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Home Office small boats chief quits in new setback to Labour plan

Insiders are questioning who will have the appetite to take on the new role of Border Security Commander

The Home Office’s small boats chief has resigned just days after the arrival of the new Government, leaving civil servants “shocked” as crossings soar.

Stuart Skeates, a former British Army lieutenant general, served in conflicts including the Afghan and Gulf wars. He was appointed to set up Suella Braverman’s Illegal Migration Operations Command last April.

Mr Skeates quit last Thursday, sending out two mass emails to civil servants. One suggested he would leave “immediately”, i understands, but he is now expected to oversee the transition to Labour’s new Border Security Command.

He had held the post of “Director General of Strategic Operations”. The Government is now recruiting for the job of Border Security Commander, which will sit above that role.

One civil servant said: “The whole thing shocked us because, despite starting on the wrong foot, Stuart has been championing facts and evidence and taking decisions and suggestions based on that. Many thought Stuart would be the new small boats commander.”

The official described his resignation as “sudden”, and said Mr Skeates was respected and well liked within the Home Office. “We were all taken by surprise,” they added. “None of this mess is his fault.”

(FILES) Migrants are pictured aboard of a Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) lifeboat after being picked up at sea while crossing the English Channel from France, arrive on the beach at Dungeness on the southeast coast of England, on August 16, 2023. The home minister's parliamentary aide and a Conservative party candidate James Sunderland called the government's plan to deport migrants entering the UK illegally to Rwanda "crap", in an audio leaked by the BBC on June 23, 2024. (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS / AFP) (Photo by HENRY NICHOLLS/AFP via Getty Images)
A massive rise in small boat crossings is expected over the coming weeks, with numbers already at a record high of almost 15,000 so far this year (Photo: Henry Nicholls/AFP)

Another Home Office insider said Mr Skeates was leaving “on his own terms” and had not been forced out.

Mr Skeates had been expected to remain in his role as “Director General of Strategic Operations” under the Labour government, i understands. A recruitment pack for the new post of Border Security Commander contains a leadership diagram showing Mr Skeates one rung below them.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “Stuart Skeates is leaving his position of Director General of Strategic Operations. This is a personal choice, and follows 35 years of distinguished public service in the Civil Service and military.

“The Home Office wishes him well for the future and is grateful for his outstanding contribution.”

Many Home Office insiders are questioning who will have the appetite to take on the new Border Security Commander role, which is expected to come under intense political and public pressure after Sir Keir Starmer vowed to “smash” smuggling gangs.

Neil Basu, the former head of UK counter-terrorism policing, has ruled himself out and no other frontrunners have yet emerged.

Documents for candidates say interviews will not take place until September, suggesting that the Border Security Command will not be set up until the autumn.

A massive rise in small boat crossings is expected over the coming weeks, with numbers already at a record high of almost 15,000 so far this year and forecast to rocket with the arrival of calm seas and warm weather.

Four people died when their dinghy deflated during an attempted crossing on Friday, bringing the total number of recorded deaths this year to 20, including children.

Home secretary Yvette Cooper vowed to “accelerate action with international partners to pursue and bring down dangerous smuggler gangs” after the disaster.

SANDHURST, UNITED KINGDOM - OCTOBER 25: Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, wearing a remembrance poppy, is greeted by Academy Commandant Major General Stuart Skeates during her visit to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst on October 25, 2013 in Camberley, Surrey, England. Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi delivered a speech on peace and reconciliation in Northern Ireland at Sandhurst Military Academy during her 5-day visit to the UK as part of a tour of Europe. (Photo by Peter Nicholls - WPA Pool/Getty Images)
Mr Skeates pictured at Sandhurst with Aung San Suu Kyi in 2013 (Photo: Peter Nicholls/WPA Pool/Getty)

It came days after the Government formally launched work to set up its Border Security Command, which Ms Cooper said would be a “major step change in UK enforcement efforts to tackle organised immigration crime”.

The unit aims to draw together the work of the National Crime Agency, intelligence agencies, police, Immigration Enforcement and Border Force, to crack down on smugglers.

But humanitarian groups have said the government also needs to provide alternatives to small boat crossings by setting up new safe and legal routes for refugees.

Under current UK law, asylum can only be claimed in person on British soil. There is no visa to reach the country for that purpose, and eligibility for resettlement schemes and refugee family reunion is limited.

Labour has said it will scrap the Rwanda scheme and process all asylum claims, but the moves require significant policy and legal changes after years of Conservative attempts to ban consideration of small boat migrants’ applications.

A wider restructure of the Home Office is also expected, with the department having been redesigned around Rishi Sunak’s failed Illegal Migration Act last year, and units including the Illegal Migration Relocation and Returns Service now defunct.

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