THE government has more work to do to reduce the number of people crossing the Channel in small boats following the signing of an agreement with France, the Transport Secretary has said.

Speaking on the Camilla Tominey Show on GB News, Heidi Alexander said: “It’s really important that we’ve got an international agreement with France, because previous governments, Conservative governments, failed to do this, and the only way we’re going to solve this problem is by working with the French authorities.

“This is a pilot scheme. We’re keen to see the scheme ramp up. If it’s successful, we’re also working with the French authorities on making sure that they can take action in the shallow waters, in the French waters off the coast of France, to be able to stop small boats from reaching our shores in the first place.

“We have, by working with France, prevented about 12,000 channel crossings since we came to power but there’s more to do. Your viewers may have seen some of the footage of the French authorities puncturing the dinghies in the shallow waters a couple of weeks ago.

“The gangs who were smuggling people across the Channel have changed their tactics, and it’s appropriate that the French authorities change their tactics too. And part of the work we have been doing with the French is to get them to review their maritime law so that they can adapt their techniques as well.”

She added: “What the agreement with the French government does is it breaks the business model of these smuggling gangs. These are very sophisticated criminal gangs operating across multiple jurisdictions.

“That’s why it’s so important that in the last year, we have made arrests in places like France and Germany as well as in England and Wales. And why we’re seeing prosecutions happening as well, because we’ve got to take some of the kingpins out of these international criminal gangs.

“We’re taking action on a whole variety of fronts, working with our international partners, setting up the new Border Security Command and giving them counter-terrorism style powers to deal with the people that are profiteering from this trade in human beings.

“At the moment, we’re also, of course, taking action, just to reassure your viewers, on the people who don’t have any right to be in the UK and over because around 30,000 people have been removed from the UK who don’t have a right to be here, don’t have any permission to be in the country, and that’s significantly up on the removals that took place under the last government.”

On the latest GDP figures, she said: “GDP figures do bump around from month to month. If you consider the overall picture of the British economy having secured three trade deals, one with the US, one with the European Union, one with India. Those are all trade deals that the previous government sought to agree.

“The Conservatives tried for years to get an India free trade deal and never succeeded. We have come into office, and we have done that.”