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Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp has blasted the Prime Minister as 'completely out of touch' for claiming that Labour's plan to stop the boats is working.
Mr Philp joined Nick Ferrari live from a beach in northern France while walking alongside a group of around 30 men, women and children as they made a long walk to await the dinghy that would transport them across the Channel.
Philp also addressed allegations that a French warship opened fire on his boat during a day of filming in the Channel.
Listen to the full show on the all-new LBC App: https://app.af.lbc.co.uk/btnc/thenewlbcapp
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0:00
I've got an opportunity to go to my next guest who I think is joining me live from the beaches
0:03
Chris Philp, Conservative MP and Shadow Home Secretary. Mr Philp, I can see some video. Where are you? What are you doing? Good morning
0:10
Good morning. I'm on a beach just south of Boulogne, where since five o'clock this morning
0:15
I've been trying to find groups of illegal immigrants about to cross the channel to the UK
0:20
And as you can see, I've caught up with one such group, a group about 40 or so people
0:26
mainly young men from sub-Saharan Africa, mostly carrying life jackets, as you can see
0:32
heading towards an embarkation point to catch a small boat across to the UK
0:37
Andy Burnham's claim this is all sorted out yesterday, clearly ridiculous. And I just wanted to tell everybody
0:42
they can watch this live on the LBC app, watch this live on LBC as Mr Phil films this on the French beach
0:48
What is it that you can see ahead of you? I can see on your video feed there's about eight people
0:52
most of whom have decided to put sweaters over their heads. Yeah, they've all been told by the people smugglers to cover their heads
0:57
There's about 40 people in this group. There's some behind me as well in total
1:02
I think the people smuggler is a guy at the front. He's the guy, and if you can see him with the white T-shirt there
1:06
and it's not the guy with the white T-shirt. He's got a massive Rolex. He's the guy who's in charge of the group
1:13
There are also no French police at all. We're actually near a little town called Hardelow just behind me there
1:19
So it's a seaside town. This group is very conspicuous, as you can see
1:23
yet there are no French gendarmes anywhere to be seen, even though Shabana Mahmood is paying them
1:29
half a billion pounds of our money And if I can track down a group of illegal immigrants in the space of about four hours the French Rendarmes certainly should be able to Mr Philp can you see the dinghy or the dinghies they making their progress towards
1:44
No, we believe the dinghy, we believe they're walking to a rendezvous point with a dinghy
1:49
that launched further south, somewhere in the region of Dieppe, that is currently coming up the coast, largely empty
1:55
and will pick them up at a pre-arranged meeting point, probably somewhere up ahead of us. We think that migrant dinghy is about an hour away, maybe two hours away
2:04
So this group is making its way to that rendezvous point, and then they'll try and jump on the dinghy
2:08
I intend to stay with the group right up until that point. We're trying to get the information to the French gendarmes
2:13
but obviously it shouldn't take us to do that. Noting that most of them have T-shirts or sweaters or hoodies
2:19
it's difficult to tell. Do most of them appear to be male, although I think I can see on your video feed a child on someone's shoulders
2:25
Mr Phil? Yeah, there is one child on someone's shoulders, and there are a couple of women here
2:30
but the group is, I mean, common with most illegal immigrants crossing the channel mostly young men
2:36
and this group is almost entirely from Africa Of course, this journey they're about to make
2:41
is not only illegal and dangerous it's also unnecessary We're in France right now
2:44
we're in a little northern French seaside town It's a perfectly safe place
2:49
there's no war going on here in France France has an asylum system If these people were genuinely fleeing for their lives
2:55
and wanted to claim asylum they can certainly do so in France. The reason they're crossing of course
3:00
is they know the government will provide them with a nice hotel and the chances of them ever getting deported
3:05
are only about 5 They got a 95 chance of staying in the UK which is why they about to pay a people smuggler to get on a dinghy Just to remind my listeners you can watch this live on the LBC app
3:17
How long did it take you to find this group of people? And still no sign of any gendarmes or French border force
3:23
There are no sign of any French forces here at all. We found the first group camped in Woodland after about two hours
3:32
And then we encountered this group on the beach about two hours after that. So we've been out for about four or five hours so far
3:37
I'm not asking that you should, but have you sought to speak with any of them
3:40
And if so, what is their attitude or mood towards you? So I have. Many of them claim not to speak English
3:47
Many cover their heads or faces. They've been told to do that by the people smugglers. And it's quite difficult, really, to get much by way of response
3:55
But ones I've spoken to earlier today and in the past, you know, it's clear that they are aware that our system in the UK is very accommodating
4:04
which is why it needs to change, right? we need to end the pull factor. We need to end these hotels
4:08
We need to ensure that people who enter our country illegally get deported straight away
4:13
back to their country of origin, if that's possible, or to a safe third country like Rwanda
4:18
If not, if we remove the pull factor, then groups like those around me now
4:22
wouldn't bother attempting to make this journey. It seems some disparity. You were out on the English Channel yesterday
4:28
with journalist Michael Keown, and shots were fired in your direction or in your general area
4:33
that was by it would have thought the French Navy. Now there's no French police or no French border force
4:38
Explain the difference on this today. Well I think I was getting rather more closely tracked yesterday than this group of illegal immigrants are That is certainly true I looking around the beach and I still can see any French forces at all What do you think happened regarding those shots
4:53
Was it a training exercise? How are you interpreting it, Mr Phil? No, it wasn't a training exercise
4:58
There was no warning given of a training exercise, no warnings on the VHS, and no signs of a training exercise were displayed at all
5:07
And they only fired the shots in the vicinity of our boat, which they came to very close by
5:12
And so I'm sure it wasn't orchestrated by the French government, but no doubt the officers on that boat thought they would try and send a bit of a signal
5:19
That's certainly how I felt at the time. What is the message you want to get across from what you did yesterday
5:23
and indeed what you're doing live on LBC Now? Well, I think my message to Shabana Mahmood is that your deal is not working
5:30
Shabana, you've spent half a billion pounds of our money. Here am I on the French beach
5:34
Look around me, a group of illegal immigrants and no French forces whatsoever. However, I saw the French forces allowing embarkation actually from this very beach yesterday
5:44
Andy Burnham is completely out of touch when he says this problem is solved. They need to urgently adopt our plan, which is to exit the ECHR
5:52
so illegal migrants can be deported immediately upon arrival in the UK
5:56
and then they wouldn't bother making the crossing in the first place. A similar plan worked in Australia, and it would work here too
6:02
Lastly, again, I'm not suggesting you do. Have you sought to speak with a person you believe to be the people trafficker with the expensive watch
6:08
Yeah, we had a little altercation a short while ago. One of the migrants actually said to me
6:13
he asked me why I was talking to him in France, and I said, well, you're trying to get into the UK. And then he said, he told me I should go back to my own country
6:20
which I thought was rather ironic in the circumstances
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