A dinghy carrying 32 migrants was intercepted just two miles off the coast of Dover after reaching British waters unescorted and continuing towards the Kent coast. Two Border Security Command vessels and an RNLI lifeboat were scrambled to the scene, with the migrants found on board after crossing through fog.
Security scare off Dover
The incident has raised fresh concerns for immigration chiefs, as the boat managed to approach within two miles of the coast before being stopped. The discovery comes amid ongoing pressure on the government to tackle small boat crossings in the Channel.
Tory pledge on deportations
The revelations emerged as Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp declared that deporting illegal migrants immediately is the “only way” to protect communities like Piddington from the asylum crisis. The senior Tory insisted small boat arrivals must be removed “within a week of arrival”.
Mr Philp told Tory members: “The consequence of illegal entry will be immediate removal. Because if illegal immigrants know they will quickly be deported they won’t come in the first place.”
ECHR exit and legal routes
He also vowed to dismantle the legal architecture used by failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and visa overstayers to fight removal attempts. Mr Philp said: “The truth is we cannot have strong borders while in the ECHR. Successive governments have tried, and it hasn’t worked. So, the next Conservative government will leave the ECHR.”
Mr Philp pledged to “immediately” close Labour’s new safe and legal routes while “illegal migration is rife”. He accused Shabana Mahmood of “opening our borders even more” by re-establishing the UK Resettlement Scheme and creating three new community sponsorship routes. Under a Conservative government, illegal migration would have to fall to nearly zero before similar schemes are considered.
Public safety crisis warning
Mr Philp pointed to Home Office plans to house 1,256 asylum seekers next to the Oxfordshire village of Piddington, home to around 350 people, and referenced the murder of Rhiannon Whyte to illustrate the need to end the small boats crisis. Sudanese asylum seeker Deng Majek stabbed Rhiannon 23 times in a 90-second attack in Walsall in 2024, after arriving on a small boat about three months earlier.
Mr Philp warned the small boats emergency has created a “public safety crisis… especially for women and girls”. He told the Conservative Party Conference: “Girls as young as 12 have been raped by illegal small boat migrants. Afghan men are 22 times more likely to commit sex offences than average – one even recently brought a 14-year-old girl he was abusing to the UK on a small boat.”
More than 20,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year – including 1,000 in just two days. Some 418 people were packed into five dinghies on Sunday, while 609 asylum seekers were detected in eight vessels on Monday.
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have made progress tackling the small boats. Crossings are down significantly, and we have just recorded the lowest number of summer arrivals since 2020. We are taking action, with joint efforts preventing over 48,000 crossing attempts and seizing 1,100 boats and engines since the election. But we must go further, which is why we are boosting the number of officers on the ground in France and removing the pull factors drawing people here through illegal and dangerous routes.”
