The government should enlist offshore workers made redundant to join the UK Border Force.

A report from the Home Affairs Select Committee states the Border Force is 'clearly under-resourced' and that Royal Navy vessels should be made available.

Nautilus general secretary Mark Dickinson said it was calling on the government to look to the thousands of offshore workers who have been made redundant and the hundreds of supply boats which are without work because of the downturn in the oil price and the implications for investment and activity in the offshore sector.

These vessels with their British seafarers could be immediately chartered by the government to strengthen coastal security.

In May it was reported that a suspected people-trafficking ring was attempting to smuggle migrants from the Netherlands to Sea Palling.