British rescue boats have been sent to collect the passengers of a migrant dinghy which has spent around 30 hours at sea.
The boat, which is being shadowed by a French coastguard vessel, left the Normandy coast on Monday morning.
The UK’s Maritime and Coastguard Agency said the migrants will be transferred to Border Security Command.
Two RNLI lifeboats are believed to be on their way to meet the dinghy.
A spokesperson said: “HM Coastguard is responding to a report of a small boat in the Channel, south of the UK central south coast.
“Rescue vessels have been sent, supported by an HM Coastguard aeroplane, to collect the people and safely transfer them to UK Border Force.”
The dinghy is close to the Channel boundary line, according to ship tracking data, and appears to have set off from close to the village of Vierville-sur-Mer, west of Bayeux.
Daniel Thomas, known as Danny Tommo, shared a YouTube livestream of the boat from the Channel.
Mr Thomas – founder of anti-migration group Patriot Platform and an associate of political activist Tommy Robinson – was a leader of recent protests in Portsmouth and organised demonstrations in Dover.
UK authorities are understood to have plans to deal with small boat arrivals further along the coast.
A Government spokesperson said: “The Border Security Command works around the clock to protect our border and will continue to detain, check and process every small boat arrival.”
Departures as far west as Normandy are rare.
Earlier this month, a dinghy was met by lifeboats from the Isle of Wight having set off from the Cherbourg area, triggering protests in Portsmouth.
It is thought to have made one of the longest journeys of any small boat in the Channel.
Officials said at the time they believed it was a one-off rather than a sign of new tactics.
Earlier on Tuesday, a minister insisted the UK’s borders are secure after a migrant boat reached the Kent coast without being intercepted.
Five people were detained and passed to Border Security Command after the dinghy made it to shore at Folkestone on Monday – the first undetected landing for a year.
Defence minister Luke Pollard dismissed suggestions the Government had lost control of the border.
“Our borders are secure, but we want to make them stronger,” he told LBC Radio.
Asked how the boat slipped through, Mr Pollard said a Home Office investigation was under way to determine what had happened, without going into detail.
The thousands of migrants crossing the Channel are usually brought to shore by Border Security Command or RNLI boats.
No small boat arrivals to the UK coast without an escort have been officially recorded since September 6 last year.
Some 17,480 migrants have arrived after crossing the Channel by boat so far this year, including 5,011 since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister.
The total so far for 2026 is down 46% on the same point last year.
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