Britain’s very open borders

Having just 3 boats to patrol coast is a security gamble, says ex-Navy chief

BRITAIN’s borders are at risk from terrorists and uncontrolled flows of migrants because so few boats patrol UK waters, a former head of the Royal Navy warned yesterday.

Just three Border Force vessels patrol 7,700 miles of coastline after another was deployed to the Aegean Sea to tackle the migrant crisis.

The situation, described by Admiral Lord West as a ‘complete mess’, comes after aerial surveillance of Britain’s shores was scrapped in January to save money.

Both Britain’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency and HM Revenue & Customs officials are said to be ‘deeply concerned’ that the UK has not got control of its territorial waters, it can be revealed.

If hundreds more migrants start to take advantage of the sea route from Calais, Britain could be reliant on private vessels to conduct rescue missions.

Lord West, who was a security minister under Gordon Brown, told the Daily Mail: ‘We are taking a calculated risk with our own territorial waters.

‘Already we have seen these illegal immigrants and I don’t believe there aren’t clever traffickers using the smaller ports to send them and I’m sure terrorists are aware of the route too.

‘We need to get a grip on this. We are taking a gamble that nothing will ever happen in our seas and that is a risky view to take given the dangerous world we are in.’

Home Secretary Theresa May was earlier accused of blocking publicity about a migrant mission off Libya for fear of exposing the strain the operation placed on the UK’s ability to protect its shores.

Two Border Force cutters, 163ftlong HMC Protector and HMC Seeker, which is 22ft shorter, were deployed to the Mediterranean along with the Royal Navy ship HMS Bulwark last May.

The cutters, with at least 12 crew, are normally operated to protect UK waters and coastline, intercepting drug shipments and other restricted or prohibited goods being trafficked by sea.

But they were sent to the Mediterranean on a five- month deployment agreed with the EU’s border security agency Frontex to help the EU combat the migrant crisis.

They were involved in the rescue of 1,650 migrants in total, and intercepted 26 suspected people smugglers. The cutters returned in September but Mrs May had to supply another boat to support Frontex’s Operation Triton.

In a sign of a lack of spare capacity, the Home Office chartered a civilian vessel for the operation. VOS Grace was sent to the Mediterranean on November 5.

Then in March, David Cameron announced another two Border Force cutters would join a Nato mission in the Aegean to reduce the flow of migrants from Turkey to Europe.

In the event only one was sent, leaving three currently on operation in UK waters.

The Government has previously admitted that of the five cutters in the fleet, only four are operational at any one time while the fifth is being refitted.

Lord West said: ‘It is a complete mess. I’ve asked which government department is responsible for the surveillance and security of our territorial areas and I think the answer is nobody.’

When he was a security minister Lord West established a monitor- ing centre to combat threats to the UK from the sea by combining the efforts of different government agencies.

He said: ‘I set up a national maritime centre so that we would know what risks and threats were coming into our waters, whether illegal migrants or terrorists.

And it is not clear who this department links to, it is not satisfactory.’

One Royal Navy ship is at ‘high readiness’ in UK waters and could be tasked with a mission if necessary.

But Lord West added: ‘If we are sending a British ship into Libyan waters it will be interesting to see if this ship stays there.’

The Government has previously claimed that ‘ national security’ prevents it from discussing how the UK’s borders are secured when not all of the Border Force fleet is protecting the UK.

A report earlier this year revealed Britain’s borders are almost undefended against terrorists and criminals using small boats and planes.

David Bolt, the Chief Inspector of Borders, disclosed failings which could give back-door entry to jihadists.

The report admits that there is ‘no reliable data for the number of general maritime arrivals in the UK’ and ‘no systematic collection of information about any aspect of general maritime’.

Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons home affairs select committee, called for more patrol vessels in British waters after the latest arrival by boat, which he called ‘extremely worrying’.

He said: ‘The deployment of cutters in the Channel must now be a priority. We need to have zero tolerance in the war against people trafficking.’

‘We need to get a grip on this’