Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether he has considered deploying military assets to assist the Border Force in preventing illegal maritime entry into the UK.

The Home Office is the lead Government Department responsible for border security and migration. It has established the Border Security Command to strengthen global partnerships and enhance the UK’s efforts to investigate, arrest, and prosecute people smugglers profiting from the dangerous movement of people across the channel. This continues to incorporate the lessons identified by Defence when it had primacy for migration operations in the channel, including the procurement and use of task-specific assets.

Defence assets are procured for Defence tasks and are therefore not optimised for the issue the hon. Member raises. These assets play a critical part in preserving UK maritime security through shadowing and monitoring warships transiting the UK Exclusive Economic Zone or territorial waters.