The RNLI has rehearsed a major migrant rescue drill amid claims the lifeboat charity has become a ‘ferry service’ for asylum seekers.

The Poole Bay in Dorset was the site of a training exercise aimed at preparing volunteers for the rescue of small boat migrants. In this drill, 40 participants clad in wetsuits descended into the sea, only to be subsequently rescued by lifeboats.

It was led by Border Force, which intercepts small boats in the English Channel and brings passengers across to Dover.

In recent years the RNLI has been accused of aiding illegal immigration by acting as a ‘taxi service’ for asylum seekers making the crossing. 

In May, an anti-immigration protest took place outside the headquarters of the lifesaving charity in Poole. Demonstrators argued that the RNLI should not bear the responsibility of transporting migrants across the Channel.

In response, the charity denied acting politically and insisted it would never apologise for saving lives at sea.

On Friday, the mission was supervised by the Border Force vessel Defender. It involved two small ferries dropping volunteers, simulating migrants, into the water, alongside several dummy figures standing in for deceased individuals.

The rescue operation was carried out by two RNLI all-weather lifeboats, three inshore boats, and the Border Force ship, which worked together to save the volunteers one at a time and recover the dummy figures.

The RNLI has rehearsed a major migrant rescue drill amid claims the lifeboat charity has become a ‘ferry service’ for asylum seekers

Small boat migrants pictured crossing the Channel last month. In recent years the RNLI has been accused of aiding illegal immigration

Colonel Philip Ingram criticized Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, accusing him of failing to halt the growing number of migrants crossing the Channel.

He said: ‘The RNLI is a charity whose primary role is to save life at sea. It’s deeply unfair for them to be labelled as a taxi service.

‘It doesn’t matter if they’re illegal migrants. Their role is to save lives. It’s up to the politicians to get the boats stopped.’

The ex-military leader remarked that, with the Labour Party’s decision to eliminate the Rwanda deportation plan, the UK now lacks a tangible ‘deterrent’ to prevent the influx of migrants.

‘The whole thing is a political c**k-up,’ added Col Ingram. ‘They made a decision to the stop Rwanda scheme… and now that is coming to bite Keir Starmer in his rear end.

‘He has failed miserably in trying to stop these gangs; it’s been a lot sound bites but no substance to them.

‘Everyone says there needs to be a deterrent and mechanisms put in place to stop the pool of people from coming across… and he has done absolutely nothing about it apart from talk.’

A spokesperson for the RNLI said: ‘The RNLI conducted a number of scenarios involving the rescue of multiple people in the water.

Participants pictured rescuing volunteers from the sea. The training to save future small boat migrants took place at Poole Bay, Dorset and saw 40 people thrown in

The mission was led by Border Force, which usually intercepts small boats in the English Channel and brings passengers across to Dover

Border Force vessel Defender oversaw Friday’s mission while two small ferries dropped the ‘migrants’ into the water and several dummies representing dead bodies were also thrown in

‘Five vessels from the RNLI College carried crew, lifeguards and observers and the scenarios took place at locations in Poole Bay and Poole Harbour. A Border Force vessel was also in attendance at the event.

‘It allows us to develop the best equipment for our crews to enable them to rescue multiple people from the water at any one time.

‘Although the crews involved are from stations in Kent and East Sussex, as they more often experience rescues involving multiple casualties in the water, their learning is shared with colleagues around the organisation, and equipment tested and developed on, and as a result of these exercises, can be rolled out to all our stations.

‘Border Force colleagues were involved because – as has been widely covered in the press – both they and we rescue people from small boats in the Channel when they are in danger of drowning.’

The Daily Mail has approached the Home Office for comment. 

The mock rescue mission comes after the number of migrants arriving in the UK after crossing the English Channel topped 30,000 in record time.

It is the latest milestone to be reached after record numbers of people have made the dangerous journey so far this year, despite ministers seeking to crack down on people smuggling gangs.

Some 1,097 migrants crossed the Channel in 17 boats on Saturday, bringing the total in 2025 so far to 30,100, Home Office figures show.

Two RNLI all-weather lifeboats, three inshore boats and the Border Force vessel then arrived on the scene to rescue the volunteers one by one and recover the ‘bodies’

RNLI and Border Force workers pictured rescuing mock migrants from the water on Friday

It comes at the end of Shabana Mahmood’s first week as Home Secretary (pictured: Ms Mahmood with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer on September 5)

Large groups of migrants seen sprinting into the surf off Gravelines beach, between Calais and Dunkirk, to board a boat to Britain. Arrivals hit 30,000 for this year in record time last week

Migrants try to board a smuggler’s boat in an attempt to cross the English Channel off the beach of Gravelines last month.

This is up 37 per cent on this point last year (22,028) and 37 per cent higher than at this stage in 2023 (21,918).

It is the earliest point in a calendar year at which the 30,000 mark has been passed since data on Channel crossings was first reported in 2018.

Last year, the figure was not passed until October 30 and in 2023 it was never reached as crossings totalled 29,437 for the whole year.

In 2022, the number was reached on September 21.

The record arrivals come as Shabana Mahmood was newly appointed as Home Secretary on Friday, as part of a major Government reshuffle in the wake of Angela Rayner’s resignation.