A former military sea fort could be converted into a processing site for small boat arrivals in Hampshire as migrants make more dangerous journeys across the English Channel to reach the UK.
The i Paper understands the Government has prepared contingency proposals to deal with arrivals further down the South Coast from Kent.
Smuggling gangs in France are attempting to evade authorities by making longer and more dangerous journeys across the Channel from western areas like Normandy.
Two pilots injured in RAF jet crash in Wales
A Royal Air Force jet has crashed in Wales in the Pencarnisiog area of Anglesey shortly after taking off this afternoon.
Everything we know
The force said helicopters from the Coastguard and the Wales Air Ambulance were deployed to the scene and the pilots, who ejected from the jet, are being treated for minor injuries.
“We watched it climb, then as it was parallel with us it started to pitch up violently twice… then both pilots ejected, and the Hawk crashed about a mile away,” a witness told North Wales Live.
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Investigation launched
The RAF has launched an investigation into the crash.
- An RAF spokesperson said: “An incident involving an RAF T2 Hawk aircraft, flying out of RAF Valley, occurred near Anglesey. An investigation is underway and we will not comment further at this time.”
AI offers poor financial advice ‘majority of the time’ – what to know
Major AI chatbots provide inaccurate financial advice in 57 percent of cases, new research has found.
This rose to 88 per cent when they were asked harder questions.
One answer would have cost £17,500
Tech research firm Saturn used a paraplanner to run 121 money-related questions through 18 chatbots. One of the answers would have cost them £17,500.
- Amal Jolly, Saturn’s chief executive, said: “The low quality of financial advice from mainstream AI models risks leading to widespread consumer harm.”
Why customers get less protection with AI advice
Human financial advisers must charge for their services, making it a regulated product that has to be authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority. If they provided misleading advice, customers could get compensation.
There are no such protections for those who get information from a chatbot.
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The pinch points of the UK’s Chagos Islands deal
Defence secretary Wes Streeting has confirmed the UK is reviewing its deal to hand over the Chagos islands, home to the critical Diego Garcia base, to Mauritius after Donald Trump called it “terrible” at the UN General Assembly on Tuesday.
UK wants US support
We have to [review the deal] because the United States doesn’t support it […] We have to do more work with our American allies, with President Trump and his administration, to get the deal to a place where he can support it.
UK Defence secretary Wes Streeting
The original deal
Mauritius argues it was illegally forced to give away the islands in 1965 to gain independence.
A deal was agreed in 2025 where the UK would cede sovereignty of the territory to Mauritius.
It would then pay an average of £101m per year to lease back a joint US-UK military base there.
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US opposition
Opposition from Trump caused Starmer to pause the deal indefinitely in April.
- Trump had been a frequent critic, branding the deal as “a blight on our great ally” and an “act of total weakness”.
High costs
Starmer agreed to lease back the Diego Garcia base for 99 years, with official figures giving the total cost as £3.4bn.
However, opponents said the real cost could come to £35bn when adjusted for inflation.
Worries the deal could endanger the security of Diego Garcia
With sovereignty lying with Mauritius once the deal was done, critics argued that the country could impose restrictions on the joint UK-US military base.
- There were also worries that the move could embolden China to establish a presence in the archipelago.
Over 450,000 people projected to die from super El Niño
This year’s El Niño is estimated to cause 451,000 deaths due to the additional heat it will bring over the next six months, climate scientists have predicted.
What is El Niño?
El Niño is part of a natural cycle, called the El Niño–Southern Oscillation, and forms when warmer waters spread across the central and eastern Pacific Ocean. Brazil, India, Nigeria and Indonesia are some of the countries expected to worst affected.
The World Meteorological Organisation said there was an “exceptionally high likelihood of nearly 100 per cent” that this El Niño will last until February 2027.
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Experts say what it means for the UK
Professor Ilan Kelman of UCL’s department of risk and disaster reduction said that El Niño could bring wetter and milder weather to the UK through the autumn and winter.
“There’s nothing definite, but in general we would expect a milder, wetter, and stormier autumn, a colder winter, and then a possibility of a hotter summer next year,” he added.
- The more severe impact of El Niño on other countries could also have a knock-on effect on the economy and daily life in the UK.
- Kelman said that the weather event could lead to more plane turbulence, flooding and impacts to electronic supply chains and imported food.
- Rice, sugar or coffee imports could be affected by potential flooding in South America.
- The shift of rainfall brought on by El Niño can also cause severe droughts in South East Asia and Australia.
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Why HRT patches are safer than pills
Oral hormone-replacement therapy (HRT) causes a slightly higher rate of blood clots – but there was no such risk from therapies applied to the skin.
The context
Why women use HRT
HRT is used by women going through menopause or for several years afterwards to stop hot flushes and reduce osteoporosis – where bones become weaker.
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The new research
Previous studies found HRT may cause a slightly higher rate of blood clots, heart attacks and breast cancer.
- A Danish study found women had a 60 per cent higher risk of blood clots from oral HRT, and a 20 to 30 per cent higher risk of strokes or heart attacks.
- But the total risk of blood clots was still very low, about one extra blood clot per thousand women per year.
- There was no blood clot risk seen with patches, gels or spray forms of HRT.
- But there was a higher rate of heart attacks with skin-based HRT if it is “cyclic”, alternating between oestrogen and oestrogen and progestogen.
Why might patches be safer?
Oral HRT is transported by blood vessels connecting the gut to the liver. There, it seems to increase levels of certain liver proteins involved in blood clotting.
When HRT is applied through patches or gels, the hormones are absorbed straight into the blood and don’t reach the liver at such high levels.
The NHS says the benefits of HRT usually outweigh the downsides, and that the risks of serious side effects are very low.
HRT is especially helping for combatting osteoporosis in women experiencing early menopause, before the age 45.
This week, two vessels in two days evaded Border Force patrols to land on a Kent beach.
No final decision has been made by Government on converting Fort Blockhouse, in Gosport, near Portsmouth, into a processing site for migrants. It also understood it would be a temporary facility.
But local MPs and councillors have lashed out at the Home Office plans. They say the site would be an “easy target” for protesters to blockade coaches transporting migrants, which happened in Portsmouth two weeks ago.
An aborted attempt to use Fort Blockhouse to land 50 asylum seekers sparked protests in the town on Tuesday.
Police descended on Gosport where a boat carrying the migrants was due to dock. Three coaches to pick up the asylum seekers had to be protected by police escorts.
But the boat, which was at sea for over 30 hours, diverted to Dover after hundreds of anti-migrant protesters massed at the site.
Six arrests were made. Police are also “conducting inquiries” after far-right activist Danny Tommo filmed himself apparently slashing the side of a dinghy with a rescue crew member still on board.
It comes after seven police officers were assaulted at a protest this month when migrants from a mega-dinghy were brought to Portsmouth.
Zoe Huggins, Conservative leader of Gosport Borough Council, urged the Government against using Fort Blockhouse as initial reception site for illegal migrants.
She told The i Paper: “We had heard through informal channels that the Government were looking at future sites here across Hampshire and the Solent, and we believe Gosport was one of those.
“They were looking at suitable sites that they could do a temporary docking and disembarkation. They were not looking at a full-time permanent processing center.
“So, it was a temporary disembarkation if illegal migrants were using that crossing route more regularly.”
Proposed site ‘easy target’ for protestors
Originally built in the 15th century, Fort Blockhouse, the UK’s oldest sea fort, is the former home of the Royal Navy Submarine Service. It is owned by the Ministry of Defence (MoD), but has been for sale for years.
Huggins described the fort as unsafe and logistically not viable, with access on and off the peninsula by two narrow roads creating an “easy target” for protesters to blockade coaches transporting migrants, as happened in Portsmouth.
She made her concerns clear in a letter to Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood, adding: “It is outrageous that Government can review arrangements like this without talking to the local council.”
Meanwhile, Mahmood has ordered an urgent review after Border Force failed to intercept a second migrant boat in two days before it reached the Kent coast.
Footage showed around 20 people on Samphire Hoe, between Dover and Folkestone, on Tuesday. The previous day, a dinghy made it to shore at Folkestone – the first undetected landing for a year.
Caroline Dinenage, the Conservative MP for Gosport, said if more boats are intercepted off the Hampshire coastline they should be taken to Dover.
In a letter to the Home Secretary, she demanded to know who identified Fort Blockhouse as a potential disembarkation point and what assessment the Home Office had made of its suitability for future migrant boat disembarkations.
She called for an “unequivocal assurance” that Gosport would not be used for migrant boat arrivals without prior consultation with her and relevant local authorities.
‘The people of Gosport deserve better’
“The people of Gosport deserve better than to find out through rumours that a major Home Office operation is being prepared on their doorstep, while their emergency services are mobilised without adequate local communication or consideration of the consequences,” she added.
Separately, the Government is planning to expand an immigration removal centre at the former Haslar site at Gosport next year, with an eventual capacity of 600.
Justice Secretary Alex Norris said it was part of asylum reforms that had seen nearly 50,000 people deported.
A public planning inquiry into the proposals is due to be held after Gosport Borough Council. Dinenage called for greater transparency from ministers.
A Government spokesperson said: “The Border Security Command works around the clock to protect our border and will continue to detain, check and process every small boat arrival.”