RNLI volunteers' children reportedly bullied over Channel migrant rescues

Mixed · 2Children of RNLI lifeboat volunteers have reportedly been bullied at school because of their parents' involvement in rescuing migrants in the English Channel. 1 2 Mixed · 2A letter to Portsmouth City Council said two crew members' children had been targeted at school because their fathers were involved with the charity. The Daily Mirror, citing a Times report, says the leader of a Portsmouth lifeboat crew made the same claim and added that volunteers had been confronted while shopping and in pubs. 1 2 Right · 1The Daily Mail reports that crew members' names were published online, suspicious vehicles were seen near the station, and volunteers were branded 'traitors'. It also says volunteers were advised to stop wearing RNLI badges in public. 1

Left · 1The Mirror says images of volunteers' faces were circulated online with calls to identify them, and one widely shared X post urged people to 'get their family'. It also describes an incident at Eastney in which a lifeboat crew was trapped in its boathouse for two hours during a protest led by far-right activist Daniel Thomas. 2 Right · 1The Mail says the tension followed two RNLI all-weather lifeboats from the Isle of Wight landing 120 migrants at Eastney Point on 6 September, which sparked protests in Gosport and Portsmouth. It reports that several protesters have been charged with violent disorder and that police officers were treated for injuries. 1 Right · 1The allegations came up at a Portsmouth City Council debate on giving the RNLI the Freedom of the City. The motion passed by 25 votes to 11 with one abstention, after an amendment from Reform UK councillors, which sought to remove criticism of describing the RNLI as a 'taxi service' for migrants, was defeated. 1

Mixed · 2RNLI chief executive Peter Sparkes said recent events had generated 'deliberate misinformation and a misunderstanding' about the charity's tasking and Channel work, and that some volunteers and staff had suffered online and, in the worst cases, physical abuse. He criticised those who 'hide behind a balaclava or a keyboard'. 1 2 Left · 1The Mirror adds context on scale: the RNLI responds to small boats when tasked by the coastguard, and such callouts make up only 1.7 per cent of its total. In 2025, 41,472 people crossed the Channel and 2,353, or 5.7 per cent, were rescued by the RNLI. 2 Right · 1The Mail reports that councillors Gerald Vernon-Jackson and Billy Ansell, who proposed the motion, said volunteers respond without asking about nationality, religion or politics, and that disagreements over immigration do not justify hostility toward crews. 1