New border fleet not ready until 2018
A NEW fleet of Border Force patrol vessels to tackle bids to smuggle immigrants into Britain will not be fully deployed until 2018.
Home Secretary Theresa May has ordered eight 20-metre rigid-hulled inflatable boats.
But ministers faced anger yesterday after it emerged that the fleet, which will patrol Britain’s 7,000-mile coastline, will not be completely operational until 2018.
That will be almost two years after new Chief Inspector of Borders David Bolt warned that the UK’s small ports, remote beaches and secluded coves were an easy target for people smugglers.
There was also fury that the Border Force, which replaced the failed UK Border Agency in 2013, has seen its budget slashed. It was given £558million to spend this year – down nearly £50million from £604million in just three years.
The first boat in the multi-million-pound order will be in place by midsummer, said the Home Office – but it is unlikely to be on patrol before the EU referendum on June 23.
The fleet will complement Border Force’s squadron of five cutter vessels – three of which currently operate in UK waters – either in collaboration with them or independently.
Last night Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the Commons’ home affairs committee, said: ‘This development defies belief. The migration crisis will not wait for these vessels to be fully operational. It shows a lack of planning and preparation and a woeful failure of management.’
Chris Hobbs, a former Scotland Yard border control officer, said: ‘It is shambolic. We need them now because the problem of migrants risking their lives sailing across the Channel is happening now.’ Meanwhile a whistleblowing Border Force insider told Sky News: ‘Morale is very low among staff – that’s what staff we do have. According to the Director General we are the best Border Force in the world. What a joke.’
Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said: ‘Our investments and improvements have left us with one of the most secure borders in the world. But we know we must go further.’