Right-wing activist Danny Tommo has started filming from the Channel

A migrant dinghy is said to be heading towards the UK from Normandy after spending more than 24 hours at sea.

The boat, which is being shadowed by a French coastguard vessel - thought to be the Abeille Liberte - left the French coast on Monday morning.

The dinghy is now approaching the Channel boundary line according to ship tracking data, and appears to have set off close to the village of Vierville-sur-Mer, west of Bayeux.

The last time a migrant boat left Normandy it was landed at Eastney after Southampton and Portsmouth harbours denied access. The arrival saw protests in Ferry Road in Eastney on September 6, which have led to several court appearances. That boat was met by the RNLI, having set off from near Cherbourg.

There has been no indication where this boat may land.

Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, claimed on social media he was going into the Channel to find the boat.

Pictured: Danny Tommo, confronting Zia Yusuf, of Reform UK, the day after the migrants were brought to shore in Eastney, Portsmouth. | Contributed

placeholder image — Pictured: Danny Tommo, confronting Zia Yusuf, of Reform UK, the day after the migrants were brought to shore in Eastney, Portsmouth. | Contributed

Mr Thomas – the founder of anti-migration group Patriot Platform and an associate of political activist Tommy Robinson – was a leader of the Portsmouth protest and organised the Dover demonstration.

He posted a YouTube livestream on Tuesday of himself on a high-speed boat at sea.

Departures as far west as Normandy are rare. The September 6 landing is thought to have made one of the longest journeys of any small boat. Officials said at the time they believed it was a one-off rather than a sign of new tactics.

Earlier on Tuesday, a minister insisted the UK’s borders are secure after a migrant boat reached the Kent coast without being intercepted. Five people were detained and passed to Border Security Command after the dinghy made it to shore at Folkestone on Monday – the first undetected landing for a year.

Defence minister Luke Pollard dismissed suggestions the Government had lost control of the border.

“Our borders are secure, but we want to make them stronger,” he told LBC Radio.

Asked how the boat slipped through, Mr Pollard said a Home Office investigation was under way to determine what had happened, without going into detail. The thousands of migrants crossing the Channel are usually brought to shore by Border Security Command or RNLI boats.

No small boat arrivals to the UK coast without an escort have been officially recorded since September 6, 2025.

Some 17,480 migrants have arrived after crossing the Channel by boat so far this year, including 5,011 since Andy Burnham became prime minister. The 2026 total is down 46 per cent on the same point last year.