Rupert Lowe reports charity rowers to coastguard as possible ‘illegal migrants’

MP agrees to donate £1,000 to crew’s fundraising effort after alerting authorities to rowing boat off Great Yarmouth

The independent MP Rupert Lowe has agreed to donate £1,000 to a charity after mistaking its rowing crew, including a former Royal Marine, for “illegal migrants”.

Lowe, who was elected as a Reform MP but now sits as an independent for Great Yarmouth, said he had shopped the crew to the authorities and vowed to do everything he could to have them deported if they turned out to be what he suspected.