Labour was last night accused of losing control of the border after an unescorted migrant boat reached British shores.
A dinghy carrying up to seven migrants evaded French and Home Office patrols in the Channel and landed on a rocky shoreline near Folkestone, Kent.
There were unconfirmed reports that several migrants absconded before police and immigration officers arrived at the scene.
Senior Home Office officials have previously stressed their top priority is to prevent so-called ‘uncontrolled landings’ because of the risk posed by migrants who vanish into the country on arrival.
However, five occupants of yesterday’s dinghy were apprehended only after a GB News producer alerted the authorities about an unaccompanied vessel speeding towards Britain. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said the incident was a serious border security breach.
‘Illegal immigrants are now landing in our coast at will,’ the Conservative frontbencher said.
‘Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has completely lost control of our border.
‘Uncontrolled landings mean unvetted migrants can roam free. Illegal immigrants in the past have included terror suspects and convicted rapists.’
A dinghy full of migrants has arrived in Britain undetected by Border Force, and some are believed to have escaped before police arrived on scene in Folkestone
Three migrants were approached by a GB News producer who persuaded them not to run away
He added: ‘This incident raises serious questions about Border Force’s operations in the Channel, and why this small boat got through unchallenged.
‘This is not Border Force, it’s a border farce.’
Witnesses said the small boat was carrying at least seven migrants, and that several ran off after landing just off the Warren nature reserve, east of Folkestone, yesterday morning.
The Home Office said five migrants had been detained.
It was the first known uncontrolled landing by a migrant boat in more than a year. Five people were detained at Kingsdown beach, near Dover, last September. Before that, there had been no similar breaches since December 2022. It was unclear how the vessel avoided detection during yesterday’s journey from northern France, a minimum of 21 miles depending on its launch point.
Just two weeks ago there was widespread concern after a mega-dinghy with 120 migrants aboard reached Portsmouth from Normandy, hundreds of miles from the usual transit point between Calais and Dover.
French officials predicted ‘far more’ dinghies would attempt such dangerous long-distance routes in the coming weeks.
The Portsmouth mega-dinghy prompted ugly scenes as protesters clashed with police. A senior French interior ministry source said at the time that the ‘geographical focus of the people smugglers is definitely changing’ because French beach patrols were making the Calais route more difficult.
There were unconfirmed reports that several migrants absconded before police and immigration officers arrived at the scene
In August, a record 230 migrants arrived on one dinghy, more than the capacity of a Boeing 737 jet.
Migrants with organised crime connections will be keen to avoid being held by the authorities after arriving in Britain, one insider told the Daily Mail last night.
And any who have previously been deported from this country – including those returned to France under Labour’s controversial ‘one in, one out’ scheme – will also look to give immigration officials the slip. So far this year 17,480 small-boat migrants have reached Britain.
The total does not include the occupants of another dinghy, thought to number about 70, who arrived in a separate incident yesterday.
The running total for the year is down 46 per cent on the same point last year.
Home Secretary Ms Mahmood has claimed Channel weather conditions have had no effect on arrivals, in a bid to attribute the fall to Labour’s policies.
But this was confounded by official Home Office data published this month.
The number of days when weather was favourable for illegal dinghy crossings – dubbed ‘red days’ by officials – was 110 between January and the end of August. That is down 11 per cent on the same point last year, when there were 123 red days, indicating that it is partly responsible for the fall in overall numbers.
A Home Office spokesman disputed claims that any migrants fled the scene in Folkestone yesterday, adding: ‘This was an isolated and rare incident. Officers responded quickly, detaining all five individuals on board.
‘There is an ongoing investigation and it would be inappropriate to comment further.’
