Hampshire PCC urges Border Force to divert migrant boat to Dover

Donna Jones, the Police and Crime Commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, has called on the UK Border Force to intercept a small boat in the English Channel and transfer its passengers to Dover. Jones expressed concern that the vessel, which may be carrying approximately 50 people, could land in Hampshire, placing an unsustainable burden on local policing resources and increasing the risk of protest activity.

This request follows a September 6 incident in Portsmouth where roughly 140 migrants were brought ashore, leading to large-scale protests that required additional police support from other forces. Jones stated that Hampshire is not equipped or designed to process such arrivals and criticized the government for a lack of communication regarding crossing plans.

Despite these calls to divert the vessel to Dover, reports indicate that the group is being brought into Gosport. The boat reportedly departed the French coast near Caen on Monday night and was shadowed by a French vessel before entering British waters, where it was intercepted by RNLI lifeboats and monitored by a Coastguard Rescue plane.