After another weekend of record-high Channel boat crossings, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper was asked (not by her husband this time) on BBC Breakfast when Labour would bring down the number of illegal (or as Labour calls it, “irregular”) Channel migrant crossings. She couldn’t answer the question…

Asked three times when boat crossings would fall and whether she had a target date, Cooper dodged the question, repeating the empty line: “We need to make progress as fast as possible because no one should be making these dangerous boat crossings.” Meanwhile, Starmer hinted yesterday at sending asylum seekers to a third country, similar to the Rwanda scheme, as he prepares to learn from Italian Prime Minister Meloni’s “strong ideas” today. As expected, the slogan “smashing the gangs” is not deterrent enough…