French surge unit to stop migrant mega-dinghies… won’t be in place for weeks

New French surge teams will help tackle the launch of migrant mega-dinghies like the one that brought 120 asylum seekers to Portsmouth at the weekend – but they may not be in place for weeks. Andy Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron last week announced plans to deploy 45 officers to Western beaches in France to tackle launches from further along the coast, nearly tripling resources in the area. But they were not in place in time to stop a boat carrying around 120 migrants that arrived in Portsmouth, triggering controversial demonstrations. Protesters, including some with far-right links, dressed in black and wearing balaclavas, blocked roads to stop the asylum seekers from leaving. Shorts The Home Office is still unable to say when the new surge unit will be in place beyond that it will become operational in the next few weeks. Officers in the surge unit will also be unable to intervene to stop boats when they are in the sea, but ministers hope that by tackling people smugglers further upstream along the migration route, they can clamp down on mega-dinghy launches. After the rare landing in Portsmouth, it will stoke concerns that people smugglers may continue to try and exploit new routes, after Sunday’s dinghy was launched from Cherbourg in the Bay of Seine, about 170 miles from Calais where most small boats usually set off for Dover. It is thought to have made one of the longest journeys of any small boat, and landings as far west as Hampshire are rare, but officials believe it is a sign of new tactics. While small boat crossings are down 43 per cent this year, people smugglers launching bigger dinghies in recent weeks has sparked fresh protests in the UK. Some eight boats carrying 625 people arrived in the UK having crossed the English Channel on Sunday, Home Office data shows, including the mega-dinghy picked up by lifeboats near the Isle of Wight and brought to shore in Portsmouth. Official vehicles were damaged and a handful of police officers injured during a stand-off with around 200 anti-migration protesters after the asylum seekers were brought to shore, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary said. The force has launched an investigation into potential assaults and criminal damage after the activists attempted to block migrants being driven away from Portsmouth overnight on Sunday. Portsmouth City Council leader Steve Pitt heavily criticised the decision to bring lifeboats carrying migrants to shore in the city, claiming it had “put people at risk” and caused “needless disruption”. He said the Home Office has “serious questions to answer” after an “unsuitable” location was chosen to disembark the RNLI boats carrying the 120 or so migrants on Sunday. The founder of a group of protesters who were condemned after blocking roads in Dover on Saturday was also on the scene in Portsmouth. Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, is an associate of Tommy Robinson and defended protesters wearing masks because “no-one wants to be labelled far right”. He confronted Reform UK’s Zia Yusuf in Portsmouth on Monday, telling him that the party’s leader Nigel Farage needs to be “careful with his words” after he labelled demonstrators at the controversial Unite the Kingdom rally in London earlier this year “knuckle-draggers”. On Monday, Farage said: “Masked marches on the streets of Dover, and a huge, spontaneous protest on the streets of Portsmouth last night… You’d be right in thinking that this country is now on the edge of serious civil disturbance.” He added: “But let me please say this: people wearing masks, dressed up in a similar type uniform to a paramilitary, is not going to solve this problem.”