Smashed vow

DID anyone ever really believe Keir Starmer when he said he would stop the small boats by “smashing the gangs”?

If they did, any illusions of success have now been well and truly shattered.
Sir Keir Starmer has broken yet ANOTHER promise by failing to smash the small boat gangsCredit: PA
Far from delivering on his pledge, the Prime Minister has seen numbers go UP on his watch.

In his first full year in power, Starmer was largely helpless as 41,472 illegal boat migrants broke into the country. That’s the equivalent of the population of Bury St Edmunds. Or, ironically, Dover.

Arrivals have risen 13 per cent since 2024 — thanks to the average boat being crammed with 62 asylum seekers.

Instead of ending the crisis, ministers have tinkered around the edges of the problem and the Government’s grip has weakened.

Deals with France have proved a waste of time, with pathetically low numbers sent back across the Channel under the one-in, one-out scheme.

While Britain drifts along without a meaningful deterrent, it will continue to be a soft-touch magnet for vast numbers of young male economic migrants from dangerous countries.

The people-smuggling gangs may not have been smashed.

But yet another Labour promise to voters has been.

New drear

THE PM’s claim that 2026 will see him turn around Britain’s fortunes already looks a forlorn hope.

Not because there aren’t some reasons to be positive about the possibility of a better economic outlook.

Energy prices could come down — especially if there is a peace deal in Ukraine. Global inflation is falling and interest rates may well be cut repeatedly in the coming months.

That should be a recipe for growth. The trouble is, Labour has shackled the economy to a ballooning welfare state.

Workers on £50,000 today will be £505 worse off by the end of the decade thanks to stealth taxes, while those on benefits will be better off, according to a report by the Centre for Policy Studies.

Meanwhile, businesses are being crushed by the Treasury’s tax raids.

So instead of being able to seize upon any optimism, Labour’s economic stupidity means things are likely to only get worse.

Indefensible

BRITAIN is woefully unprepared for conflict with Russia.

And despite Chancellor Rachel Reeves promising to defend the realm, she made no new money available for our hollowed out Armed Forces.

Instead of buying drones and ships, she chose to spend hundreds of billions on welfare for the workless.

What will be the point of a giant benefits system if Putin invades?