Photo credit: Daily Echo
A councillor has attacked criticism of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) over Channel rescues, highlighting that just 1.2 per cent of its launches last year involved small boats in the Channel.
Daily Echo reports that councillor David Harrison said the figure showed the controversy surrounding the charity’s role in rescuing migrants represented only a small part of its wider lifesaving work.
His comments come after a war of words between Hampshire Reform group leader George Madgwick and Southampton Itchen MP Darren Paffey following the arrival of around 120 asylum seekers in Eastney on September 6.
The group had been rescued from a small boat in the Channel by the RNLI.
Cllr Madgwick subsequently said the charity had, in his view, “facilitated the arrival of 100-plus migrants to our city of Portsmouth” and suggested people could “lobby against the RNLI” and “withdraw your support and funding”.
Paffey responded that Cllr Madgwick was not “fit to lace the boots of a single brave RNLI volunteer”.
The dispute follows a protest after the asylum seekers arrived in Eastney, which resulted in roads being blocked during a 10-hour stand-off.
Hampshire police said vehicles were damaged and officers were injured, with four men so far charged with violent disorder.
A further migrant arrival on Monday led to another six people being arrested during a demonstration in Gosport.
The RNLI subsequently temporarily took its Portsmouth lifeboat station out of service while it reviewed the safety and wellbeing of its volunteers.
The charity said arrangements remained in place for search and rescue cover.
