Sir Keir Starmer insists he understands how angry the public is with mass migration and the Channel crisis.

The Prime Minister, under intense pressure from Reform UK in the polls and the Conservatives in Parliament, vowed to close asylum hotels and ramp up “efforts to stop small boat crossings.”

But Sir Keir’s plans were branded “soft, spineless and nowhere near what Britain demands” as he was accused of talking “tough” while voting against powers to curb migration.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “Labour’s Immigration White Flag is soft, spineless, and nowhere near what Britain demands. Even Yvette Cooper admits it’ll only scratch the surface, cutting numbers by just 50,000.

“This year, Channel crossings have already surpassed 12,000 – the worst year in history. Yet Labour still refuse to put in a migration cap.

“The British people want control of our borders. We offered a hard cap on migration and real powers to kick out illegal arrivals to regain that control. But Labour let the country down and blocked our amendments.

“This week, Starmer talked a tough game, but later that very same day Labour voted against the tough measures I proposed in Parliament to clamp down. Labour is soft on borders – because the Prime Minister is nothing more than a weak human rights lawyer who previously said border control is racist.”

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on Wednesday insisted “I get it” and vowed to take action.

He told voters: “I know you’re angry about immigration. I get it. Mark my words: I will take back control of our borders. That means cutting migration, ending the use of asylum hotels, and ramping up our efforts to stop small boat crossings.

“We will smash the people smuggling gangs at source.”

More than 12,700 migrants have crossed the Channel so far, prompting renewed fears of a record-breaking year. It is the earliest point this total has been hit.

Labour’s plan to end the Channel migrant crisis passed its latest Commons hurdle on Monday night, despite pleas for the Government to take a tougher stance.

The legislation aims to introduce new offences and counter-terror-style powers to tackle people smugglers bringing migrants across the English Channel.

People selling and handling boat parts suspected of being used in migrant Channel crossings could face up to 14 years in prison and the Government wants to make it an offence to endanger another life during sea crossings to the UK.

But Labour rejected calls to set a cap on migrant numbers and to disapply human rights laws in immigration cases to boost deportations of failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders.

And Sir Keir on Tuesday faced a backlash from senior Labour figures as Downing Street defended his immigration crackdown. The Prime Minister warned the UK could become an “island of strangers” because integration had failed due to mass migration.

Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan led a Left-wing Labour backlash on Tuesday, refusing to support Sir Keir’s language as others accused him of echoing Enoch Powell’s “rivers of blood” speech.

Sir Sadiq said: “Well, look, the sort of language that I use is different to the sort of language used by others. That’s not the sort of words that I would use.

“We’ve gone from a situation where lawful migration was 100,000, 200,000 to where it’s 900,000, 700,000, more than 600,000, and I think we should have control over our borders, but I think you can be consistent in saying that and also recognising the massive contribution made by successive generations of migrants.”

Pressed on how he felt about the Labour leader’s comments, Sir Sadiq repeatedly dodged the question, insisting: “You know when you read the entire White Paper, the White Paper actually is about solutions to some of the challenges.”

Labour MP Olivia Blake condemned Sir Keir’s language, claiming it “could legitimise the same kind of far-right violence that we saw in the last year”.

She told Times Radio: “I was very disappointed to hear him use such language because we know that language has consequences. I worry that this could legitimise the same kind of far-right violence that we saw in the last year. As politicians, we have a responsibility not to pour fuel on a fire by using language that causes division.”

Blake added: “I think the use of strangers was very problematic, this language of strangers has been used by the far right for generations to make divisions within our communities. But it couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Downing Street was forced to defend the Prime Minister’s words, dismissing comparisons to the controversial 1968 speech.

A Number 10 spokesman said: “The Prime Minister rejects those comparisons and absolutely stands behind the argument he was making that migrants make a massive contribution to our country, but migration needs to be controlled.”

Asked to confirm the Prime Minister stood by his comments that the UK did risk becoming an island of strangers without action on immigration, the spokesman replied: “Yes.”

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper earlier insisted Sir Keir’s speech was “completely different” from that of Mr Powell.

In his 1968 speech, the then-senior Tory said white British people could find themselves “strangers in their own country” as a result of migration.

Mr Powell was sacked from the Conservative frontbench as a result of making the speech and it outraged his senior colleagues at the time.

Asked about the comparison, Ms Cooper told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I don’t think it’s right to make those comparisons. It’s completely different.

“And the Prime Minister said yesterday, I think almost in the same breath… talked about the diverse country that we are, and that being part of our strength.”

And Jake Richards, said the Prime Minister was “absolutely right” to “warn of the risk of becoming an ‘island of strangers’. Millions of people across the country have similar concerns. This theme must be central to missions across immigration, employment, work and tackling neighbourhood deprivation.”

Sir Keir unveiled plans to ramp up deportations by increasing the number of offenders eligible for removals, overhaul how Article 8 of the ECHR is used in immigration cases, scrap the social care visa route, require foreign workers to take graduate level jobs and boost English language skills.

Firms that want to hire from abroad must also demonstrate how they are training domestic workers for roles.

The Home Office has predicted its changes will lead to 100,000 fewer people coming to the UK, meaning net migration could settle at around 240,000-250,000 by the end of this Parliament in 2029.

But late on Monday night, Labour rejected calls for a binding cap on migrant numbers, prompting renewed warnings Labour is too lax on border controls.

Mr Philp, making the case for such a cap before a vote in Parliament, said: “Never again would we see immigration rise to levels far higher than anyone intended. We would never again see unintended consequences, where visa rules are set up but numbers end up being much higher.

“A good example of that is the health and social care visa, which was initially supposed to be for only a few thousand people but ended up being for hundreds of thousands. With a cap mechanism in place, that would never happen again.”

Mr Philp also repeated calls to disapply human rights laws in immigration cases.

He argued: “We propose to repeal the Human Rights Act in relation to all immigration matters so that domestic UK judges would no longer be able to apply their own creative and expansive interpretations of the ECHR when making immigration decisions; instead, they would have regard solely and exclusively to domestic legislation that we have passed in this House.

“That strikes me as a common-sense measure that would end the handing down of ridiculous judgments and enable the Government to ensure that people with no right to be here and dangerous foreign criminals could be removed.

“At the moment, judges are preventing that, using interpretations that completely defy common sense.”

And former Home Office advisor Tory MP Nick Timothy told MPs: “Immigration policy must be about not just who comes here, but who we decide must leave.

“People who are here on time-limited visas must be told to go; people who refuse to accept our culture and way of life must leave; and people who have broken the law, and those who take out more than they put in must be thrown out.

“We will need to ensure vast numbers of removals and deportations in the years ahead

“We cannot afford to import more of the world’s hatreds, nor to allow foreign conflicts to be fought out on our streets.

“We must accept that not every migrant is the same, and not every culture is equal; one in 50 Albanians in Britain is in jail, one in three Pakistani and Bangladeshi heritage adults is economically inactive, and 72% of Somalis live in social housing.

“We are a million miles away from doing what is necessary.”

The Home Office admitted the asylum system is being abused by a growing number of foreign nationals who come to Britain legally on a visa and then claim to be refugees.

Last year, there were 40,000 asylum claims from individuals linked to a visa, it said.

And between 2022 and 2024, 25,000 had to be provided with accommodation at the taxpayers’ expense, including asylum hotels.