Channel migrant spotter planes cost £2m a month

ROUND-the-clock spotter planes detecting small boats crossing the Channel have cost taxpayers more than £2million a month, latest figures show.

- BY TONY WHITFIELD

Two specialised aircraft equipped with radar, hi-tech cameras and sensors to track migrants packed into dinghies trying to illegally enter Britain have been provided by Canadian-owned defence contractor PAL Aerospace as part of a £54m, 26-month contract.

The De Havilland Canada Dash 8 turboprop maritime patrol aircraft are based at Lydd airfield in Kent to support the UK Home Office’s Small Boats Operations Command under the contract running from October 2024 to November this year. The details were revealed in a parliamentary question. Yet since 2018 more than 200,000 illegal immigrants have crossed the Channel in small boats.