Portsmouth anti-migrant protest draws UK PM warning

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham urged Labour lawmakers to confront what he called the “politics of poison” after an anti-migrant protest in Portsmouth disrupted the arrival of 140 people rescued from a small boat on a rare route to Hampshire.

PA news agency reported that Burnham made the comments in a closed-door meeting with Labour parliamentarians. PA quoted him as saying the party had a “solemn responsibility to prevent the politics of poison seeping into our streets” and should counter “fear with positivity and hope”.

Britain's coastguard rescued the boat on Sunday. French authorities said it had departed from Baie de Seine in Normandy, a couple of hundred kilometres southwest of Calais. Small-boat crossings usually take place between Calais and Dover, where the distance between the French and English coasts is shortest.

Later on Sunday, about 200 demonstrators, many dressed in black and wearing face coverings, disrupted the migrants' disembarkation in Portsmouth. Footage shared on social media showed them blocking roads while police with riot shields formed a security cordon around buses meant to take the migrants to a processing centre.

Officials said the crowd dispersed around 4:00 am and the migrants were successfully transported.

“We condemn the intimidating and thuggish behaviour we saw in Portsmouth last night,” the Home Office said. “The right to peaceful protest is fundamental to our democracy but it must never cross a line into disorder.”

The Portsmouth demonstration was the second significant anti-migrant disorder of the weekend, after large crowds of masked men blocked access to the Port of Dover for several hours on Saturday.

Both gatherings were organised by Patriot Platform, a group started by Daniel Thomas, also known as Danny Tommo, who is an associate of far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon. Thomas filmed and livestreamed both events on social media.

Local Conservative lawmaker Joe Robertson wrote on X that it was “extremely concerning” to see an irregular migrant crossing so far west and said authorities needed to establish whether new routes were being used by people smugglers.

Donna Jones, police and crime commissioner for Hampshire and the Isle of Wight, said Portsmouth “is not equipped to receive and process people entering the country this way”. She said the scenes had put pressure on resources, especially policing.

A UK government official told reporters there was “no evidence” at this stage to suggest that smugglers running the crossings had changed their strategy.

Home Office data showed 16,513 irregular migrants had crossed the Channel since the start of the year, down about 40 percent from the same period in 2025. Last week, Burnham announced the deployment of 45 additional officers to French beaches to help address an increase in the number of passengers per boat. Government data shows the vast majority of migrants to Britain arrive through legal routes.