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WATCH: French authorities 'not doing a very good job' at blocking migrant crossings, Tony Smith says
Dec 17, 2025
The former Director General of UK Border Force has hailed GB News for telling Britons "what's really going on in the Channel" as 550 more migrants have entered the country illegally today.Speaking to host Christopher Hope, Tony Smith heaped praise on the People's Channel for the "expert" analysis by Home and Security Editor Mark White.FULL STORY HERE.
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0:00
So we were lulled into a false sense of security, weren't we
0:03
Last Friday, Labour MPs, I think Labour himself, were trumpeting 28 days of no crossings
0:09
Well, look at what Mark White's reporting. Hundreds over the weekend and 550 today
0:15
Yeah, my message to your viewers and listeners, Chris, is follow Mark White, follow GB News
0:21
if you want to know what's really going on in the channel. He is an expert and he's been following
0:26
as have the rest of your reporters, to be fair. And it's true, of course it's true
0:29
This is the weather. And we've been lucky, really. We've had a four-week window where the weather was so bad in the Channel
0:36
that the migrants simply couldn't get the dinghies across. But I knew it was the weather. Mark knew it was the weather
0:41
But quite a few people who really want to try and suggest that government policies in this area
0:47
are beginning to buy it and the smugglers have been put off, we're wrong. It was the weather. And it's a very small weather window, actually, today
0:54
Only about 12 hours that enabled it. And it just shows that they are prepared, Chris, you know, to try this, even when the weather is variable
1:01
And that really worries me. And that should worry everybody, regardless of your politics on this
1:06
People are going to die. People are going to drown. And the smugglers will get increasingly desperate to get people across here
1:11
So it's even more of an imperative, I think, that we do need to try and do our utmost to stop the boats
1:18
And Tony Smith, I was wondering whether in that 28 day period when there were no crossings across the water
1:23
was there an uptick in crossings via the Channel Tunnel and ferries on lorries Well we don know that yet There hasn been any real evidence that that happened because the main egress route right now is across the Channel
1:39
There are still people coming in lorries, Chris, to a smaller extent
1:44
But, you know, the controls that we have in the ports of Calais and Dunkirk
1:49
and we've had some time now, are pretty good in that we have got pretty secure ports
1:52
So we do search lorries on the French side. And, of course, they can't claim asylum if they come via that route
1:57
So I don't think that this has suddenly shifted and diverted to other routes
2:01
not to say people aren't coming in by other routes, but I do think that the major weapon now being used
2:06
has been for some years now, has been these small boat crossings because we don't have the authorities in the border force
2:11
to stop them launching from French beaches. That's why we're paying the French to do that
2:15
but unfortunately they're not doing a very good job of it, are they? And Tony Smith, it's very finally away from legal migration
2:21
on legal migration, or of course today for an emergency census, to take account for the extra 4 million or so arriving here
2:28
in the so-called Boris wave, close quotes, the numbers arriving legally during Boris Johnson
2:32
and others' time in government. Do you want to see an emergency census
2:36
as someone who knows about enforcement? Yes, I do. We have no idea, Chris, how many people are in this country
2:43
We don't even know how many people are coming and going, really. We get the ONS figures, they're wildly inaccurate
2:47
We could have a US-style biometric entry-exit system at our border. We could do that
2:51
A number of things, I think. I put immigration officers in local authorities. We need much better checks and filling out forms
2:57
to work out who's in our community. So, yes, I do welcome some activity on that front as well
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