Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has condemned the police escort given to illegal immigrants arriving in Gosport in Hampshire, declaring that a Reform government would not be “rolling out the red carpet like this”.
Around 149 illegal immigrants were brought ashore at Haslar Marina aboard two RNLI lifeboats late on Sunday, 4th October, after crossing the Channel from France. Video footage shared on social media shows coaches leaving under police escort, flanked by police cars and motorbike outriders with blue lights flashing.
Around 149 illegal immigrants were brought ashore at Haslar Marina aboard two RNLI lifeboats late on Sunday, 4th October, after crossing the Channel from France. Video footage shared on social media shows coaches leaving under police escort, flanked by police cars and motorbike outriders with blue lights flashing.
“150 illegal migrants have landed in Gosport. This is the escort they received,” Farage said. “You’d think the Prime Minister was passing through!”
“A Reform government will not be rolling out the red carpet like this. Every Channel migrant will be returned to France and these men will be detained and deported.”
Reform Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf, who visited Gosport today, also attacked the response. “In Gosport, another boat with 149 illegals on board was welcomed by Burnham’s government with the kind of state power normally reserved for Presidents of foreign nations,” he said.
Yusuf accused the government of provoking unrest through its kid-gloved handling of migrant arrivals, and its strongarm response to protests.
“Andy Burnham is laying on police escorts. We’ve gone from ‘Stop the Boats’ to ‘Smash the Gangs’ to laying on police escorts and smashing dissent,” he said.
“I call this state-sponsored incitement. It is inciting disorder.”
The arrivals follow another incident last month, when protesters gathered in Gosport expecting an illegal immigrant boat to dock. Its passengers were ultimately taken to Dover instead. The latest crossing is the third from the Normandy area within a month.
Yusuf pledged to deploy the Royal Navy to prevent further arrivals.
“As Home Secretary, I would ensure our Navy would not sit idly by and watch this tragedy unfold,” he said.
“They’ll be ordered into the Channel with clear orders to see to it that not a single one of these unauthorised vessels makes it to our shores.”
“A Reform government will not be rolling out the red carpet like this. Every Channel migrant will be returned to France and these men will be detained and deported.”
Reform Shadow Home Secretary Zia Yusuf, who visited Gosport today, also attacked the response. “In Gosport, another boat with 149 illegals on board was welcomed by Burnham’s government with the kind of state power normally reserved for Presidents of foreign nations,” he said.
Yusuf accused the government of provoking unrest through its kid-gloved handling of migrant arrivals, and its strongarm response to protests.
“Andy Burnham is laying on police escorts. We’ve gone from ‘Stop the Boats’ to ‘Smash the Gangs’ to laying on police escorts and smashing dissent,” he said.
“I call this state-sponsored incitement. It is inciting disorder.”
The arrivals follow another incident last month, when protesters gathered in Gosport expecting an illegal immigrant boat to dock. Its passengers were ultimately taken to Dover instead. The latest crossing is the third from the Normandy area within a month.
Yusuf pledged to deploy the Royal Navy to prevent further arrivals.
“As Home Secretary, I would ensure our Navy would not sit idly by and watch this tragedy unfold,” he said.
“They’ll be ordered into the Channel with clear orders to see to it that not a single one of these unauthorised vessels makes it to our shores.”
