Dover and Portsmouth: Protests
06 Sep 2026 · Commons Chamber · 61 speeches · Official record
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At the weekend we saw masked men, dressed all in black, block roads, block a port and intimidate people in Dover and Portsmouth. We know that a large proportion of the people arrested at other disorderly anti-migrant protests had already been reported for domestic abuse. In fact, the leader of this weekend’s protest, Danny Thomas, spent two years in prison for trying to kidnap someone at knifepoint. Does the Minister agree that this is not about a legitimate policy debate? The men who decide to ... Full speech
I thank hon. Members who share my disgust at the sight of intimidating, fascistic gangs and squads of men in black on our streets in Dover and Portsmouth, but the roots of organised violence are political and this needs a political response. So does the Minister agree with me that it is time to start naming hard-right and fascist politics when we see it, recognise how frightening this is for people in our communities, and stand up to the racists on our streets and here in the Chamber, rather tha... Full speech
May I pay tribute to the brave lifeboat volunteers from Bembridge, on the Isle of Wight, who responded to the migrant crossing yesterday? The Isle of Wight is more than just a little bit west of Kent. This is a really concerning development, a potential failure to contain the geography of small boat crossings. The Minister likes to talk about the reduction in numbers, but what assessment has she made of this potential new development in where people smugglers are willing to operate from? In this... Full speech
While we condemn any violence against the police, we cannot ignore the deep public anger, frustration and outrage over the illegal migration now seen across Britain. No one voted for this, yet the boats keep coming and they are no longer small. Will the Government finally declare a state of emergency in the English channel? Full speech
No small boats arrived on Hayling island or in any other part of my constituency yesterday. Nevertheless, residents are concerned, and agree with me that anyone who enters the UK illegally should be deported within a week and banned from claiming asylum. Does the Minister also agree, and will she and the Home Secretary meet me, and other Members on both sides of the House, to explain the police and Home Office responses, and why Labour has lost control of our borders? Full speech
I am grateful that it is the Policing Minister who is making this statement. I have spoken to North Yorkshire police, and there is a proposal for RAF Linton-on-Ouse to be made into an asylum centre. The trouble is that calling it an “asylum centre on a military site” does not paint what it is. It is just a mass hotel, because people are free to come and go, and they will all be men. The Home Secretary said in a statement that she would not allow an asylum hotel anywhere near a primary school or ... Full speech
I thank my hon. Friend for the work that she is doing, and I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan), who is in his place today, but cannot speak as he is a Minister. I have spoken to him about the conversations he has been having with local businesses, local individuals and the local police. My hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) is absolutely right that there were people who were concerned about what they are seeing, but they ... Full speech
How is that far-right thugs in balaclavas were able to close Britain’s busiest port without the police receiving any prior intelligence? How is it that an apparently separate group with some commonalities was then able to blockade another site the next evening? Will the Minister tell the House whether she will review why the police were caught off guard? More shockingly still-or perhaps just as shockingly-no arrests have been reported. People have drawn comparisons this weekend with the hundreds... Full speech
Of course people are scared and angry about the fact that, as they see it, the borders are not secure. As the right hon. and learned Lady will know from her time in the Home Office, we have come some way since then, and have improved the system significantly. More than 1,000 boats and engines have been seized, system-wide arrests are up by 70%, 48,000 crossings have been prevented, there has been a 40% increase in French boots on the ground, and we have increased surveillance technology. There h... Full speech
There was no two-tier policing in this situation. My hon. Friend is right to say that if people hold banners supporting a proscribed terrorist organisation, they will get arrested, and she is right to say that the protests were not spontaneous. The Dover incident was obviously planned, and was obviously a tactic by a nasty organisation called Patriot Platform or South-East Patriots-I think it calls itself various different things. No notice was given to the police-that is why it was described as... Full speech
If the centre does not take action, nasty extremes will take over. The fact is that we are in acute danger. These people can now launch from anywhere on the north French coast and are escorted to our shores. Frankly, we are being invaded, and the public are completely fed up. There is only one solution, and that was put to the Minister by the shadow Home Secretary. There is no deterrent. They know they will not be deported. We have to get out of these outdated conventions, detain immediately and... Full speech
My hon. Friend is right: we cannot normalise this kind of behaviour, nor will we. It would not be right for any Government to do so. What we saw in Dover involving Patriot Platform, a far-right group engaging in a lot of racism and thuggery and disrupting people’s daily lives, cannot be tolerated. Of course, we will always ensure that the police have the resources that they need. We recently legislated for new powers for the police to insist that people remove their face coverings at protests, b... Full speech
With permission, I will make a statement on public order following the protest activity seen on the south coast this weekend. I know many in this House, and outside, will have been concerned by the events of the past two days, and I welcome the opportunity to set out what happened, as well as to update Members on the action that the Government are taking to address the issues at the heart of the protests. It is right to begin with the facts. At around 7.30 on Saturday morning, around 150 individ... Full speech
The RNLI does an incredibly difficult job in dangerous circumstances, and we are grateful for the work that its people do. I am also grateful to my hon. Friend for making that point in this House. As for any of the plans going forward, we are reducing the numbers and we are reducing the hotels, which are massively down. We are reducing the incentives for people to come here, and we are making sure that we are removing people as quickly as possible. I am sure that the Minister responsible would b... Full speech
Does the Minister acknowledge the seriousness of what we are now witnessing: organised militia-like groups of masked men taking to the streets, stopping cars, confronting members of the public and leaving ethnic minority communities terrified in their own towns? Will she plainly say what action, if indeed any, will be taken against these vigilante groups? What responsibility does she believe politicians in this House bear when inflammatory claims of an invasion translate into terror on our stree... Full speech
There is absolutely nothing that the Government have said that would suggest we do not understand the level of anger about the state of the country in which the right hon. Gentleman left us, and we have a big job to do. We of course understand the level of anger, but this Government are doing the hard work of restoring control at our border and fairness in our migration system, and no rhetoric from the right hon. Member-who does not have a leg to stand on, given his own personal involvement in t... Full speech
I thank the shadow Home Secretary for the start of his remarks; I think we would all agree that the right to protest should never be violently exercised. We all agree that it is not just protesters who feel angry about the current system, and we are doing all that we can to bear down on it and change what we inherited. I know that the shadow Home Secretary was in France-we all saw and enjoyed the videos over the summer. He claims that the weather accounts for the improved situation we find ourse... Full speech
Yesterday afternoon, MPs across the Solent region were scrambling for reliable information with complete radio silence from the Home Office. As a result, we were not in a position to calm fear and tension. We still know very little about this extraordinary mega-dinghy turning up on our shores. This is not just west a little bit from Dover; this is halfway down the south coast. Will criminal gangs launch more small boats in the direction of Hampshire? Will the Minister share that intelligence wit... Full speech
This is a sad day for Portsmouth. My city saw peaceful protests turn into disorder last night with people coming from outside the city, some wearing face coverings, to intimidate those working on land and sea and to damage police vehicles. This morning, I spoke with residents, including one elderly resident who attended the protest because she felt so strongly about it. She and so many others are angry and worried about small boat crossings into the UK. They are now on our doorstep, and that res... Full speech
The hon. Gentleman asked about the lack of intelligence. It would not be appropriate for the Government to comment on specific intelligence matters in these cases, but we are of course looking at all decisions that were taken, and we will learn any lessons. The two events happened on consecutive days, and there was crossover in the online activity, but they were very different. One was clearly organised by a group called the South-East Patriots, which I think is part of Patriot Platform, which i... Full speech
We should be opposed to gangs wherever we find them, whether they are gangs of smugglers or mass gangs in Southampton and Dover, and I wish that this House was a little more united in its resolve to oppose both types of gang. Peaceful protest strengthens our democracy; what weakens our democracy is intimidation and the abuse that we have seen. This Government passed the Crime and Policing Act 2026 because we wanted to tackle concealment linked to criminality. Those powers apply in police-designa... Full speech
First, just to clarify, I do not think I said there was a lack of intelligence; I said I did not want to comment on the intelligence-there is a difference. In the case of Dover, the police had not been informed of the protest. That is not to say there was not intelligence that I cannot comment on or would not know about. I just want to be clear about that, as that is different. Of course, all crimes need to be punished. We need to ensure that people who commit vile sexual and violent offences go... Full speech
One image in 2015 changed public opinion. It was of a toddler, Alan Kurdi, a two-year-old whose frail body washed up on the shore with his face buried in the sand. That changed public opinion, because as humans-and as a nation-we are compassionate. Some 250,000 Ukrainians came into this country, and we allowed them to utilise our services, but there seems to be selective outrage in this House. Does the Minister agree that we need proper safe routes that can prevent the exploitation by criminals ... Full speech
It is not appropriate for me to comment on the intelligence and the situation, and who is or who is not going to be charged with these two incidents. We do not know enough at this point. The police are operationally independent for good reason and politicians should not be involved in that day-to-day process. Are we looking at the threats that we face in this country, of which there are many? Of course. Is the Home Secretary alive to all of those threats and doing everything she can with all the... Full speech
As I said earlier, I cannot comment on the intelligence situation of what happened with these two incidents, but we will of course learn lessons. What we knew in advance, and what was or was not done about that, will be a very important lesson for us to learn. As well as the intelligence that the local police are able to gather, we now have the national co-ordination of the NPCC, which has extra resources for things such as internet intelligence investigations. We can reach further and co-ordina... Full speech
We are not pandering to the right-wing agenda at all. The police will come down hard on criminality, as we would expect. No one was arrested in Dover on Saturday, or in Portsmouth, but as I just said, the police will review all the evidence from the weekend. Where crimes have occurred, they will make the appropriate arrests. Full speech
Will the Minister give us an assurance that the Home Office will turn its attention to the growth of far-right organisations across the country and the racist activities they undertake? The people who arrived in Dover and Portsmouth behaved in a violent, disgraceful and racist manner, including abusing RNLI volunteers. Will she also recognise that the plight of refugees all across Europe is a serious human rights disaster, and we do need co-operation between all Governments across Europe to ensu... Full speech
When a Reform UK councillor says that Nigerians should be “melted down to fill in the potholes”, and an ex-Reform councillor had to resign because they used racial slurs against a black family, I am disgusted at their overt racism. Does the Minister agree with me that the racist Reform UK and the ethno-nationalist Restore Britain are contributing to the scenes we have seen in Dover and Portsmouth? Full speech
The Minister said that there was a lack of intelligence in Dover, and I am sure she was not referring to the local MP-the hon. Member for Dover and Deal (Mike Tapp)-but is she aware that, since this illegal invasion started, hundreds of young girls have been raped in our country? We have had an 80-year-old man raped, a young girl in Ashfield raped and a 14-year-old boy raped, so does she understand why people in this country are so furious and taking to the streets? Does she understand? Full speech
Over the past year or so, Poole has seen planned protests by groups calling themselves patriots that have been travelling to the town and specifically targeting the RNLI headquarters because they, like firefighters and other emergency crews, rescue those at sea without fear or favour. Concerns have been raised with me that no arrests were made this weekend, despite serious intimidation, injuries to the police and criminal damage, in sharp contrast to the treatment of elderly people holding placa... Full speech
Order. Given that we have such a tight schedule tonight, could the Minister shorten her answers a bit? Full speech
I was in Portsmouth harbour this morning, near Eastney marina, speaking to local people in Fareham and Waterlooville. This is the message that they wanted me to send the Government. They are terrified, furious and desperate. They are not far-right racists. Only last week, a migrant man was arrested on suspicion of raping a 14-year-old boy in the area, and what are the Government doing? They are handing out leaflets to illegal migrants, asking them not to rape British girls and women. The Governm... Full speech
I suspect the right hon. Gentleman has already had conversations with immigration Ministers about this particular case, and I suspect he is making the same arguments to them. I would not want to get in the way of that, and I am sure the relevant Minister would be happy to have those conversations. We need to bear down on the overall number of arrivals, which is what we are trying to do. We are not just closing the hotels, but reducing the number of arrivals and reducing the incentives for people... Full speech
The sight of massed far-right thugs causing mayhem and disruption on the English south coast was as nauseating as it was frightening, and it was so reminiscent of a dark period in our history that we thought was long behind us. Does the Minister agree that the growth of the far right is the most dangerous development in our politics, and if so, when will the Government start to take it seriously? There were no arrests at all over the weekend, and there is no real challenge to the disinformation ... Full speech
The sight of the Government escorting illegal migrants into Portsmouth harbour, the home of the Royal Navy, was a national humiliation. Sometimes I wonder whether Members of this House have no appreciation of the level of anger there is in the country at the rapes, the murders and the billions being wasted that should be being spent on the British people. Will the Minister put the Royal Navy in the channel today to escort those illegals to France? As Reform proved on Saturday, that is operationa... Full speech
They are still coming, but they are coming at a 43% lower rate than they were, and the action we are taking is ensuring that we will keep going and keep building on the success we have had. We have the increased police resource in France, the changes to the asylum system and the way we are getting through the case backlog so that we can remove people from this country who have no right to be here or are foreign national offenders. All those things add up so that when the criminal gangs are looki... Full speech
The protest on Saturday caused widespread disruption across east Kent. It affected not just Dover residents and people travelling to the port, but communities further along the A20 and the M20, including those in my constituency. Some Opposition Members have failed to condemn the mob mentality. Does my hon. Friend agree that while we should always uphold the right to lawful and peaceful protest, the intimidating and unacceptable behaviour that we witnessed over the weekend was completely un-Brit... Full speech
I agree that we should not give them political legitimacy. Of course, there are well-known connections between violent men and the types of violence they inflict, and it is not always in one area; it can be across lots of different behaviours-sexual violence, domestic abuse and the rest. We have no truck with these awful groups, and the gentleman to whom my hon. Friend refers seems particularly awful. Of course, the police will do what they need to do. They need to disrupt and remove the protest... Full speech
The far right and the British fascists reared their ugly heads on the streets of Dover and Portsmouth this weekend. The protests were allegedly spontaneous, but hundreds of people were mobilised. They were dressed as fascists of the past, hiding their identity. Their behaviour was not just thuggish and intimidatory; it went far beyond that. Their protests were about hate, division and racism. Even though the police had powers, the protests went largely unchecked. Can the Minister tell us why the... Full speech
I thank my constituency neighbour, the Minister for Policing and Crime, for advance sight of her statement. I am sure that we all agree that the right to protest is a fundamental part of our democracy, but the right to protest should never be violently exercised or cause serious disruption to other people. I am sure all of us would equally condemn any form of protest where those guidelines are abused, and support the police in ensuring that protest, where it occurs, is lawful and peaceful. Howev... Full speech
No one voted for it multiple times, when they elected a Conservative Government promising to stop the boats, which did not happen. The number of people coming over this year is down 43% on last year so far. That is real progress. Is it enough? No. Will we go further? Yes. Full speech
I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson. Full speech
I thank the Minister for her extremely important statement. As we know, on Saturday, hundreds of masked men, dressed uniformly in black, travelled from around the country to Dover, blocked key roads around Britain’s busiest port, intimidated my constituents and caused disruption. This has been described as a “dummy run” by the group. It was not spontaneous; it was well organised. Will the Minister please ensure that the intelligence picture is strong enough that the police can respond accordingl... Full speech
The proportion of people being granted asylum has shrunk massively in the last few years, and we have removed more than 80,000 illegal migrants and foreign criminals from this country. We are improving the system and making the changes we need to make, and we will continue to do so. Full speech
With the greatest respect, I do not know if the right hon. Member was saying, “Frankly, we are being invaded” when his Government were in charge, when the number of people coming into this country was at an all-time high. When the shadow Home Secretary, my neighbour from Croydon, was in the Home Office, net migration was at an all-time high. The boats are down by 43% from last year to this year. [ Interruption. ] The Father of the House shakes his head, but that is just a fact. Full speech
On the one hand there is selective outrage, whataboutery, “let this sink in” and all the nonsense that people put on social media all the time. At the same time, there is a significant problem that we have to deal with. The two are true. We have to deal with the control at our borders, and we will bear down on that control to make sure we have what we need. At the same time, where there are malicious actors stirring up hatred and division, we have to-I would hope this House would-come together t... Full speech
As I have said, Labour is doing the hard work of restoring the control at our borders that was lost under the last Government. We have made progress, and we will continue to do everything we can to ensure that we have that control and have a fair system, and to ensure that those who are genuinely claiming asylum are given a safe haven on our shores, as we have done for many years. However, we will also reduce the incentives for people to claim asylum here, rather than in other places, and we wil... Full speech
It is a sad state of affairs when ordinary people feel compelled to take direct action against illegal immigration into our country as a result of successive Governments failing to stop the invasion of our country by illegal immigrants, aided by criminal gangs. Does the Minister not recognise the part that her Government continue to play in perpetuating the problem by housing those who come, by providing them with better health services than some people in our country can access and by setting s... Full speech
I thank the hon. Lady for the question, but I just disagree with her analysis. I think I have been very clear in calling out the racism we have seen. I have been very clear and straightforward in saying that, where criminal activity has occurred, the police should use the full force of the law. We have named far-right actors in this place today. If others do not do so, that is a matter for them, but thank goodness they are not in government currently. We will do everything we can. We can call ou... Full speech
Of course disruption was caused well beyond the immediate protest, because of the nature of the roads and the protest on the A20 and the surrounding roundabouts. That had a huge impact; a great many people wanting to go about their business were unable to do so. The police response, however, was good. The protest started at 7.30 am, and well before midday the protesters had been dispersed. The police established a gold command structure, as they do in such cases, declaring a major incident and e... Full speech
Anyone who is whipping up this kind of activity and breeding racism is to be condemned. I notice that other Reform MPs are bobbing to ask their questions, so perhaps one of them could address the issue of the Reform member who wants-I am sorry, but I hate even to repeat the words-to see Nigerians melted down. Perhaps one of the hon. Members would like to respond. Full speech
We have seen pogroms in Belfast, riots in Southampton, and then, of course, the chilling incidents in Dover and Portsmouth over the weekend. What is difficult to contend with is that this appears to be becoming more frequent and normalised. We cannot normalise the activities of organised far-right gangs. Will the Minister condemn the racism that was at the core of the activities and actions that took place this weekend? What can she say to those who cover their face for religious, health or work... Full speech
We keep all legislation under review when it comes to public order, and there is a big piece of work that Ken Macdonald-Lord Macdonald-has done for us, which we are considering. There are other powers on face coverings in the Criminal Justice and Public Order Act 1994, but we will always look at these things. Full speech
Order. Minister, can you please keep your answers short, and will Back Benchers please make sure their questions are short too? Full speech
I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I was pleased to be able to talk to him earlier today, and we were in touch over the weekend as well, as the House would expect. As the Member of Parliament for that area, it is absolutely right and proper that my hon. Friend should lead the way in asking for the right lessons to be learned from what happened. I spoke to Deputy Chief Constable Peter Ayling and Assistant Chief Constable Nicola Faulconbridge today, and they took me through the order of what... Full speech
I am sure that the Prime Minister will be glad to hear that the good weather is now attributable to a Labour Government. I pay tribute to the brave men and women of the RNLI who put themselves out to sea to save lives without fear or favour. The Isle of Wight salutes them all, unlike the masked bullies in Portsmouth. Lots of misinformation has happened over this weekend regarding the Isle of Wight. As we do not have the infrastructure, and cross-Solent transport is an issue for us, can the Minis... Full speech
I commend the Minister for managing to handle two really difficult challenges that are facing the country at the moment. First, the small boats crossings are obviously very concerning to people in Sittingbourne and Sheppey, as they are to many people in Kent. It has not escaped my notice that the protest in Dover at the weekend happened at a time when the boat crossings are falling. The second challenge is the increasing far-right activity. We have had uniformed thugs on our streets who have bee... Full speech
There are of course very difficult issues of people who are fleeing war and conflict, and I say to the shadow Home Secretary and everyone else here that we in this country have an honourable tradition of being a place of safety, which must continue. The issue we have seen in recent years is that, when the Conservatives were in power, anybody who came in was not dealt with, was not turned around and was not returned. So the criminal gangs understood that when people come to this country, nothing ... Full speech
I appreciate that the hon. Lady will have been concerned over the weekend, as a local member of Parliament. I am always there, if she wants to contact me, and if she is struggling to get through to anyone, I am happy to give her my number and to have another chat about this. Obviously, this was a moving picture, and it is not always possible for the police dealing with an incident to respond in a way that one might want. The hon. Lady asked whether attempts to land further down the coast were an... Full speech
We are keeping all these things under review. There is no intelligence to suggest that people who leave France from further west want to land anywhere other than where they normally do, but we keep all these things under control. Today I have spoken to multiple people at the National Police Co-ordination Centre and in Border Force, and to the police more widely, and these things are kept under review. There is no evidence of what the hon. Gentleman suggests, but the criminals are being disrupted... Full speech
As I have said, any lessons we need to learn from these cases will be learned. However, I know from conversations I have had that the police were dealing with an emerging problem in quite a difficult geographical area, particularly in Portsmouth, with one road going in and out. The police had a lot of vulnerable people-I am speculating about their physical health, because I have not yet had a full briefing, but I suspect they were having to deal with hypothermia and all kinds of issues-and they ... Full speech