Migrant exploitation is a progressive issue. That’s why we will now take the toughest steps ever to stop it | David Lammy

In January 1946, the foreign secretary, Ernest Bevin, stared into the geopolitical fog. The second world war had only just ended. The cold war, which would last more than four decades, was only just beginning. It was hard to see six months, let alone six years ahead.

But Bevin did not sit waiting for the fog to clear. He was a minister of action, who saw that what matters is not just what Britain says, but what it does. What matters is not just what Britain wants, but what it builds. What matters is having a strategy. This is why Clement Attlee’s 1945 general election manifesto was called Let Us Face the Future.

We are at a moment of great uncertainty once again. Our foundation will always be Britain’s security, facing down geopolitical threats at a time of war in Europe, but we must do so recognising this is a time that the line between foreign and domestic policy has blurred more than ever.

Keeping the British people safe means standing up to the Kremlin. Working with our friends and allies to deter Vladimir Putin’s mafia state. Fighting dirty money laundered in financial centres such as London.

Getting the British economy growing means seizing economic opportunities abroad in areas such as clean energy. It means telling foreign companies and investors of our considerable strengths in education, tech and professional and business services.

And nowhere is this blurred line more evident than in tackling irregular migration.

It’s completely unrealistic to solve this issue and deliver our Plan for Change to secure Britain’s borders without a role for the Foreign Office. A realistic strategy involves transactional, hard-headed diplomacy with partners all along the international people-smuggling pathway.

This government, from the prime minister down, sees this challenge for what it really is. There are some who argue migration is not a progressive issue. They are, quite simply, wrong. There is nothing progressive about leaving the most vulnerable exploited. Nothing progressive about letting criminal gangs get rich and drive more crime on to the streets of Britain.

That’s why today I am announcing that the UK is developing legislation for a new sanctions regime that specifically targets irregular migration and organised immigration crime. This will help to prevent, deter and disrupt irregular migration and the smuggling of migrants into the UK.

We are set to be the first country in the world to introduce a sanctions regime of this sort. It will significantly strengthen our arsenal for combating those who profit from putting other people’s lives at risk. And I am working closely with the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, and our departments’ new joint irregular migration unit to deploy every tool at our disposal to restore control of our borders.

We need smart interventions in source and transit countries just as much as on the shores of the UK. It’s only by working with others that we can strengthen borders, smash the gangs and get those with no right to be in our country returned. Projects we now have in places such as Vietnam and Iraq are a good example of that. And, crucially, we must use our sharpest diplomatic weapons.

This is one of a number of changes we are making to ensure the Foreign Office plays a full part in delivering the priorities of the hard-working British people. We are not living in the 1990s any more. The post-cold war peace is well and truly over. This is a changed strategic environment, with more conflicts than at any time since 1945 and the most refugees and displaced people worldwide on record.

That’s why our foreign policy had to change. Inspired by Bevin, I have been putting into practice an approach I call progressive realism. Taking the world as it is, not as we wish it to be. Pursuing a consistent strategy to our overseas relationships – ending the Tories’ wild oscillation on Europe and China.

Moments of upheaval are also an opportunity to take an honest look at our institutions, and make essential reforms. Over the past six months I have seen in the Foreign Office the most dedicated public servants I have ever met, working all over the world to avert disasters and bring countries together. But it is also clear they have less of an instinct than the rest of Whitehall for what is needed to deliver domestically for the people of Britain. That’s why I have tasked my department with reforming its role and capabilities – to ensure our work provides maximum benefit to UK growth and security.

Now is the moment, with a foreign policy delivering on this government’s plan for change, to face a bright future again.

• David Lammy is British foreign secretary