Germany to tighten people-smuggling law in UK deal

Germany will tighten its law to make it easier to prosecute those helping to smuggle migrants to the UK, as part of a new plan agreed between the two countries.

Facilitating people-smuggling is not technically illegal in Germany currently, if it is to a third country outside the EU - which, following Brexit, includes the UK.

Under the new agreement, the Home Office says Germany has pledged to make the activity a clear criminal offence.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said the "ground-breaking" agreement would help tackle the criminal gangs organising small boat crossings.

The Conservatives said the plan did not "go far enough" and would not provide the deterrent necessary to reduce crossings.

Speaking on Monday, Cooper said the partnership would help the UK go after the gangs who had been "getting away with it for too long".

Faeser said it would "help us end the inhumane activities of criminal migrant smuggling organisations".

"Many of these crimes are planned in Germany. Together, we are now countering this unscrupulous business with even more resolve."

Responding to the announcement, Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said: "The British public deserves a serious plan to control our borders and stop criminal gangs.

"The National Crime Agency has said a deterrent is necessary to reduce the number of crossings, yet Labour scrapped the only deterrent before it even got started.

"Meanwhile the numbers of illegal immigrants coming here continue to climb, with an 18% increase compared to the same period last year, with more than 20,000 people having made the crossing since the election."

The plan was signed ahead of a meeting of the Calais Group in London on Tuesday, a grouping of northern European countries focused on tackling illegal migration.

Cooper was joined by ministers and police from Germany, as well as from France, Belgium and the Netherlands, to discuss migration in Europe.

Sir Keir has said he wants to reduce both regular and irregular migration but has avoided setting a target for cutting numbers, arguing that an "arbitrary" cap would not work.

Privately, Labour ministers acknowledged that tackling irregular migration would be key to how they are judged by voters.

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