Worrying “gaps” in the monitoring of UK and French coastlines are allowing small boat migrants to cross undetected, experts have told The i Paper.
Two small boats managed to reach the Kent coast undetected this week, prompting Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood to call it “not acceptable”. Only one other “uncontrolled landing” – a small boat turning up without UK patrol boats escorting – had been recorded since records began in 2023.
Experts say Border Force does not have enough resources to “plug the gaps”, as smuggling gangs try to cross further west along England’s South Coast.
The three ways Healey could soften energy price rises
Ministers are drawing up plans for targeted help with energy bills in next month’s Budget amid fears the Iran war will lead to a cost of living crisis for millions this winter, it has been reported.
Chancellor John Healey has told officials to come up with options to soften the blow from energy price hikes.
Gas and oil prices spiral
Wholesale gas prices have risen by more than 150 per cent since the start of the Iran conflict, while oil has increased by more than 40 per cent, according to figures compiled for the Government.
Energy bills could be more than £600 higher next year than when Labour came to power, despite its pledge to cut them by £300 by the end of the decade.
Existing cost relief
- 1Ministers have already announced plans to remove VAT from domestic electricity bills for six months from 1 October, saving households about £45 a year.
- 2Then there’s the warm home discount, which gives £150 off bills to almost six million households receiving means-tested benefits.
- 3Plus, the £1bn crisis and resilience fund, which is administered through councils.
Pressure mounts as costs rise
Ministers are keen to examine more targeted intervention, reported. But any additional energy relief packages would add to the pressure raise money at the Budget via taxation.
Clare Lombardelli, a deputy governor at the Bank of England, warned on Thursday that an interest rate rise was “increasingly likely” if energy prices remained elevated.
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Healey’s options:
- Ministers could prolong the temporary VAT cut beyond March.
- The Chancellor is also understood to be prepared to reduce the fiscal £23.6bn “headroom”.
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British climber falls
to his death on
Spanish mountain
A British climber, 28, has fallen to his
death on a Spanish mountain, according
to local authorities.
Emergency responders were alerted to
the incident on Torrecerredo mountain – Spain’s 17th highest peak – at roughly
1:30pm yesterday.
What we know so far:
- According to , the man was a 28-year-old from England and fell up to 60 metres from the peak of Torrecerredo in the Picos de Europa in northern Spain.
- Local reports also added that he was 20 metres below the summit when the accident happened.
- A doctor mobilised by a regional emergency response coordination centre confirmed around an hour later the Briton had lost his life in the accident.
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Remains transported to Llanera
A forensic search had been carried out of the area and his belongings were recovered.
His remains were transported to La Morgal,
a regional sports, aviation and emergency services complex, in Llanera near the Asturian cities of Oviedo and Gijon.
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What remains unclear:
- It is not clear whether the unnamed man had been alone or accompanied by family or friends.
- Although one local report said
he was near the summit when he fell, another said he was on his
way down.
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The UK is running low on diesel – how worried should we be?
Britain could see shortages of diesel with prices at the pump soaring to all-time highs of £3 a litre if Donald Trump bans US exports, analysts have warned.
Britain relies on US oil
- Trump is said to be considering a 90-day export ban in weeks, after diesel in America hit a record average of $6.52 (£4.93) a gallon.
- Britain relies on the US for about 30 per cent of its diesel imports.
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Shortages could hit UK pumps in weeks
- Britain has just four operational refineries – down from 18 in the 1970s – leaving the UK with around 42 days of emergency stockpiles, Sky News reported.
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Trucks and cars off the road
A lot of trucks would come off the road. You wouldn’t be able to fill them. We’d start seeing delays in goods being transported around the UK.
dr pauline swift, charity chair,
blood pressure uk
UK turning to alternative suppliers
The Government would have to bring in measures to destroy demand to bring prices down, James Noel-Beswick, head of commodities at Sparta Commodities said.
Though Thomas Pugh, chief economist at the audit, tax and consulting firm RSM UK, say the UK wouldn’t necessarily see a diesel shortage as alternative suppliers exist.
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The Reform MPs who face losing their seats according to new poll
Robert Jenrick and Suella Braverman are among four Reform UK MPs who would lose their seats if a general election were held tomorrow, fresh polling by YouGov shows.
Falling behind the Tories
Tory defector Danny Kruger and Sarah Pochin – who beat Labour in a 2025 by-election – would also be unseated, according to the leading UK pollster’s first large-scale election modelling since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister.
Although the party’s numbers of MPs would hugely increase, it would have fewer seats than the Tories overall, marking a significant fall when compared to last year’s polling.
How a Labour government could be formed
The poll predicts that Labour would be the biggest party in a hung parliament.
Lib Dem leader Ed Davey recently ruled out forming a coalition with Reform or the Tories but stopped short of excluding a coalition with Labour.
However, to form a Parliamentary majority in this scenario, Burnham would also need to work with the SNP or Plaid Cymru.
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Reform expanding its operations
The polling comes as Reform is preparing a huge expansion of its operations around the country, targeting London, the South East, the South West and the East of England.
- Analysis of Reform job adverts by The i Paper suggests the party is pumping resources into areas where it wants to keep its high-profile Tory defectors.
There’s turmoil in the Liberal Democrats. And MPs are struggling for direction
Stagnant in the polls but still a potential kingmaker, the party’s at a crossroads – even its own members are asking what comes next.
Record number of assaults on Britain’s trains – what to know
Assaults on Britain’s railways have hit record levels, new figures from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have revealed.
The numbers
The data published on Thursday showed there were 13,464 reported assaults on people who were not railway workers between April 2025 and March 2026, an increase of 36 per cent compared to the previous year.
- 11,289 assaults on rail workers on mainline networks were also recorded, an increase of 12 per cent. This included 6,390 incidents of verbal abuse, 2,487 physical assaults and 2,412 threats.
Working to make railways safer
No-one on the railway should be subjected to violence, threats or abuse. We’re working with industry and our trade union colleagues to address work-related violence and harassment, including through recent guidance which sets out what we expect from rail employers.
Richard Hines, ORR’s chief inspector railways
Walkers reveals three new crisp flavours
Three new “gold” flavours of Walkers are now available for crisp lovers. The new snacks mark the brand’s biggest revamp in 80 years.
What are the flavours and how much are they?
The new flavours are black truffle, sea salt and olive oil and Somerset mature cheddar and onion.
Each pack is branded as “Premium Potato Crisps”.
The crisps come in 140g bags and can currently be bought for £2 each.
Where you can buy them
The entire range launched on Ocado officially today, but from October 12, they will be widely available in major UK supermarkets for a cheaper price of £1.50.
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There are also concerns that the Government may have to pay France more money to expand its patrols further along its coastline, as the traffickers shift away from the traditional Calais to Dover route.
Shabana Mahmood ordered Border Security Command to carry out an urgent review on the failure to detect two small boats arrivals in Kent earlier this week.
The boat on Monday landed undetected at The Warren near Folkestone, with five passengers then detained. The second, on Tuesday, reached Samphire Hoe, west of Dover. A group of 21 migrants were detained.
More undetected crossings ‘highly likely’
Lucy Moreton, spokesperson for the Immigration Service Union representing the Home Office’s Border Force staff, suggested that the Home Office record of undetected crossings is an undercount – and that they could happen again.
It is “highly likely” there have been more undetected crossings “for some time” that the agency was unaware of, she told The i Paper.
People smugglers “are not confining their activities to that narrow Calais-to-Dover stretch” that French and UK authorities traditionally focus on, Moreton said.
While some smugglers have been using large “mega dinghies” that can carry around 200 people at once, Moreton said others had gone back to using smaller boats of around 20 people – therefore evading detection.
The resources of Border Security Command – part of Border Force – have been largely focused on Calais-on-Dover crossings, a union spokesperson said.
“We don’t have the resources to be everywhere. We can’t be 100 per cent secure in detecting everything. We can’t always plug every gap. Every effort to plug a gap, the smugglers will try to move to a different gap.”
Questions for the French authorities
Tony Smith, former director general of Border Force, told The i Paper the undetected crossings near Dover and Folkstone were a “surprise” and a “worry” given the Government’s investment “on drones, radar and other monitoring of vessels” on the Kent coastline.
French patrol boats tracking dinghies do regularly communicate with their British counterparts, said Smith. “It means we’re usually ready to pick them up when they come into our waters.”
Mahmood “will want to know from the French what happened at their end” and if there was any communication breakdown, said Smith.
“My assumption is that these boats were able to evade detection by the French authorities. So there will be questions about how that may have been able to happen.”
Smuggling gangs moving west
The undetected boats could also have left France much further west or east of the Calais area, said the former Border Force chief.
A dinghy carrying 140 migrants was brought in at Portsmouth earlier this month. It is believed to have crossed from Cherbourg in Normandy – the westernmost Channel crossing seen in the history of small boats crossings.
A former military sea fort called Fort Blockhouse, in Gosport near Portsmouth, could be turned into a temporary processing site for small boat arrivals, The i Paper revealed earlier this week.
Under the £662m, three-year security deal between the UK and France, French police have been given money to disrupt migrants’ attempts to leave – investing in more officers, surveillance drones and intelligence.
But the resources “have been focused on the traditional routes near Calais and Dunkirk”, said Smith.
The Home Office will need to “collaborate as closely as possible” with their French counterparts to close any gaps further west, he added.
More money needed to expand French patrols?
There is no need to “rip up” the £66m deal and try to start again, but operations could be improved, Smith said.
“We do give the French a lot of money already. We can ask them where the resources are going. The French do have some capabilities along their coastline.”
Moreton suggested it may require further money, if there was a desire for the French to expand their operations.
“We’re effectively only paying for the Pas-de-Calais stretch of coastline – that’s where their policing resources are, and they have been needed there,” she said.
“It could be a lot more money for additional resources all the way along the coastline, further west, including Normandy, to try to close the gaps.”
UK ‘knowledge gap’ from staff cuts?
Small boat arrivals have declined since Labour took office, according to a recent report by the Migration Observatory. Around 27,900 people arrived by small boats in the year ending 9 September 2026 – the lowest level since 2021.
Professor Thom Brooks, an immigration policy expert, said the Labour Government had made “good progress” on reducing the small boat crossings – particularly on the Calais-to-Dover stretch – thanks to the £662m deal with France.
But there are concerns that plans to reduce headcount at the Home Office’s Border Force agency could contribute to more holes in the system.
A report by the chief inspector of borders and immigration recently raised concerns over a plan to cut 563 staff – warning that there could be “skills and knowledge gaps”.
“We’re losing people across the board – including [Border Force] intelligence staff,” Moreton added. “The Home Office doesn’t have the budget to maintain current staffing levels.”
Both the Conservatives and Reform UK claimed the undetected crossings showed that Labour had “lost control of our borders”. Labour’s deputy leader Lucy Powell said the Government “can’t stop everything all of the time”.
A spokesperson for the Préfecture Maritime, the authority responsible for French waters, said it tried to monitor “every vessel departing from France”. However, they added that the “gradual shift of departure points further and further south of Pas-de-Calais is forcing us to rethink the system”.
A Government spokesperson said progress tackling small boats was “indisputable”, adding: “But this week’s events show that while the peaks we are seeing are far below those of previous years, we need to push further and harder in order to eradicate this vile trade.”