The document argues that this would “keep the UK population safe and reduce the taxpayer burden”.
Migrants are crossing to the UK from France in boats across the English Channel (Image: Getty)
Migrants should be detained on remote UK islands, a petition has said. The online document, set up Darren Chandler on September 3, stated: “Require the offshore detention of asylum seekers and criminals who are foreign nationals on remote UK islands away from the general population whilst providing them with humanitarian aid and shelter. This could keep the UK population safe and reduce the taxpayer burden. We believe asylum seekers should be housed on remote UK islands whilst their claims are processed and receive basic humanitarian support rather than being placed in local communities at the taxpayers’ expense.
“We believe the Government’s first duty is to protect British citizens and secure the borders. If the ECHR prevents deportations, they should remain there until they can be returned.”
At the time of writing, the petition has 28,362 signatures. It needed 10,000 in order to receive a response from the Government. The UK Parliament website has confirmed officials will reply, but it is not known then this will happen.
If the petition gets 100,000 signatures, it will be considered for debate in Parliament. It will stay open until March 3. It comes as a 38-year-old man has been charged with failing to comply with restrictions imposed on a protest against the arrival of migrants in Gosport after a small boat crossing.
Hampshire Constabulary said around 350 people left Haslar Road at around 2am on Monday after a group of asylum seekers were brought ashore by coastguard, lifeboat and border security staff. The force had imposed conditions under the Public Order Act as well as powers prohibiting the wearing of face coverings.
A total of 12 people were arrested with suspects including 11 men aged between 22 and 59, and one 57-year-old woman. They were arrested on suspicion of offences including assaulting a police officer, drunk and disorderly, failing to comply with conditions put in place on the protest, criminal damage and racially aggravated public order.
Migrants were brought ashore in Gosport (Image: Getty)
Jamie Bennett, of Thyme Avenue, Whiteley, has been charged with failing to comply with a prohibited assembly direction and was bailed to appear at Portsmouth Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, November 26. The other suspects have been released on bail pending further police inquiries.
PA reported that a force spokesman said: “A small number of officers were treated at the scene for injuries, but no-one in attendance from any agency or the public was seriously injured. One person suffering from chest pains was assisted by police officers before our colleagues from South Central Ambulance Service provided treatment.”
The arrests came amid increased tensions over small boat crossings with protesters gathering in ports when arrivals are expected.
Migrant dinghy found within 2 miles off Dover in fresh Channel security scare
EXCLUSIVE: Boat somehow reached British waters unescorted and continued towards the Kent coast before finally being intercepted
32 migrants were found off the coast of DOver (Image: Getty)
More than 30 migrants made it to within two miles of Dover in a fresh security scare for immigration chiefs. Two Border Security Command vessels and an RNLI lifeboat scrambled to a dinghy just two miles off the coast of Dover.
It somehow reached British waters unescorted and continued towards the Kent coast before finally being intercepted. Some 32 migrants were found on board after crossing through fog. The revelations emerged as Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp declared that deporting illegal migrants immediately is the “only way” to protect communities like Piddington from the asylum crisis.
The senior Tory insisted small boat arrivals must be booted out “within a week of arrival”. And he vowed to dismantle the legal architecture used by failed asylum seekers, foreign criminals and visa overstayers to repeatedly fight attempts to remove them.
Mr Philp told Tory members: “The consequence of illegal entry will be immediate removal. Because if illegal immigrants know they will quickly be deported they won’t come in the first place.”
The Tory borders chief pointed to Home Office plans to dump 1,256 asylum seekers next to the picturesque Oxfordshire village of Piddington, which is home to around 350 people.
And he said the horrific murder of Rhiannon Whyte illustrates why ministers must end the small boats crisis.
Sudanese asylum seeker Deng Majek stabbed mother-of-one Rhiannon 23 times in a frenzied 90-second attack after following the 27-year-old from his asylum hotel to Bescot Road railway station in Walsall in 2024.
Majek was later seen dancing and joking in the hotel car park. The Sudanese monster had arrived on a small boat about three months before the attack.
And Mr Philp said: “The truth is we cannot have strong borders while in the ECHR. Successive governments have tried, and it hasn’t worked.
“So, the next Conservative government will leave the ECHR.
“That way we can deport illegal immigrants within a week of arrival. No asylum claims. No human rights claims. Just detention followed by rapid deportation back to the county of origin or to a safe third country.
“It worked in Australia 13 years ago and it will work here today.
“Tough? Yes. But here’s the truth: it’s the only thing that will work to protect places like Piddington, to protect young women like Rhiannon and to protect our borders. And we will do it.”
Mr Philp vowed on Wednesday to “immediately” close Labour’s new safe and legal routes while “illegal migration is rife”.
The Shadow Home Secretary accused Shabana Mahmood of “opening our borders even more” by re-establishing the UK Resettlement Scheme and creating three new community sponsorship routes.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp addresses Tory members (Image: Jonathan Buckmaster / Daily Express)
Under a Conservative government, illegal migration will have to fall to nearly zero before similar schemes are considered.
Thousands of migrants are expected to arrive under Labour’s new schemes every year once they are fully up and running.
Charities, faith groups and businesses will be able to apply to host people from next year. And Mr Philp warned “those coming will have the right to bring in their whole extended families too”.
He said: “Labour now also wants to bring more people here directly from Afghanistan and Gaza – where the October 7th massacre was openly celebrated on the streets. Those coming will have the right to bring in their whole extended families too.
“While illegal migration is rife, the government should not be opening our borders even more – and we would close this scheme down immediately.”
More than 20,000 migrants have crossed the Channel so far this year – including 1,000 in just two days.
Some 418 people were packed into five dinghies on Sunday, while 609 asylum seekers were detected in 8 vessels on Monday.
And Mr Philp warned the small boats emergency has created a “public safety crisis… especially for women and girls”.
He told the Conservative Party Conference: “Girls as young as 12 have been raped by illegal small boat migrants.
“Afghan men are 22 times more likely to commit sex offences than average – one even recently brought a 14-year old-girl he was abusing to the UK on a small boat.
“This is not just a borders crisis – it is a public safety crisis … especially for women and girls. And we must end it.
“What is Andy Burnham’s answer? Not deportation. Distribution. He thinks every town and village should have its own share of illegal immigrants.”
The senior Tory slammed “many on the left” for throwing Britain’s borders open.
He said: “Without strong borders we are no country at all.
“Many on the left think that we should let in anyone who wants to come. That every person with a claim to sympathy should be accommodated. They think only of the supposed rights of illegal immigrants. Or prioritise the rights of foreign criminals to stay here.
“We can’t keep on like this. It isn’t fair to the British people. The cost – financial and social – is simply too high.
“Borders matter. Control matters. Numbers matter.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We have made progress tackling the small boats. Crossings are down significantly, and we have just recorded the lowest number of summer arrivals since 2020.
“We are taking action, with joint efforts preventing over 48,000 crossing attempts and seizing 1,100 boats and engines since the election.
“But we must go further, which is why we are boosting the number of officers on the ground in France and removing the pull factors drawing people here through illegal and dangerous routes.”
