priority Plan and the Delivering Border Security Statement will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses and will also be published on GOV.UK later this afternoon.

https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wms/?id=2024-12-10.hcws293.0