Embattled Starmer regime launches sanctions targeting people-smuggling gangs

"The truth is you don't stop the Channel crossings by freezing a few bank accounts in Baghdad or slapping a travel ban on a dinghy dealer in Damascus," he said. "Swathes of young men are arriving daily, in boats bought online, guided by traffickers who laugh at our laws and cash in on our weakness."

Starmer has recently agreed deals with France and Germany to help stop the arrival of small boats as he tries to stem the surging rise of the conservative populist Reform UK party, led by Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage.

(Reporting by Sam Tabahriti; editing by Mark Heinrich)