GB News’ Mark White has raged over claims French officials are absent from the shores of northern France while migrants congregate in Calais.
Hundreds of small boat migrants are en route to the UK this morning, after a month of bad weather prevented any illegal crossings, the Home and Security Editor exclusively revealed.
GB News revealed seven migrant boats were attempting the perilous journey.
Providing an update to presenter Dawn Neesom on the matter, Mark said: It’s looking like a very significant day of crossings in the English Channel today.
“They were massing on the beaches of northern France because of this break in the weather.”
Maritime security sources explained to GB News the lack of migrant arrivals over the past month was a “definite result of bad weather conditions”.
But Mark pointed out Labour had jumped on the 28-day-long lull to argue Sir Keir Starmer’s “smash the gangs” policy was beginning to reap rewards.
“This was a weather phenomenon and nothing else,” he told Dawn. “A month in which the wind was blowing at a rate that was just too high or actually in the wrong direction for the boats to launch, so they weren’t able to launch for 28 days.
The editor was visibly perturbed at the lack of French patrol
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“Today is the first day, really, that the conditions have improved enough to allow that and look what’s happening.”
He added that GB News understand than more than a dozen small boast have set sail today, with most of them departing beaches “without, it seems, any police or French border patrol intervention to stop them”.
Dawn went on to ask what exactly the French are doing on the border, Mark explained: “Well, I’ve had no indication as yet that the police have intervened, as they’ve long promised in terms of trying to push any of these small boats back to the beach.
“There was one small boat that returned, probably due to a mechanical failure that often happens with these not so powerful engines that these dinghies have.”
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Hundreds of small boat migrants setting sail for Britain this morning
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GB NEWSApart from the defective dinghy, the rest of the fleet have made steady progress.
“Hundreds more migrants still remain in French waters heading towards us. It beggars belief that the French aren’t on the beaches,” he raged.
“Of course, one of the factors is when you get to a weekend, the police in France, you know, they unionised, they don’t have as many on – bizarre as this sounds – at the weekends as they do during the week.
“So if you want to pick an optimum time, if the weather conditions are right to try to increase your chances of getting across, pick the weekend.”
So far, 39,294 migrants have made the illegal crossing onto British shores this year, thousands ahead of the 36,816 who crossed in the whole of last year.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The number of small boat crossings are shameful and the British people deserve better.
“This Government is taking action. We have removed almost 50,000 people who were here illegally, and our historic deal with the French means those who arrive on small boats are now being sent back.
“The Home Secretary has announced the most sweeping reforms to tackle illegal migration in decades, removing the incentives that bring illegal migrants to the UK and scaling up the return of those with no right to be here.”