Dover and Portsmouth: Protests

Judith Cummins Excerpts

Monday 7th September 2026 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Policing and Crime (Sarah Jones)]

With permission, I will make a statement on public order following the protest activity seen on the south coast this weekend. I know many in this House, and outside, will have been concerned by the events of the past two days, and I welcome the opportunity to set out what happened, as well as to update Members on the action that the Government are taking to address the issues at the heart of the protests.

It is right to begin with the facts. At around 7.30 on Saturday morning, around 150 individuals descended on the port of Dover, many of them wearing face coverings. Kent police deployed rapidly to the scene of what the force has described as a “no-notice” protest. No arrests were made and the crowd eventually dispersed some hours later, at which point full access to the port was restored. Nevertheless, the impact was felt by local residents and workers, for whom the scenes will have been unnerving, as well as by ferry passengers and motorists who faced delays as a result.

Let me turn to the second incident in Portsmouth. In the early afternoon on Sunday, a boat carrying approximately 120 people reached British waters near the Isle of Wight, which is considerably further west than the majority of small boat crossings. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution, under the direction of HM Coastguard UK, met the boat and directed it towards Eastney marina in the wider Portsmouth area. At around 8 pm, a group of more than 200 protesters arrived at the harbour, intending to block three coaches that were due to take the arrivals for processing. Many of those protesters were dressed in all black and wearing face masks. Hampshire and Isle of Wight constabulary, with the support of other neighbouring forces, used a dispersal notice to ensure public safety. Officers were forced to use batons and PAVA spray to maintain order in the face of some aggression. They worked through the evening and into the early hours of the morning, and at around 4 am, protesters began to disperse and the coaches eventually set off. Again, no arrests were made on the night, but investigations are ongoing, and where criminality is identified those responsible should expect to face the consequences.

These types of incidents require careful handling by the police, and I place on record my thanks to all those who were part of the operational responses in Dover and Portsmouth. I am especially grateful to those on the front line whose efforts were essential to bringing the demonstrations to a conclusion. I have today spoken to key policing partners and, as the House would expect in the wake of such incidents, work is ongoing to establish any lessons and ensure that relevant intelligence is shared at pace across our law enforcement system.

Peaceful protest is a fundamental part of our democracy and must be defended, but so too is the right of other citizens to go about their lives without undue interference. There can be no excuse for threatening behaviour or serious disruption. Let me therefore make clear to the House and the country that disorder of any kind will never be tolerated, and those who cross the line from peaceful protest into illegality will face the full force of the law. This Government condemn the intimidating and thuggish behaviour shown by some of the protesters this weekend. We are working closely with the police in Kent and Hampshire, alongside the National Police Co-ordination Centre, all of whom have our full backing in taking any necessary step to uphold public safety and maintain the peace.

None of that is in any way to minimise the very valid concerns of law-abiding people when they see vile criminal gangs exploiting our nation’s generosity, and people making illegal and unnecessary journeys to reach this country. Let us never forget that the frustration we see in our communities today is a product of chaos and crisis in the years that preceded the general election of 2024. Since then, this Government have taken action to fix the broken system we inherited and bear down on the people smugglers. We have doubled the number of National Crime Agency officers tasked with dismantling organised immigration crime, system-wide arrests are up 70%, more than 1,100 boats and engines have been seized, and in partnership with French law enforcement we have prevented over 48,000 attempted crossings. We are now taking that partnership further with a landmark new deal, which was signed in April, securing a 40% increase in French boots on the ground and taking the total to more than 1,000, as well as enhanced surveillance technology and new specialist units.

At the same time, we are removing the incentives that draw people here illegally in the first place. Since the election, we have made over 6,000 small boat returns—a 64% increase on the last two years of the previous Government—and we have removed more than 80,000 illegal migrants and foreign criminals from these shores. As a result of the action this Government have taken, this summer saw the lowest number of small boat arrivals since 2020. So far this year, the number of crossings is down by over 43% on last year.

Progress is being made, but we are not complacent. We must and will be unrelenting, not least in response to any shift in tactics by the gangs. The use of larger boats, with over a hundred people crammed on board, is a clear cause for concern, and we remain alert to the potential for crossings on less frequently targeted stretches of water off our coastline. The gangs are never going to go quietly. They are responding to the impact our work is having, and we will adapt in turn, both in terms of our enforcement, in partnership with France, and our response here.

Our priority will always be the safety of the British people. As such, we will continue bearing down on small boat crossings and the criminal gangs behind them, as we deliver the strong, secure borders the people of this country expect and deserve. At the same time, we will keep working closely with police forces to maintain order on our streets. While we must protect our ancient right to free speech, what we will never tolerate is the disruption of people’s daily lives or the intimidation of our communities. I commend the statement to the House.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call the shadow Home Secretary.

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[Sarah Jones]

I thank my hon. Friend for his question. I was pleased to be able to talk to him earlier today, and we were in touch over the weekend as well, as the House would expect. As the Member of Parliament for that area, it is absolutely right and proper that my hon. Friend should lead the way in asking for the right lessons to be learned from what happened.

I spoke to Deputy Chief Constable Peter Ayling and Assistant Chief Constable Nicola Faulconbridge today, and they took me through the order of what happened and how it happened. It was a no-notice protest—with a lot of a protests in this country, the police are told in advance, and can then think about whether they want to impose conditions and what those conditions should be. This was a no-notice protest, in the sense that the police were not told about it. Clearly it was planned, and clearly it was people from outside the area coming in and causing chaos.

Of course, we need to learn whatever lessons we need to learn when it comes to intelligence. Since the 2024 riots, we have beefed up the structures around the national co-ordination of protests and intelligence sharing, giving us a stronger capability to look across the internet and see what we can find out there. There is more co-ordination, and the offer of mutual aid worked very well this weekend, as it always does. However, I will of course listen to any intelligence that my hon. Friend has, and we will make sure we learn the lessons.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call the Liberal Democrat spokesperson.

[Max Wilkinson (Cheltenham) (LD)]

How is that far-right thugs in balaclavas were able to close Britain’s busiest port without the police receiving any prior intelligence? How is it that an apparently separate group with some commonalities was then able to blockade another site the next evening? Will the Minister tell the House whether she will review why the police were caught off guard? More shockingly still—or perhaps just as shockingly—no arrests have been reported. People have drawn comparisons this weekend with the hundreds of sign-holding protesters who have been arrested since July 2025 on other protests. Can the Minister understand why people are confused by the difference in approach? Can she also answer questions from Portsmouth Liberal Democrat council leader Steve Pitt about the lack of local consultation on identifying appropriate landing sites? That is a key question that needs answering, because it clearly caused problems in Portsmouth.

Britain’s transport infrastructure cannot be left vulnerable to far-right mobs. It is a disgrace that this weekend, Reform MPs took to social media to fan the flames alongside people like Musk and Robinson. It is a disgrace that Members of this House support such vigilante action. It was the decision to leave the European Union, championed by those Reform Members and their allies in the Conservative party, that created the small boats crisis in the first place. We will only get a safe and controlled asylum system in line with British values if we join the EU migration and asylum pacts. That will also save taxpayers’ money. The Government are paying at least £500 million for a three-year agreement with France. More money will follow when the agreement is struck with Belgium. The UK’s contribution to join that pact, which would bring order and safety to the asylum system, would be significantly less than what we are currently pledging to pay in those agreements. Joining the pact must be top of the agenda when the Prime Minister meets EU leaders later this year.

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[Sarah Jones]

I thank my hon. Friend for the work that she is doing, and I also pay tribute to my hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth South (Stephen Morgan), who is in his place today, but cannot speak as he is a Minister. I have spoken to him about the conversations he has been having with local businesses, local individuals and the local police. My hon. Friend the Member for Portsmouth North (Amanda Martin) is absolutely right that there were people who were concerned about what they are seeing, but they are very different from the kind of racist, far-right thugs that we also saw over the weekend. It is important that we distinguish between the two.

My hon. Friend asked what more we are doing, and I have listed the improvements we are making in terms of the National Crime Agency, the intelligence we are gathering, and our ability to go after the criminal gangs. We also need to do more to reduce the incentives for people to come into the country. The asylum grant rate, which is a statistic that I have not mentioned yet, has fallen from 77% in 2022 to 38% this year. That is another marker of progress, and we are reforming the asylum system more widely. Last November, the then Home Secretary set out the reforms that we are working through. We have had a consultation on the standard qualifying period for most migrants. All these things are all part of trying to create a fair system that does not incentivise people to come here from France.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

I call the Father of the House.

[Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough) (Con)]

If the centre does not take action, nasty extremes will take over. The fact is that we are in acute danger. These people can now launch from anywhere on the north French coast and are escorted to our shores. Frankly, we are being invaded, and the public are completely fed up. There is only one solution, and that was put to the Minister by the shadow Home Secretary. There is no deterrent. They know they will not be deported. We have to get out of these outdated conventions, detain immediately and deport immediately. Will the Government take action?

--- Later in debate ---

[Sarah Jones]

I appreciate that the hon. Lady will have been concerned over the weekend, as a local member of Parliament. I am always there, if she wants to contact me, and if she is struggling to get through to anyone, I am happy to give her my number and to have another chat about this. Obviously, this was a moving picture, and it is not always possible for the police dealing with an incident to respond in a way that one might want.

The hon. Lady asked whether attempts to land further down the coast were an emerging problem. We are aware that, partly because we are making it harder for people to launch boats from “traditional” places, they are starting to launch them further west along the French coast. There is no evidence to suggest that they particularly want to land anywhere that would not enable them to get to Manston, which is where they would normally go, but we will of course totally keep all this under review.

The force was given the mutual aid that it asked for. There were several forces around, and in the end, the people causing the problem were dispersed. It is not uncommon for forces to offer mutual aid. For instance, when problems arose in Cleveland in recent weeks, 600 officers went in, through mutual aid. If I may make a slightly wider point, I think that makes the case for reform—[Hon. Members: “Hear, hear!”] Not that Reform; reform of policing. If there was a national police service, which we are introducing, agencies would be working together much more closely, because they would be part of the same organisation. Rather than relying on mutual aid from other forces, everyone would be joined up and sharing intelligence, which I think would be a better system.

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Judith Cummins)]

Order. Given that we have such a tight schedule tonight, could the Minister shorten her answers a bit?

[Apsana Begum (Poplar and Limehouse) (Lab)]

We have seen pogroms in Belfast, riots in Southampton, and then, of course, the chilling incidents in Dover and Portsmouth over the weekend. What is difficult to contend with is that this appears to be becoming more frequent and normalised. We cannot normalise the activities of organised far-right gangs. Will the Minister condemn the racism that was at the core of the activities and actions that took place this weekend? What can she say to those who cover their face for religious, health or work reasons, and who will be feeling particularly vulnerable at this time, about the Government and police response?