Lifeboat crew members have vowed not to apologise for saving lives when they are called out to migrants crossing the Channel.
Last year, the RNLI was forced to respond to some 114 small boat incidents off the south coast.
The charity’s figures also show it rescued 1,371 people – 3.7 per cent of the number of people trying to cross the Channel in 2024.
This included saving the lives of 58 migrants.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has led condemnation of the RNLI as a “taxi service” for people trying to enter the country illegally.
However, crew members have said they would react to any incident which they were asked to by the Coastguard, and would do so without considering politics.
“When our pager goes, we’re not thinking anything political,” Paula Lain, who volunteers for the RNLI, told the BBC.
She added: “We’re all thinking about people. We’re actively compassionate.
PA
|
Last year, the RNLI responded to 114 incidents including small boats, representing over one per cent of their total call-outs across the UK and Ireland
“That’s what drives us beyond any moral or civic responsibility.”
Lain continued: “We’re there to help people in their most distressing times.”
In 2021, Farage said the RNLI in Kent and parts of East Sussex was “increasingly becoming a taxi service for illegal trafficking gangs”.
LATEST IN MIGRANT CRISIS:
That came before an explosion in Channel crossings.
So far this year, more than 24,000 people have crossed the short stretch of water on small boats.
Between July 23 and July 28 alone, nearly 1,000 migrants arrived in the UK in 14 boats.
In comparison, just under 37,000 people made the crossing in 2024, with 695 boats arriving on the British coast according to the Home Office.
Last week, Donald Trump warned that a “horrible invasion” risks “killing Europe” as he arrived in Glasgow.
REUTERS
|
Last week, Donald Trump warned that a ‘horrible invasion’ risks ‘killing Europe’
He told GB News: “On immigration you better get your act together… Or you’re not going to have Europe anymore.”
Trump also implored European leaders to stop the crisis.
He added: “Some leaders have not let it happen, and they’re not getting the proper credit.
“I could name them to you right now, but I’m not going to embarrass the other ones.
“But stop, this immigration is killing Europe.”
Talking about the migrant situation in the US, Trump revealed: “Last month, we had nobody entering our country. Nobody.
“Shut it down,” he blasted.
