New footage of illegal migrants being handed life jackets by French authorities has sparked a fiery migrant row on GB News, as Reform UK MP Lee Anderson claimed the Government "hasn't got the backbone" to deal with the crisis.
In an exclusive GB News investigation, the People's Channel obtained footage from just ten days ago of migrants being handed free life jackets in the Channel - by the French authorities.
The migrants are then seen catching the vests and shouting their thanks back. The rigid inflatable craft is believed to have come from the French border patrol vessel Ridens, which can also be seen in the video a few hundred yards from the migrant boat.
Discussing the footage on GB News, Anderson told host Martin Daubney that the activity comes as "no surprise", as both the British and French have been "enabling" illegal crossings for "several years".
Lee Anderson and Paul Richards clashed over new footage obtained by GB News of migrants being handed life jackets by the French
GB News
Anderson fumed: "It might be astonishing, but it comes as no surprise. This has been happening for the last three or four years. I've been to the camps, I saw the French and the British NGOs enabling these illegal migrants to come over the Channel.
"This started under the Tory Government, and has got worse under this Labour Government."
Mocking the current efforts of the Labour Government, Anderson suggested that they should offer "two flights a day" from France to Britain, instead of letting them make the perilous crossing.
He stated: "What we might as well do is just put two flights a day on from France on and say, come on lads, jump on here, because that's what we're doing. This is not deterring, it's not smashing the gangs, it's enabling people.
Authorities in France have been accused of 'encouraging people smuggling' after GB News obtained damning new video proving the French are handing out life jackets to small boat migrantsGB News"It's encouraging them to make this perilous journey across the Channel, and quite frankly, our Government should be ashamed of themselves for letting the French do this."
Disagreeing with Anderson, former Labour special adviser Paul Richards argued that giving the migrants life jackets is "not enabling" the crossings, it is simply "securing their safety" across the Channel.
Richards explained: "There are people that say. just put the Royal Navy destroyers into the Channel and shell these people, let them drown in the Channel, but I think handing out lifejackets isn't enabling, it is just securing safety at sea. And by the point that they're there, it is obviously too late, isn't it?
"I think we can all agree it's a reasonable thing to do, but how do you stop them getting anywhere near the Channel? How do you stop this evil trade even happening, and you stop the animals from putting them into the boats?"
Anderson and Richards debated how illegal migrants should be dealt with by the Government
GB News
Anderson hit back at Richards, fuming: "This smashing the gangs slogan is absolute nonsense. There is a simple solution and your Government and the Tory government was the same - they haven't got the backbone or the political will to do it. These people need sending back the same day, and if it means a standoff with France, so what?
"This will not stop until the pull factor is stopped. You give them life jackets, you're escorting them across the Channel, you put them in hotels, you give them free legal aid to to claim asylum - they're never leaving this country."
A Home Office spokesman 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."
