Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps the Government is taking to increase the number of patrol boats available to Border Force for use in the English Channel.

Border Force constantly review their maritime capabilities and currently have two coastal patrol vessels and one cutter available for the English Channel. In light of recent events they have stepped up deployments along the South-East coast.

Clandestine entry to the UK is not an issue that can be solved by coastal patrols alone, so Border Force cooperate closely with their French counterparts to counter clandestine activity at source and continue to encourage maritime communities to report suspicious activity in the English Channel.