Stopping people trying to come here is, for me, the better solution (and is basically the one advanced by the Evil Nazi Hellhound, Katie Hopkins). Make it clear there will be no rescues at all and that anyone who succeeds in reaching Europe will be sent straight back to where they came from. These traffickers set out expecting that there is a good chance they will be rescued, so remove that possibility from the equation. Use armed boats to drive back the traffickers. Make it even more clear that refugees who apply for asylum legally will always take precedent over those who come here in a cast-iron bath tub captained by some predatory Tunisian scumbag. Those who come illegally by boat will never get asylum. This stuff all works, and we have the Australian example for evidence.