A ferry company operator has criticised Border Force for ordering it to suspend crossings so that 140 migrants could be brought ashore in Portsmouth on Sunday, saying the disruption cost half a day's takings. Colin Hill, who runs the Hayling Ferry between Hayling Island and Portsmouth's Eastney area, said officials abruptly barred the ferry from the Eastney pontoon while two RNLI lifeboats landed the migrants, forcing his boat to divert and stranding passengers. The episode coincided with violent scenes onshore, where around 500 balaclava-clad protesters clashed with police, injuring officers and damaging vehicles.

Hill said the ferry, which normally runs nine afternoon crossings from Hayling and ten the other way at £4 a ticket, had to divert to Southsea Marina after being turned away, and questioned Border Force's authority to halt the service, calling Eastney an unsuitable landing site with only one road in or out. The migrants had crossed from Utah Beach in Normandy, shadowed by French vessels at a cost of £90,000, but French rescuers declined to bring them ashore themselves, leaving the RNLI to do so instead. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp accused France of failing to intervene earlier and criticised the £660m paid to France for Channel enforcement, while the RNLI reported abuse and assaults against its volunteers amid a wider backlash over its role in migrant rescues.