Steven Morris – The Guardian Sept 18, 2026
Above, illegal migrants helped ashore after being ‘rescued’ in the English Channel. Click to enlarge
A lifeboat station on the south coast of England near the spot where far-right activists tried to stop asylum seekers landing has been forced to temporarily close, it has emerged.
The station in Portsmouth shut after it and other sites run by the RNLI were targeted by people objecting to the lifeboat charity going to the aid of people trying to get to the UK on small boats.
Jacqui Irons, the head of the south-east region of the RNL, said: “Portsmouth lifeboat station has been temporarily off-service since 7 September. We have a duty of care to our people. We therefore took the decision to pause activity at the station to review crew safety and wellbeing, and to support those involved in the incident on 6 September.”
The charity said it did not mean there had been a lack of cover around Portsmouth, one of the busiest maritime areas in the UK.
An RNLI spokesperson said: “Search and rescue cover continues to be provided through established contingency arrangements, including flank RNLI stations and other declared assets.
“At times, it is not unusual for lifeboat stations around the UK and Ireland to be temporarily unavailable due to maintenance or other operational requirements.
“In such circumstances, established contingency arrangements are put in place to ensure continued search and rescue cover.”
On Sunday 6 September two RNLI crews helped bring a dinghy carrying 120 asylum seekers to Eastney in Portsmouth, a few hundred metres from the lifeboat station.
Far-right activists were among those who tried to blockade the road leading to the landing spot, and police officers were injured.
In the days after, lifeboat crew members were called traitors and protests took place against the charity, including at the RNLI headquarters in nearby Poole.
A museum in Poole telling the story of the RNLI also closed temporarily, and Portsmouth lifeboat station took down its Facebook page.
RNLI volunteers across the UK were told that they should consider not wearing RNLI branded clothing if they felt this could put them at risk. They have also been advised that they should feel empowered to close shops or lifeboat stations if they feel in danger.
The RNLI has defended its work in the Channel, saying that for more than 200 years it rescued people without judgment, fear or favour. It said rumours that the RNLI housed asylum seekers on its premises, or that there were RNLI missions to move migrants to secret locations, were “completely baseless and untrue”.
The charity said RNLI lifeboats launched 9,058 times in 2025 but that only 109 of those callouts were to small boats in the Channel, representing 1.2% of its rescue work.