Defence Minister insists ‘our borders are secure’ after five migrants evade French and UK authorities to cross Channel
The unescorted dinghy landed at Folkestone on Monday morning without being intercepted by Home Office or French patrols
A government minister has insisted the UK's "borders are secure" after five migrants made it to the Kent coast without being intercepted by Border Force.
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The unescorted dinghy landed at Folkestone on Monday morning without being intercepted by Home Office or French patrols. All passengers are believed to have been accounted for.
Defence minister Luke Pollard told LBC that an investigation is underway into how the migrants managed to cross the Channel undetected.
"We're aware that everyone has been detained on the boat that got through," Mr Pollard told Nick Ferrari.
Asked how the migrants managed to evade UK and French authorities, he said: "That is what the investigation will determine. We know that the measures we've been putting in place are working. Small boat crossings are the lowest in 6 years."
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'Our borders are secure.'
— LBC (@LBC) September 22, 2026
'Well, how do these people get in then?'
@NickFerrariLBC asks Labour's @LukePollard how a small boat was able to make it to the UK without being noticed. pic.twitter.com/9V3jYaVusY
On the point that the incident suggested migrants were arriving in the UK without the government's knowledge, Mr Pollard said there were "challenges" but insisted the government's strategy was "working".
"But because crossings are the lowest in 6 years, because the asylum backlog is being cut, and because we're closing asylum hotels, we know what we're doing is working. But where there are challenges in that system, we need to get it right."
He insisted that the UK's borders were "secure", but added the government wanted to make them "stronger".
Usually, the thousands of migrants crossing the Channel are brought to shore by Border Security Command. No small boat arrival directly onto the Kent coast has been recorded since September 2025.
A Kent police spokesperson said: “We were made aware by the Coastguard of an incident in the Channel involving a vessel at 9.26am on Monday September 21, 2026. Patrols attended and five people were detained and passed to Border Security Command officers.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “This was an isolated and rare incident. Officers responded quickly, detaining five individuals. There is an ongoing investigation and it would be inappropriate to comment further.”
This year, a total of 17,480 migrants have arrived in England after crossing the channel, including 5,011 since Andy Burnham took office.
The 2026 figure has fallen 46 per cent compared to the same point in 2025.