Labour faced fury and ridicule as they bragged about the France returns deal being an “immediate deterrent” as hundreds of migrants crossed the Channel.
Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy defended Sir Keir Starmer’s “one-in-one-out” deal with Emmanuel Macron despite only three people being returned in the scheme’s first five days.
Some 800 migrants are feared to have crossed in small boats on Friday, leaving Labour’s claims of ‘smashing the gangs’ in tatters.
This would take the total number of arrivals this year to almost 32,000 – including around 10,000 since the one-in-one-out agreement was struck at the Anglo-French summit in July.
This number is expected to rise further as French navy vessels are currently tracking asylum seekers.
Border Force boats have been “running all day” and the lifeboat has also been deployed amid chaotic scenes in the Channel.
Migrants were plunged into the water as the boats disintegrated as they approached rescue vessels. The Daily Express understands two rescue operations were carried out today.
Lifeboat crews even had to intercept a dinghy and prevent it from being hit by a ferry.
Dinghies have been drifting into the ferry routes, witnesses said.
Channel smugglers have vowed to expand their networks and launch even bigger boats, with criminals believing they could send 2,000 people in dinghies every day.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp told the Daily Express: “Labour is boasting about removing just three illegal immigrants, but hundreds crossed the Channel.
“Since this deal was announced, over 10,000 have crossed.
“Removing just three is pathetic – and boasting about it is absurd.
“Migrants in France are openly saying they don’t care and will cross anyway.
“They should bin the Human Rights Act for immigration matters and deport every single illegal immigrant immediately upon arrival – back to their home country or to somewhere like Rwanda.
“This government is weak and dishonest. They have lost control of our borders.”
Mr Philp added: “A scheme that will ultimately let 94 per cent of illegal immigrants stay here will have no deterrent effect whatsoever.”
Shadow Home Office minister Katie Lam said: “It’s totally obscene for the Government to be celebrating the results of its ‘one in, one out’ deal with France.
“In the first week of deportation flights, just three illegal migrants were returned to France.
“Since the Prime Minister signed the deal in July, 10,000 migrants have arrived in small boats. This is not even a drop in the ocean.
“The Channel crossings absolutely must come to an end. It’s putting huge pressure on local communities, putting women and girls at risk, and enabling criminal gangs to continue operating unchecked.
“If we are going to stop the boats, the only credible deterrent is to detain and swiftly remove everybody who arrives here illegally.”
Sources told the Daily Express smugglers launched “nine or ten” boats destined for Britain by 3pm on Friday.
A small child wearing armbands and a flotation device was seen amongst those on a boat at the notorious Gravelines beach near Dunkirk.
As the boat came close to shore, people waded through waist-high water towards it and a child was passed aboard before it went out to sea.
In the town itself, at about 5.30am, a group of 40 young men suddenly appeared from a quiet side street carrying an inflatable boat over their heads before launching it into a canal.
Police officers watched on from the bank as the driver of the boat struggled to keep it in a straight line.
Earlier in the night, a group of men formed a human chain to help haul people out of the mud after a failed attempt to launch a boat in the canal.
Migrants in France have also said they will keep trying to reach Britain – even if they are returned.
Reform UK’s Lee Anderson MP said: “The government’s deportation plan is a humiliating farce. Whilst over a thousand migrants flood across the border in a single weekend, ministers are bragging about deporting three.
“Without a total legal reset, which includes leaving the ECHR and disapplying international treaties, no government will ever deliver a meaningful number of deportations.”
Rob Lawrie, a former soldier who has been speaking to people smugglers for a new podcast, said the Home Office would have to deport 2,000 migrants a week for it to be a deterrent.
He told the Today programme: “I was talking to a smuggler in Germany last week who said the UK needs to be sending back at least 2,000 a week – and even if that happened they could send 2,000 more a day the other way.
“It’s that much money involved in the people smuggling network… I’m talking hundreds of millions.
“He also pointed out that down the line – ”next season” he called it – they’re introducing 18-metre boats. We’ve had one this year with 132 migrants on board.
“I understand this is a pilot scheme, but in order for this to be effective they need to have about two to three thousand migrants a week heading to France – and even that won’t meet the number of migrants coming across the Channel.”
Deputy Prime Minister Mr Lammy defended the scheme amid fears it was not putting migrants off crossing.
He said: “It has been very important to increase the numbers of people that we are returning to the countries from which they are from, and that’s gone up 14%… I played an important role in that as foreign secretary and that work must continue.
“This pilot with France is a milestone because it sends an immediate deterrent to people, many of them coming obviously across the water, that we will send them back, and it is our hope to see that grow over the coming months and years because we have to bear down on the gangs and we have to smash the model effectively and we have to ensure that those who do not have a right to be here are sent back to the countries from which they are from.”
Donald Trump advised Sir Keir Starmer to call in the military to stop Channel migrant crossings.
The US President warned the Prime Minister that illegal immigration “destroys countries from within”, adding that it’s a “very hard chore” to carry out a mass deportation programme.
Pressed on whether the Government would take the US president’s apparent advice to call the military in to deal with immigration, Mr Lammy said: “We’ve got amazing border guards.”
