STEPHEN GLOVER: Spain's border crisis is a wake-up call to Burnham who's deep in the realms of delusion if he thinks his party's stopping the boats

By STEPHEN GLOVER, DAILY MAIL COLUMNIST Published: 01:00, 3 August 2026 | Updated: 01:50, 3 August 2026 What is the biggest challenge facing our country over the next quarter of a century? For the answer to that question you need look no further than Ceuta, the Spanish enclave bordering Morocco. Last week 60,000 illegal immigrants surged into the tiny territory, with some 67 of them dying in the process. Though most have now left, often under the escort of Spanish police, this sudden influx gives us an insight about the future. For one thing, these people – almost all of them young and overwhelmingly male – were not refugees in the usual meaning of the word. That is to say, they weren’t fleeing persecution. Morocco is an autocracy but less repressive than many developing nations. It is certainly not dirt poor, being classified by the International Monetary Fund as a lower middle-income country. But it is a lot less rich than Spain, where these migrants wanted to go. I don’t blame them. If I were in their shoes, I’d think of doing the same. They want a better life. In many cases, Spain would be a stopping-off point. Richer Britain, Germany and Scandinavia would be the ultimate destination for many. Behind these young people, there are in Africa and parts of the Middle East hundreds of millions of prospective economic migrants. They, too, yearn for a higher standard of living, which is unlikely to be delivered by their own often corrupt and incompetent governments. Last week 60,000 illegal immigrants – almost all of them young and mostly male – surged into the tiny territory of Ceuta. This sudden influx gives us an insight about the future 'I don’t blame them', writes Stephen Glover. 'They, too, yearn for a higher standard of living, which is unlikely to be delivered by their own often corrupt and incompetent governments' And as the effects of climate change are felt over most of the continent, including lower food production and more frequent droughts, the impulse to travel north in search of El Dorado will become increasingly powerful. This is a fact of life, and it’s going to take an immense amount of determination on the part of European governments to resist these huge population movements. That is why I say Ceuta provides a microcosm of what lies ahead. Does our new Prime Minister have the remotest idea of what is happening? Andy Burnham has scarcely spoken about immigration since wrestling the crown from Sir Keir Starmer, though he is bubbling with thoughts about all manner of other things. His main contribution has been to claim preposterously that ‘the plan is working’ on stopping small-boat crossings. No10 is congratulating itself because the number of migrants coming across the Channel in 2026 is down 45 per cent on 2025 at the same point, and down 16 per cent on 2024. Yet the boats are still streaming across the Channel. More than a thousand migrants have been welcomed to our shores in the past week alone, and over 2,000 since Burnham became PM. The majority of these will be granted asylum. The French authorities have clearly not been giving value for money to our Government, which is paying them £662million over the next three years to reduce the number of migrants making the crossing. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp last week extracted an admission from French police that they are under instructions not to use force to prevent migrants from setting off for the English coast. Under Mr Philp’s nose, they refused to arrest a brazen people smuggler on a French beach. Mr Philp’s revelations have apparently stirred Andy Burnham out of his complacency. Last night he let it be known that he might withhold £160million from the French government unless it improves its performance. Do we believe it will – or that the PM will really reduce our payments if it doesn’t? If Burnham thinks that the issue of illegal immigration is under control, he is deep in the realms of delusion. It won’t be solved until or unless the Government adopts far more robust measures. Voters, for whom uncontrolled immigration remains a top priority according to polls, can see what is going on. The Government says it will stop putting up asylum seekers in hotels, a policy that is expensive and unpopular with locals. Andy Burnham, pictured yesterday in Dover, has scarcely spoken about immigration since becoming Prime Minister. But he claims Labour's 'plan is working’ on stopping small boats Residents in Piddington, Oxfordshire, are protesting plans for an asylum seeker camp, not far from where our columnist, Stephen Glover, lives So what does it do? It will open three new camps (on top of two already in use) where many thousands of asylum seekers will be housed. One is in the small Oxfordshire village of Piddington, not far from where I live. Piddington is home to 350 souls. The Government intends to put 1,250 male asylum seekers in a nearby former military base. The occupants will be free to come and go as they please. Actually, I have long argued that asylum seekers should be kept in spartan camps but I envisaged that these would be remote – ideally on an island – and secure. Ministers must be certifiable to house so many rootless, bored young men near the centre of an English village. Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, who claims to understand people’s fears about mass immigration, has blundered. Piddington’s inhabitants, naturally concerned for their own safety, are united in opposition. These aren’t far-Right extremists. They are ordinary British citizens, doubtless normally welcoming and hospitable, who don’t want to be outnumbered nearly four to one by unknown foreigners in their own village. Assuming the Government doesn’t capitulate, what happens to Piddington will resonate with the rest of Britain. Many will see the village’s fate as a warning of what could happen to the country if uncontrolled immigration continues unchecked. The truth is that Labour is unable or unwilling to stem the tide of humanity poised to sweep across our continent in the coming decades. Having jettisoned the Tories’ admittedly flawed Rwanda scheme, the Government has deprived itself of any useful weapons. In stark contrast, the Tories and Reform UK have come up with robust policies that are similar. Both parties have undertaken to ditch the European Convention on Human Rights. This move could enable a future government, whether Tory or Reform or an amalgamation of the two, to deport all illegal immigrants within a week of arrival. They would be legally unable to claim asylum, make modern slavery claims, receive legal aid, or make any court claim to stay in the UK. As the Tories’ Chris Philp points out: ‘Australia did something similar 13 years ago and it quickly reduced illegal immigration by boat to virtually zero.’ Reform UK would go even further. Its new plan, called Operation Fortress, is to use the Royal Navy to prevent illegal migrants arriving on our shores. Every boat carrying such people would be escorted back to France or Belgium. This presupposes we have enough ships to do this. Given the last Conservative government’s shameful failure to control immigration, some voters will wonder whether the Tories can be trusted to be sufficiently single-minded. Here is one area where Reform still has the edge. Nigel Farage, who will host a press conference on the issue today, believes the lack of a coherent policy to deal with illegal immigration is Burnham’s greatest weakness. Reform’s leader is right. The Prime Minister doesn’t really get it. He looks at what happened last week in Ceuta and fails to understand the long-term challenges. With a few exceptions, his party is notably relaxed about illegal immigration. Most of the country isn’t. This is an issue that won’t go away. It could be what turns voters against Andy Burnham. However chatty and approachable he may appear, he’s not listening to ordinary people. Inside David's 'Project K' and the relentless 12-year campaign to get Becks the only prize he ever really wanted - a knighthood: PART THREE of ALISON BOSHOFF's bombshell new book