Labour’s defence of its plan for small boat crossings comes after criticism from the left and right
Good morning. Conservative commentators believe that Keir Starmer took quite a risk yesterday when he announced a new, or newish, approach to small boats, suggesting Labour would have a returns agreement with the EU that might involve the UK accepting a quota of asylum seekers. Our overnight story, by Rajeev Syal, Peter Walker and Diane Taylor, is here.
Whatever the reaction, Labour is not giving up. This morning Labour has set out more details of what it is proposing, claiming that by speeding up the processing of asylum applications it could end the use of hotels for migrants. In a news release Labour says it would:
-Hire over 1000 new caseworkers on an expedited process (a 50% increase on current asylum casework levels) to bust the backlog and get through cases efficiently.
-Implement targets and standards to ensure decisions are made well and productivity increases. New staff will be recruited at a higher grade than recent Home Office casework recruitment to improve productivity after the Tory downgrade of staffing in 2013 led to productivity falling.
