The Royal Navy should be deployed in the English Channel to protect the UK against migrant people-smugglers and the heightened terror threat, MPs warn.

Extra patrols around the border are needed because the UK’s fleet of cutters is depleted and not sufficient to protect against the threat to the country from the refugee crisis.

The warning by the Home Affairs select committee comes as it emerged that British ferry passengers will be protected by armed sea marshals or see their ships boarded by military marksmen amid fears of a terror attack in the English Channel.