IN the end, just four migrants went to Rwanda.

It was not for lack of ­trying.

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For two years, ministers battled in the courts, battled in the Lords and battled with their own MPs.

They exhausted shedloads of political capital — as well as £700million of cold, hard cash — in their do-or-die mission to stop the boats.

When one treaty with the African nation was ripped apart by lawyers, they went back to the drawing board and signed another.

When one law was not strong enough to withstand legal challenge, they passed a second, then a third.

Three successive Home Secretaries ­visited Rwanda’s capital, Kigali, to shore up the alliance, ­followed by a pack of reporters, including myself.

There were signs it was starting to have the desired dissuasive effect.

Remember how migrants started pouring into Ireland as Immigration hammered down doors?

But it all ended in one fell swoop on Sir Keir Starmer’s first day in charge.

Reduce crossings

The new PM called the Rwanda scheme a “gimmick” that lacked the scale to accommodate the thousands of arrivals reaching our shores every month.

Perhaps he was right — the scheme was far from perfect. Now we will never know.

One thing is certain: solving the Channel crisis is the ultimate problem of our time.

And without a credible deterrent, ­Labour is trying to cut this Gordian Knot with a butter knife.

During the election, we were told they would hit the ground running with a ­fully fleshed-out plan to “smash the gangs”.

Sir Keir elevated the immigration issue to one of his six “first steps” for ­government.

The now-Home Secretary Yvette Cooper held more pre-election meetings with her soon-to-be department than any other Cabinet Minister.

Civil Service boss Simon Case even ­presented the Home Office with the “access talks trophy”, which is proudly displayed in the Permanent Secretary’s office.

When vulnerable men, women and children are drowning in the icy waters of the Channel, there is not a moment to waste.

Yet they are not winning any prizes for reducing crossings, and one could be ­forgiven for finding the progress in their first four months disappointing.

There have been 31,094 arrivals so far this year, which is 16 per cent higher compared with the same point last year and surpasses the 2023 total.

Just last week, 1,227 people squeezed into 28 flimsy dinghies to make the perilous journey.

Downing Street says “nobody can expect this to be turned around overnight”.

But when vulnerable men, women and children are drowning in the icy waters of the Channel, there is not a moment to waste.

Ms Cooper claims to have acted swiftly, namely by creating a Border Security Command backed with £150million of funding.

Working with the National Crime Agency, they will use counter-terror tactics to flush out smuggling gangs and fast-track them through the courts.

All noble efforts, and Sir Keir — a ­former Director Of Public Prosecutions — certainly seems to genuinely loathe the “vile” people traffickers.

But is he wildly underestimating the ruthlessness of these hardened criminals to simply adapt to new policing tactics?

Governments have invested billions ­tackling the global drug trade, yet today it is just as easy to get a bag of weed on a street corner as it ever was.

Time immemorial proves where there’s a will, there’s a way.

The UK’s former Chief Immigration Officer, Kevin Saunders, puts it bluntly: “Unfortunately what the Prime Minister is trying to do is not feasible.”

Most of the gang bosses operate from the Middle East, he said, adding: “He’s got to come up with a deterrent to make the migrants not want to come to the UK.”

So what of a deterrent?

When asked if they would consider offshore processing — as Italy is doing in Albania — ministers mumble non-committally that they could be tempted.

It’s the same answer Labour gave in Opposition.

What are they waiting for?

Ms Cooper is banking on increasing deportations — the logic being that migrants would not bother risking their life if they would be put on a plane home.

She is right to identify our terrible returns rate — just three per cent of small boat migrants have been removed in the past six years.

Migrants have been all too aware that being removed is an empty threat.

I can reveal that from March 11-14 this year, Home Office officials phoned 197 failed asylum seekers with a “generous one-time offer” to start a new life in Rwanda.

The total package included free housing, a credit card with £3,000 on it, a new mobile phone, private healthcare and “bespoke career support”.

With a salesman-like script, staff warned: “You should prepare to leave the UK.

“You have a choice about how to leave — you can either do so voluntarily or you may be forced.

“If you choose to leave ­voluntarily, we are offering you a chance to relocate to Rwanda.”

Life and death

It went on: “If you decline . . . you will not get any of this support and may be forcibly removed to your home country.”

That 193 migrants who were called decided to take their chances with our immigration enforcement speaks volumes.

There is growing internal frustration that Emmanuel Macron doesn’t give a monkeys about helping — despite the half a billion quid we’ve given him.

If Ms Cooper can ramp up deportations — and returns are up a fifth on the same period last year — then more power to her elbow.

But how does she intend to return ­serious numbers coming from Taliban-run Afghanistan or warmongering Iran — the two countries with the highest number of Channel arrivals last year?

The holy grail of deterrents would be a returns deal with France: simply scoop up the boats in the Channel and drag them straight back to Calais.

Fat chance of that, and there is growing internal frustration that Emmanuel Macron doesn’t give a monkeys about helping — despite the half a billion quid we’ve given him.

With or without our European allies, Sir Keir is going to have to start turning the tide or risk the wrath of voters.

Politics aside, it is quite literally a matter of life and death.

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