Illegal work crackdown will help fight 'poisonous narrative' of smuggling gangs (2025)

Opening a major summit on international crime in London, the PM urged countries to work together to tackle the vile trade and vulnerable people who are being 'ruthlessly exploited'

An illegal working crackdown will help fight the "poisonous narrative" of people-smuggling gangs promising people the dream of a better life, Keir Starmer has said.

Opening a major summit on international crime in London, the PM urged countries to work together to tackle the vile trade and people who are being "ruthlessly exploited". He promised a "tough new law" to combat illegal working in the gig-economy and zero hours roles such as construction, beauty salons, and courier services.

While most firms carry out right-to-work checks, Mr Starmer said "too many dodgy firms have been exploiting a loophole to skip this process". He added: "All of this, of course fuelling that poisonous narrative of the gangs who promise the dream of a better life to vulnerable people yet deliver a nightmare of squalid conditions and appalling exploitation."

Speaking to The Mirror, Home Office minister Dame Angela Eagle also stressed the issue of people-smuggling gangs and illegal working is "connected".

She said: "People are sold the idea they can be smuggled into the UK and think it's easy to work here. We're cracking down on that." She added: "Often people who pay a lot of money [to smugglers] to come over here can then find themselves in debt bondage and very squalid conditions."

Firms failing to comply with the new law face fines of up to £60,000, prison terms of up to five years, and the potential closure of their businesses. Dame Angela said the rules will form part of the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, which is currently going through Parliament. It is hoped the new law will come into force later this year or early in 2026.

The Home Office minister said the Bill will also give ministers powers to take counter-terror style powers to disrupt the people-smuggling gangs. She said: "For example, it will let us seize phones more effectively. If we think there's a smuggler or gang member in front of us we can take that phone preemptively rather than wait until we've got enough evidence to arrest."

It came as Mr Starmer urged ministers from over 40 countries at the Organised Immigration Crime Summit to work together to fight the gangs in the same way they would to combat terrorists.

And he also also revealed on Monday over 24,000 migrants have been removed from Britain since Labour won power. The PM claimed it would have taken the Tories' failed Rwanda scheme "80 years to achieve" to achieve the same results.

He added: "This is what I mean about not giving in to gimmicks. Just focusing our efforts and resources on the nuts and bolts of removing people. Getting the asylum system working properly. That’s how we’ve delivered the highest returns rate for eight years and the four biggest return flights ever."