Border security chief to step down after 18 months in the role

The former police chief tasked with cutting the number of small boat crossings across the Channel has resigned from the job just 18 months after being appointed by Sir Keir Starmer. Martin Hewitt's appointment as the UK's Border Security Command had been presented as a "a significant step forward in the fight against illegal migration and criminal smuggling gangs". However, he will now be replaced - with ministers working on interim arrangement before a permanent successor is appointed. Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp said the government's "complete failure on small boats" was the fault of the prime minister and home secretary rather than Hewitt. Hewitt will leave the job at the end of the month. A Home Office spokesperson said: "We would like to thank Martin Hewitt CBE QPM for his dedicated leadership since the creation of the Border Security Command. "Over the past 18 months, the Border Security Command has brought government agencies, law enforcement and international partners together to tackle people smuggling gangs, as well as seeing the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Act into law." Despite the Labour government's promise to tackle the trafficking gang