Craig Mackinlay, MP for South Thanet, has called on the UK Government to return British Border Force Cutters to patrol British shores or to bring alternative vessels into service over this crucial summer period. His call follows the news this week that two men were found guilty of smuggling over 30 automatic weapons and more than a thousand rounds of ammunition into Kent, and a recent report from the National Crime Agency of the increased potential for high speed inflatable ribs being used by criminals.
The UK’s shore are protected by a fleet of Border Force cutters which patrol the shoreline to catch gun runners, drugs smugglers and people traffickers. However, 40% of the UK border force cutter fleet is currently stationed in the Aegean Sea as part of an EU taskforce to deal with the European migration crisis. Whilst this is a justifiable attempt to solve the problem closer to its source, this has resulted in just two cutters being left to patrol the entire UK coastline. Whilst we have advanced radar capability monitoring the straits of Dover, the UK has no airborne maritime patrol capability, which means we, as an island nation, are entirely reliant on just two cutters to physically secure our coastal waters. UK Border Force cutters play a vital role in intercepting and deterring shipments of drugs, dangerous weaponry and other prohibited goods, as well as deterring people smugglers. People traffickers will be aware of the shortcomings and are likely to take advantage over the summer.
Craig Mackinlay MP commented: “We now have just two ships to protect our whole coastline from Daesh infiltration, people traffickers, drug importation and gun runners such as those found in Medway. AK47s as found in Medway are the internationally favoured terrorist weapon, and we should be hugely relieved that these were intercepted. Yet again, the inadequacies of the Schengen zone, and a failed EU response to entirely foreseen migration flows and terrorism threats leaves us unecessarily vulnerable."
NOTES:
There are five cutters in the UK’s border protection fleet.
· The Home Secretary, Theresa May, has said: ‘We are an island and sea-faring nation and HM cutters have a proud history of patrolling and protecting our shores that stretches back hundreds of years’ (Home Office, 17 March 2014, link).
· The Director General of the Border Force, Sir Charles Montgomery, has said that ‘our fleet of cutters play a key role in intercepting and deterring shipments of drugs and other prohibited goods, as well as people that criminal gangs attempt to traffic into the UK’ (Home Office, 17 March 2014, link).
· The former Security Minister, Admiral the Lord West of Spithead, has said: ‘I'm concerned the Border Force don't have the assets to do the sorts of things they need to do’ (SkyNews, 5 December 2015, link).
· The Home Office acknowledges that: ‘in the more remote areas and inaccessible areas, visited less often by land-based teams, [cutters] may be the only law enforcement tool available’ (Home Office, 2013, link).
Two of these cutters, 40% of the UK fleet, will be deployed to the Aegean Sea to deal with the migrant crisis.
· On 7 March 2016, the Government announced that the ‘the cutter Protector’ and ‘and a further Border Force cutter’ will be deployed to the Aegean Sea from the end of this month (Prime Minister’s Office, 7 March 2016, link).
· This means that 40% of the UK’s border protection fleet will not be protecting British waters.
This leaves just two cutters, or 40% of the UK fleet, operational to protect the UK’s borders.
· The Government has previously admitted that of the five cutters, ‘only four are operational at any one time, [with] the fifth undergoing refitting and refurbishment’ (HM Inspectorate of Constabulary, 2008, link).
· This means that there are just 2 cutters, or 40% of the UK’s fleet, currently protecting the border.
· The Government has previously claimed that ‘national security’ prevents it from discussing how the UK’s borders are secured when 40% of its fleet is not protecting the UK (UK Border Force: Written question - HL244, 10 June 2015, link).
The UK could afford to procure many more Border Force Cutters if it left the EU.
· The cost of procuring a border force cutter is £4.3 million (HM Customs & Excise, 12 June 2003, link).
· The UK has recently agreed to pay Turkey £250 million in bilateral assistance and will pay a further £97 million as part of EU payments to Turkey: £347 million in total (Turkey Refugee Facility: Written statement - HCWS582, 7 March 2016, link; HM Treasury, December 2015, link; HMRC, March 2016, link). This would be enough to procure a further 80 border force cutters.
· In 2014, the UK paid £19.1 billion (gross) into the EU budget (ONS, Pink Book 2015, link). This would be enough to procure a further 4,443 cutters.
The UK has no maritime patrol aircraft whatsoever.
· In August 2014, the Border Force had a ‘dedicated surveillance aircraft’ (Home Office, August 2014, link). This was scrapped in November 2015 (Bournemouth Echo, 18 November 2015, link).
· As part of the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the UK chose to scrap its maritime patrol aircraft (HM Government, October 2010,link).
· As part of the 2015 Strategic Defence and Security Review, the Government announced it would order ‘nine new Maritime Patrol Aircraft, based in Scotland, to protect our nuclear deterrent, hunt down hostile submarines and enhance our maritime search and rescue’ (Ministry of Defence, November 2015, link). These are yet to enter into force.
The Government has no idea of the number of persons who enter the UK unlawfully by sea.
· The National Audit Office has noted that in respect of ‘a combination of smaller, unscheduled air and sea vessels, such as private aircraft and vessels, and some chartered airline routes… the Department has no reliable estimates for the number of people that cross the border in this way’ (National Audit Office,7 December 2015, link).
Under recent proposals, an EU Border Force and Coast Guard could operate just 12 nautical miles off the British coast.
· In December 2015, the European Commission formally proposed the establishment of a ‘European Border and Coast Guard’ (European Commission, 15 December 2015, link).
· The European Council has stated this proposal ‘should be adopted as soon as possible’ (European Council, 18 March 2016, link).
· The European Commission proposes the new Border Force will procure ‘open sea and coastal patrol vessels, helicopters or other aircraft or vehicles’ (European Commission, December 2015, link).
· These could operate just twelve nautical miles of the UK’s coast (UNCLOS, art. 3, link).