REFUGEE groups accused Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer of doubling down on the Tories’ hateful rhetoric against asylum-seekers as he announced cruel plans to ramp up border security and expand counter-terror measures to target those seeking safety.

Shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper attempted to appeal to viewers on right-wing GB News, saying that the Tory’s scheme to deport people to Rwanda “is a scheme for 1 per cent of asylum-seekers” while “there is no plan for the 99 per cent and it is costing the taxpayer over half-a-billion pounds.”

Under Labour’s plans, £75 million would be shelled out on security to “go after” smugglers and target those fleeing to Britain on small boats.

Labour pledged to set up a new “elite” border security command, which will pull together the National Crime Agency, MI5, the Border Force, with police forces across Britain and Europe.

Counter-terror powers will be extended to search those suspected of involvement in people-smuggling, close bank accounts, restrict their travel and trace their movements even before an offence takes place.

Announcing the plan in Dover, Sir Keir vowed to “restore serious government to our borders” and make Britain’s shores “hostile territory.”

Sir Keir said he was “very pleased” to welcome to Labour’s ranks Dover MP Natalie Elphicke, a recent Tory defector who backed the racist campaign to “Stop the Boats.”

Julia Tinsley-Kent from Migrants Rights Network said the NGO was “frustrated by the hostile narrative that is being echoed by the Labour Party around migration, which demonises racialised people who are forced into making dangerous journeys by hostile borders and immigration regimes.”

She added: “Rather than call for safe routes, the opposition is reinforcing more cruel plans that will make lives of migrants, including people seeking asylum, even harder.”

Lachlan Macrae from Calais Food Collective said that linking irregular migration to that of terrorism is “deeply troubling.”

He said: “It feeds into the securitised notions of borders that have led to the suffering and deaths in the Channel, like the tragic further death that happened today.

“Safe routes eliminate the small boat crossings. If there was an avenue by which those who crossed those could claim asylum in France there would be no need for someone to make such a dangerous crossing.

“Starmer again shows that he is simply the more acceptable face of Tory cruelty.”

Another volunteer from the organisation Megan Lindsay slammed Sir Keir for failing to critique the Tories’ “inhumane Rwanda scheme or the hateful rhetoric they have pushed for years to sensationalise the topic of migration and asylum” and said he instead “doubles down” on it.

Stand up To Racism co-convener Sabby Dhalu said: “New counter-terrorism powers to stop people-smuggling and creating an elite force for border protection won’t stop people risking their lives crossing the Channel. Until the British government introduces safe routes for people to come to Britain and claim asylum there will always be a gap in the market for criminal gangs to exploit. Labour must commit to safe passage for asylum-seekers.”