Home Office refuses to rule out more Channel migrants arriving in Gosport despite furious protests

In the past six weeks, three small boats have crossed the Channel from Normandy in France, twice landing in Hampshire.

As a result of mass protests, Hampshire Police accumulated a bill of £800,000 in dealing with the protesters, who clashed with the authorities as they expressed their anger at the small boat arrivals.

The local council also took action against the undetected arrivals, with Gosport Borough Council passing a motion to call for the town to be excluded from any future small boat landings.

Addressing the situation in the Hampshire region, a Home Office spokesman has assured the Government as established “contingency plans” to tackle the new trend of arrivals.

They said: “Where circumstances permit, the Government will seek to engage relevant local authorities and operational partners in advance.

The Border Security Command works around the clock to protect our border and will continue to detain, check and process every small boat arrival.”

The Home Office made clear that the Labour Government is working hard to reduce small boat crossings “significantly”.

They added: “Over 80,000 people with no right to be in the UK have been removed or returned since the election.

“Small boat crossings are down significantly, and we have just recorded the lowest number of summer arrivals since 2020.”

The Government has also ruled out any plans to process small boat arrivals at Fort Blockhouse, a former military site in Gosport.

Instead, arrivals will be taken to the main processing centre at Manston, Dover, for security, ID and health checks.

However, Haslar Immigration Removal Centre in Gosport is undergoing a phased redevelopment, including an expansion to accommodate 600 beds.

Under the Home Office’s planned development, the first phase would create accommodation for 130 detainees, with the second phase increasing capacity to 600 across three-storey accommodation blocks.

Criticising the arrivals earlier this month, Reform MP for Fareham and Waterlooville Suella Braverman said the situation was a “disgrace”.

She told GB News: “I fully expect more migrants I’m afraid to be arriving on the southern Hampshire coast in future, probably escorted by Border Force or by RNLI or by the Coast Guard, and that will be under Government orders.

“That is a disgrace, that is not what local people want and it’s not what they voted for.”

In a statement, a Home Office spokesman told GB News: “We are making progress with the number of small boat crossings down on last year and June, July and August recording the lowest number of arrivals since 2020.

“But we must go further, which is why we’ve signed a payment by results deal with the French to put 40 per cent more boots on the ground on French beaches.”