Home Office agrees support for Hampshire force’s £803,000 protest policing costs
Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary says it spent more than £800,000 responding to small boat arrivals in Portsmouth and Gosport and the protests they prompted. The Home Office has agreed to a funding package to support the policing response, though the final reimbursement could still be reviewed and negotiated.
The force’s additional costs were reported as £803,343 over four weeks, as officers managed demonstrations in which some were assaulted and 18 people were arrested. Three Channel crossings took place in six weeks, with migrants brought ashore in Hampshire twice; 149 people arrived in Gosport on 4 October. The Home Office says arrivals are taken to Manston in Kent for checks, while the former Haslar detention centre is being prepared to reopen with proposed capacity for 600 people.
In short
- The Home Office agreed to help cover policing costs.
- The force reported £803,343 in extra spending.
- Portsmouth and Gosport saw protests after small boat arrivals.
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The case for
The Home Office should help meet the exceptional costs Hampshire police incurred managing arrivals and demonstrations, so local policing budgets and other services are not left to absorb a sudden, nationally driven burden. Timely support can also help ensure officers are equipped to protect the public and people arriving, and to manage protests safely while respecting the right to demonstrate.
The case against
Reimbursing the force in full may place an open-ended cost on national funds and weaken incentives to manage spending carefully, particularly while the final amount remains under review. Critics could argue that funding should be limited to verified additional costs, with clear scrutiny of how resources were used, rather than treating every expense linked to arrivals and protests as automatically eligible.
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Originally published by Daily Mail as “Government to pay police force up to £800,000 after small boat migrant landings in town sparked protests”.