“I know that people want this to happen faster,” Powell told the BBC. “We are taking those steps, it is working.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: “Keir Starmer’s pledge to ‘smash the gangs’ was always a farce and open-borders Burnham has learnt absolutely nothing from his predecessor.
“The only way to stop the crossings is to deport all illegal immigrants on arrival, and only the Conservatives have a plan to do that.”
Liberal Democrats home affairs spokesman Max Wilkinson said the government should “tackle the root cause by entering the EU’s landmark migration and asylum pact”.
Until they did so, he said, people smugglers would “continue to find a way through, lives will be put at risk and taxpayers’ money will be wasted”.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage said his party would “deploy the Royal Navy and stop the boats”.
On Tuesday Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood ordered officials to conduct a review after two migrant vessels in as many days made it ashore near Folkestone undetected.
Small boat passengers are usually brought to shore by Border Force officials or on rescue boats and uncontrolled arrivals are rare. Mahmood said the beach landings were “not acceptable”.
The landing on Monday was the first in more than a year and only four have been recorded since the Home Office began keeping data in 2023.
Additional reporting by PA Media
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