GB News Home and Security Editor Mark White has explained why the Labour Government is facing a massive uphill battle in its bid to stem the tide of Channel migrant crossings.
This morning on GB News, Defence Secretary John Healey admitted Britain has “lost control” of its borders and likened lifeboats collecting migrants from the Channel to a “taxi” service.
He also criticised the French police, claiming they are failing to use new powers which allow them to halt small boats from leaving the Calais coast.
It comes after a staggering 1,194 migrants arrived in the UK on 18 small boats on Saturday.
Mark White put the shocking numbers into perspective
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Mark White revealed packed lifeboats were forced to queue up to enter the Dover harbour on a record breaking day.
Speaking today on the People’s Channel, Mark put the numbers into perspective and sought to paint a picture of just how stark Labour’s challenge is.
“Very rarely do we ever get this high. We can top a thousand in the hot days of summer, I’m talking August, September time”, he said.
“To get this number is significant, but to get it so early in the year is phenomenal.
Migrants were piling onto small boats
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“In images shot from a coastline community resort between Dunkirk and Calais, you see lots and lots of migrants wading out into the shallow English Channel to get onto taxi boats.
“These boats were launched further up the coast from rivers which come and collect others.
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“We see police standing around doing absolutely nothing which is infuriating Government ministers in this country.”
Mark said a new law has been passed in France which grants police powers to stop boats at source, but clearly this is not being acted upon.
Mark White reacts as vessels ‘queue up’ to ferry migrants into Britain – WATCH
He explained: “The French have passed a new law allowing their maritime rigid inflatable boats to intervene when these boats are in shallow waters to push them back.
“They haven’t enacted that policy yet. The British will be pushing the French as a matter of urgency to do what they said they would do when they passed this legislation to start pushing boats back onto the beach.
“If they do that, it will lead to scenes of real anger and disorder as we have seen when the police have tried to puncture boats at various points, when police have been badly beaten up by migrants.
“You can push them back onto the beach, but if you don’t have a plan to process them and effectively get them out of your country, all you’re doing is disrupting them and they will probably succeed on another day.”
Mark White broke the story on GB News yesterday
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Chris Philp MP, Shadow Home Secretary, told GB News: “Over a thousand illegal immigrants in a single day, boats flooding the Channel, Border Force stretched beyond breaking point, and even fishing vessels drafted in because our maritime rescue services are overwhelmed. A nation reduced to chaos on the high seas while Keir Starmer hides behind platitudes and process.
“Labour has completely lost control of our borders. Their pledge to smash gangs in tatters. They scrapped the Rwanda deterrent before it even began and now the boats won’t stop coming.
“So far, this is already the worst year on record. Labour have failed on every front, and Britain is paying the price. This is a day of shame for Labour.”
A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
“That is why this government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage.
“Through international intelligence sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in Northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security, Asylum and Immigration Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders.”
