'No nice or easy way of doing it': Labour's small boats dilemma

That lack of a visible measure of success, however, leaves the government open to accusations that they are not taking the public's concern seriously enough. If there are targets for health, why not immigration? If there are numbers for kids' education, why not boats?

With Nigel Farage's Reform Party on the march in some polls, Labour's opponents are on the hunt for any sniff of a lack of commitment to making immigration a top concern. The Conservatives fume that Labour gave up the chance of a deterrent that may or may not have prevented cross channel journeys taking place. They cite Australia, where boats were turned around and Belgium, where police have intercepted boats in the water.

One Tory strategist said there has been a "lack of political will" to solve the problem. The economy relies on migration, so gearing up the government machine to confront legal and illegal immigration requires a more fundamental level of honesty about the trade-offs that are needed, they say.

The criticism comes from inside Labour itself, too.

"There's a fear, a lack of courage," one source in the party tells me – with others describing Cooper as cautious. The only way to solve the hideous problem of vulnerable people arriving into the UK in a chaotic manner would be to do something entirely different, some argue, such as opening up more safe routes for people to come to the UK or developing so-called humanitarian visas to help those in danger flee their countries (although that wouldn't necessarily stop others making the dangerous small boats journey).

Sir Keir's leadership does not want to argue that it should be easier for people in desperately poor countries to move to the UK. Yet there are Labour voices who say a more grown up and honest conversation is required. Last year, I spoke to five former home secretaries about how hard it was to manage immigration, and they all felt they'd been hampered by the politics of the issue.

Labour, right now, does not want to pick a bolder deterrent, like the Conservatives' Rwanda plan, or a more radical humanitarian approach. As so often, Sir Keir is picking what seems a pragmatic tack – do reasonable things better, and hope (like hell) that with enough effort, it works.

It is, critics on the right and left say, a muddle in the middle.

As 2025 approaches there is little doubt about the importance or the political emotion that surrounds the issue of illegal immigration. But nothing's obvious about the viability of the government's solutions – or the success or failure of what they are trying to do.