One more fuel efficient catamaran would have cost taxpayers less than 1.8 million pounds ($2.3 million) annually, that is just over 16 million pounds for the whole fleet, while 4.6 million pounds are required to operate each Border Force cutter, according to the news outlet.
This comes after in January 2017 a former major in the Royal Marines, Duncan Higham, who owns SSI Risk Management company, proposed the government to deploy a fleet of MPC19 catamarans to the channel to help tackle the problem of illegal crossings by migrants, the newspaper said on Sunday.
Javid then pledged to deploy another two UK Border Force cutters to the waterway in addition to the vessel that was already patrolling the area.
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However, only two vessels are reportedly patrolling the English Channel at the moment despite Javid's assurances.
