Tory peer accused of ‘profiting from small boat crisis’
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A Tory peer has been accused of profiting from the small boats crisis after a company he part-owns secured a lucrative contract tracking the vessels.
David Willetts is the director of a tech company given £3million of taxpayer cash by the Home Office to to track vessels operating in British waters.
Sirius Insight was given a contract to track small boats operating within “UK inland waterways” and “territorial waters” for “365 days per year, 24 hours per day”.
The tech company’s website promises to “detect, verify and track small vessels and small boats at a sufficient distance to allow timely interdiction” by “combining specially-tuned radar with optical and thermal cameras”.
The contract was tendered from the Joint Maritime Security Centre - a UK Border Force-run organisation - which monitors UK waters and coordinates UK Government responses to maritime security threats.
Lord Willetts is a Conservative member of the House of Lords and is the chair of Sirius Insight’s advisory board as well as a non-executive director of the firm.
As well as the positions on the company’s board, Lord Willetts owns at least £100,000 worth of shares in the company, according to his register of interests.
The links mean he stands to make large sums from the contract, gaining from what critics describe as Tory failures on the small boats crisis.
The revelation comes as 2024 has seen a record number of small boat arrivals across the English Channel. More than 13,000 people have now made the crossing this year - a record high for this point.
A Labour source said: “With a record number of people arriving by small boats in the first six months of this year, it leaves a bad taste in the mouth that a Tory peer appears to be profiting from his own government's ongoing failure to tackle that problem.
“Serious questions need to be answered.”
Lord Willetts is the former MP for Havant and held several front bench roles before being given a peerage in 2015 by David Cameron.
Lord Willetts and Sirius Insight have been contacted for comment.