Labour accused of 'losing control' of Britain's borders after undetected small boat arrival in Kent

The Labour Government has been accused of "losing control" of Britain's borders after an undetected small boat carrying illegal migrants arrived on the Kent coast.

Speaking to GB News, Conservative Party Chairman Kevin Hollinrake argued that the only way to stop the crossings is to "detain and deport" all illegal arrivals to the UK.

On Monday, a GB News producer was alerted by a local skipper after seeing a migrant dinghy with up to 10 illegal immigrants onboard, heading towards the Kent shore near Folkestone.

Most of those on board had run off, but the People's Channel producer managed to persuade three of the illegal immigrants to stay with him until police arrived a few minutes later.

Following the incident, GB News has been informed that five of those onboard the dinghy have since been detained by police and Border Force.

Reacting to the crossing, Mr Hollinrake said that it is clear the Government has "lost control" of the country's borders.

He said: "I think it tells us they've lost control of our borders, and the only way to deal with this is detain and deport all illegal arrivals into the UK.

"And it's quite clear that's been our position for years, we legislated for that so we can detain anybody who comes here on a small boat, put them in a detention centre pending their deportation back to the home country. Or if that's not possible for whatever reason, we send them to a third country."

Reflecting on the Rwanda scheme, Mr Hollinrake made clear that the Tories would reinstate the policy "tomorrow" if they wee in Government.

He told GB News: "In our case we decided that should be Rwanda, that's the right thing to do. Again, upon taking office, the Labour Party scrapped that legislation. They could re-implement it tomorrow.

"We would support them to re-implement that tomorrow, that's what needs to be done.

"That would deal with people coming over the Channel, but crucially, it'd be the deterrent as well that would stop people making that journey in the first place. That's the right thing to do."

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Discussing the nation's prisons crisis, Mr Hollinrake also echoed the Conservatives's pledge to remove foreign criminals from UK prisons.

He told GB News: "We believe that foreign national offenders in British jails should be deported back to their home country, that's what we've said, and wherever that's possible, we'll do that.

"There are 10,000 foreign national offenders in British jails. That's how to create space in our jails to mean that violent offenders, sex offenders don't get released back into into society.

"That's what we wanted to do, and we're being very clear about that."

A Home Office spokesman said: "Individuals who have no legal basis to remain in the UK should be deported and we are committed to making this happen.

"We have a dedicated tracing capability in the Home Office who work with the police and other enforcement agencies to trace those who abscond.

"The number of absconders is 70 per cent lower than the peak year under the previous government. But we must go further.

"The Home Secretary will double the Immigration Enforcement budget to support tens of thousands more raids, arrests and deportations of those here illegally."