Defence Secretary Wes Streeting has repeatedly declined to provide a guarantee that no Iranian agents have crossed into the UK on small boats to carry out terror attacks.
Asked if he could rule out the prospect, Streeting told GB News: “So, two things. Firstly, we do have strong measures in place to assess people coming into the country to guard against that threat. Secondly, while we’re not complacent about that risk, I would also just guard against repeating Iranian propaganda.
“They’re good at what they do in terms of their propaganda effort. We see that online. They want to increase that fear. So I’m not going to repeat Iranian talking points. We do have strong measures at the border.”
Asked if he was saying he could not provide a guarantee, he said: “We absolutely have strong, robust measures at the border to guard against that threat. And let me say, in terms of first impressions in this job, in my first week and a half in this role as Defence Secretary, I’ve had a unique insight into the capability that we have, both in terms of our domestic and international security services. They are second to none.”
Pressed again, he said: “As I say, we’ve got strong border measures, but we also have strong domestic homeland security services, and we have the SIS too. Honestly, I wish I could show the public more of what we have in terms of our security and intelligence services. They are genuinely the best in the business.
“They keep our country safe 24/7, 365 days a year, and their success often goes uncelebrated, unreported because of the secret nature of their work.”
Asked again, he responded: “You can have total confidence that they are tasked in the right way to guard against threats from Iran and other malevolent countries that would do us harm, as well as domestic terrorism.”
On President Trump’s claim that the UK is being invaded by migrants in small boats, Streeting said: “The good news is that in terms of small boat crossings, which we absolutely agree is a big challenge, we’ve seen a 40% reduction in those crossings, and our work with the French has managed to stop 46,000 individual crossings.
“Now, if the Home Secretary were here this morning, she’d be the first to say that’s a lot done, but there’s a lot more to do and a lot more to go at, and that’s why she will continue to do that, as well as strengthening our laws to try and tackle some of the pull factors that encourage people to come to Britain and take those small boat crossings.
“That’s at the heart of what her immigration reform is about, and she’ll continue to do that. But those are encouraging numbers, and I think if I’d come on GB News a couple of years ago, maybe just before the general election, and said Labour would get small boat crossings down by 40% that would be stopping tens of thousands of individual crossings. I think your viewers would have thought, ‘they’re saying that now. Will they actually deliver?’
“So this is encouraging progress. But I do want to put it in those terms: encouraging progress. There is more to do, and we obviously accept that, and we will do more to tackle this scourge.”
