UK orders urgent review after migrant boats land on Kent shore
UK Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has ordered an urgent review after two boats carrying hundreds of illegal migrants reached the UK shore on two consecutive days this week. Mahmood said it was "not acceptable" that the UK Border Force had failed to stop the boats before they reached the Kent coast on Monday and Tuesday.
The move came after the Border Security Command detained 21 people following a boat arrival on the beach at Samphire Hoe in Dover. Uncontrolled landings of this kind are rare, with most migrants crossing the English Channel from France usually brought to shore by Border Security Command or Royal National Lifeboat Institution boats.
"Our improved monitoring has led to uncontrolled crossings becoming incredibly rare, but even one is one too many," Mahmood said. "That is why I have ordered an urgent review by the Border Security Command into how this happened, and what must be done to ensure it doesn't happen again," she said.
Amid criticism from the Opposition Conservatives, Mahmood said new tactics used by people smugglers, including launching small boats from much further west in France, were "a reminder of two things".
"Firstly, these gangs have no regard for human life. They are putting people on increasingly long and dangerous crossings. Secondly, our efforts are having an impact. We are making it much harder for gangs to launch vessels, forcing them to change their approach, and as a result we are significantly reducing the numbers coming here by small boat," she said.
Before this week's developments, records showed only one small boat carrying illegal migrants had landed ashore without an escort, in September last year.
A UK government spokesperson said: "Border Security Command officers alongside Kent police have been responding to an incident in Dover." The spokesperson added: "Twenty-one individuals have already been detained under a swift enforcement response. There is a thorough investigation ongoing and it would be inappropriate to comment further."
UK shadow home secretary Chris Philp described the landings as a "complete free for all" and said the Labour government had lost track of who was coming into the country. "Our border security has descended into chaos, with illegal immigrants crossing at will over ever larger distances and in ever larger boats. This latest fiasco shows that the French are not even trying to stop the illegal immigrants' boats in French waters; instead, they are escorting them here," Philp said.
An estimated 17,784 migrants have arrived in the UK illegally after crossing the Channel in small boats so far this year. However, the total for 2026 is down 45 per cent compared to last year, a point the Prime Minister Andy Burnham-led government is keen to highlight as it faces questions over the latest landings.
The review was ordered after two consecutive uncontrolled boat arrivals on the Kent coast, with 21 people detained in Dover, as the government defended its response and the Opposition attacked its handling of border security.
