The UK Border Force’s fleet of cutters – patrol vessels meant to deal with small boats in the Channel – have been quietly dropped from service, a minister has admitted.

The cutters, purpose-built for tactical response work in British waters, have been scrapped in favour of a multi-million-pound set of private catamarans – normally used for servicing wind farms.

The move has left the new catamarans, which could cost UK taxpayers up to a whopping £36million per year, as Britain’s only patrol fleet in the English Channel.

In a shocking admission, Minister of State for Countering Illegal Migration Michael Tomlinson said the five cutters and further six ‘coastal patrol vessels’ hadn’t been used at all last year.

One of the Border Force cutters, Vigilant, which is set to be scrapped

2023 saw 604 incidences of small boats in the Channel – 90 per cent of which had to be dealt with by the catamarans, with the RNLI covering the rest.

Tomlinson said: “During 2023, the Cutter & CPV fleet did not provide assistance to small boat operations in the South East region.

“Instead, Border Force utilised a fleet of 5 Commercial Transfer Vessels (CTVs) – Defender, Hurricane, Ranger, Typhoon and Volunteer.”

The cutters have been scrapped in favour of a multi-million-pound set of private catamarans