Police reveal staggering cost of Gosport migrant protest as Hampshire could face bill of £1 million a month
Protest over small boat arriving in Gosport saw 11 different police units called upon
The Hampshire Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC) has revealed the staggering cost of policing Sunday’s protest after 149 migrants were brought ashore in Gosport.
Donna Jones has called for reimbursement from the Home Office after the police operation to manage the protest on October 4 saw 11 police units brought in from six different police forces. The PCC advised that it cost Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary over £200,000 to police the 350 protestors who gathered in Gosport and warned that it could cost the county £1 million a month if it continues to escalate.
She said: “This is a significant ongoing problem for Hampshire & Isle of Wight Constabulary. Every time a small boat is coming into Hampshire the Home Office are trying to land them on the shoreline, in this case in Gosport, and what that has resulted in is large scale protests.
“We have had 11 different police support units coming from six different police forces. It will have cost over £200,000 on Sunday alone. There will be more protests coming across Hampshire as a consequence of this. I can ill afford to be spending in total what could be escalating to nearly £1m a month.
“I am asking Home Secretary to be doing two things. One she needs to be compensating me for the cost of policing the protest in Hampshire and the Isle of Wight and secondly I am asking her to make sure that UK Border Force have the right vessels to be landing people from the water straight down to Dover and not bring them to the coastline along Southern England and Hampshire.”
12 people were arrested on Sunday with police issuing a Section 34 dispersal order covering the town.
Following Donna Jones’ comments there was criticism of the use of the Section 34 and the police’s response to the protest. Reform MP Suella Braverman wrote to the PCC calling the Section 34 “extensive” and “unfair”.
Cllr Paul Carter, Reform UK Gosport group leader, echoed Ms Braverman’s comments. He said; “I am appalled by the police's overuse of the recent Section 34 dispersal order. Gosport residents deserve to know why a town of over 80,000 people were subjected to such sweeping and extraordinary measures, leaving residents unable to access their own homes and local businesses stripped of customers.
“Sunday's operation cost taxpayers over £200,000, pulling in officers from six different forces, some of whom worked gruelling 19-hour shifts. This follows closely on the heels of another £250,000 spent policing Gosport and Eastney last month.
“Where is the transparency? Who authorised this, and what is the final bill? It is deeply frustrating to see hundreds of officers transported into Gosport at enormous expense when our town has been starved of an operational police station and manned CCTV for years.
“We need answers. Gosport Borough Council is still waiting for a response from the Home Office regarding this issue. We cannot afford a repeat of these events, which have severely impacted our community.”