PORT security in the UK has reached “crisis point”, according to the Dorset Police and Crime Commissioner.

Martyn Underhill, re-elected to his position as an Independent earlier this month, has spoken out in the wake of 20 migrants being rescued from a boat in the English Channel on Sunday.

The former detective chief inspector told the Daily Echo the country has been left “badly exposed” after the number of Border Force cutters patrolling UK shores was reduced to three.

“Belgium and France spend over 20 times as much money, and have 20 times more resources than we do for policing the same piece of water, which defies belief when you consider that we are an island nation,” he said.

“We need to have more resources in the other countries’ ports so we have a grip on what is coming across the Channel. I’ve asked for that, other people have asked for that – and we’ve all been ignored.

“We are reaching crisis point and this is not the time to start cutting, and that’s what the home secretary’s been doing. The money she is reinvesting in the Border Force isn’t going into small ports.”

Mr Underhill said it is an issue that has a direct impact on Dorset, and also cited the termination of Cobham's £4million contract to supply aerial maritime surveillance from its Bournemouth Airport site as a cause for concern.

“You have got people in France who have been sent to prison for importing refugees into Weymouth – that is a matter of record,” he added.

“Things aren’t getting any better, they are getting worse and I’m not seeing a positive response from government.”

Sunday's incident off the coast of Kent came after 17 men, thought to be Albanian migrants, were detained when a catamaran arrived at Chichester Marina in West Sussex on Tuesday.

And last month two Iranian men were found floating in a dinghy in the Channel.

The Home Office has repeatedly insisted that the changes it has made to port security will not put the country at risk.