£250,000 spent on policing Gosport and Portsmouth anti-migrant protests amid fears of "more to come"
Crime commissioner had previously urged government to transfer migrants via water
Over £250,000 was spent on policing migrant protests in Gosport and Portsmouth this month with the crime commissioner admitting she is “very concerned” over illegal immigration while fearing there is “more to come”.
Angry protesters gathered in Gosport on Tuesday evening after news spread a migrant boat was set to arrive on the shore. It led to riot police, including officers from London, being drafted in to maintain order.
But amid a furious backlash, the dinghy of 51 migrants never landed at the Gosport shore as Border Force vessels were hastily forced to intervene and transfer the asylum seekers via the Channel to Dover.
The migrants arrived in Dover at 12.30am after being at sea for 33 hours as the government was left with egg on its face after the abrupt change of plan. Local politicians and authorities had been unaware of the vessel being headed to Gosport for a pre-planned disembarkation.
Despite migrants not landing in Gosport - where coaches were waiting ready to take them to Kent for processing - tensions still flared in the area with six people arrested over disorder.
It follows the first ever illegal migrant crossing to Hampshire after migrants were brought ashore in Eastney on September 6 leading to a 10-hour protest before 120 migrants were eventually transferred by road to Dover. A number of protesters were arrested with some of those since being charged and appearing in court.
The unprecedented migrant crossings to Portsmouth and Gosport has hit the local economy with crime commissioner Donna Jones revealing policing costs soared to £250,000 to deal with both protests - with her fearing more illegal immigration to the area.
She said: “This is a really worrying escalation. We are now seeing people smugglers using the French northern coastline across Normandy beaches which gives them a direct line towards Portsmouth and the Hampshire coastline to bring people into this country illegally.
“The Home Office have been looking at sites to land people - not to process - somewhere across Hampshire for the last week. A police security assessment went back strongly to say Gosport is not an acceptable location. More sites are now being considered.”
Ms Jones also poured scorn on the government’s decision to attempt to bring the migrants ashore once again after tensions erupted in Portsmouth earlier this month when asylum seekers arrived. “Why not transfer people on UK Border Force vessels straight to Dover via water?” she said.
“Why create further consternation and tension and protest and public money from policing wasted when ultimately you need to transfer the illegal immigrants on coaches to Dover for processing anyway. How about you just do it on the water.
“It sends a really clear message to people smugglers that ultimate people are ending up in Dover and this is not bypassing the system.”
Ms Jones’ attempts to contact the Home Office and home secretary Shabana Mahmood about her concerns fell on deaf ears with the minister failing to “respond in any way”.
The crime commissioner said her role is to ensure an “effective and efficient police service” yet “£250,000 has come out of my budget in the last 15 days on the additional fallout from uncontrolled immigration into this country”.
Ms Jones said she was “very concerned” and added: “I think there’s more to come.”