Philp blasts Mahmood's deal with France after gendarmes tell him they have orders 'not to intervene' as migrants wait to board small boats

By DAVID BARRETT, HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR Published: 12:34, 29 July 2026 | Updated: 12:34, 29 July 2026 French gendarmes refused to intervene as dozens of migrants waited to cross to Britain by small boat today, a Tory frontbencher has reported. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp – who was observing migrant crossings from Hardelot-Plage, south of Boulogne – said officers stood by as migrants awaited the arrival of a smugglers’ dinghy. Mr Philp has repeatedly criticised Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood’s £662million deal with the French government which is supposed to prevent migrants from crossing to the UK. Posting a video from the beach on X, formerly Twitter, Mr Philp said: ‘I just spoke to the group of gendarmes here and one of them told me on camera their orders are not to intervene. ‘There are lots of NGOs [non-governmental organisations] here who have been actively helping and facilitating the illegal immigration. ‘The migrants are now waiting in the water. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp films migrants aboard a smugglers' dinghy off Hardelot-Plage in France on Wednesday Tory MP Chris Philp said gendarmes told him they had received orders 'not to intervene' Migrants scrambled to board the smugglers' dinghy off Hardelot-Plage, south of Boulogne ‘You can see a large group of about 100, probably, waiting for the arrival of a so-called “taxi boat” which we believe is on its way from Dieppe in the south.’ At one point Mr Philp was wading in the sea just feet away from waiting migrants, who he said were predominantly from sub-Saharan Africa and ‘with one or two exceptions’ were all young men. Mr Philp added that 'Shabana Mahmood's deal with the French is not working’. Migrants were also seen boarding vessels off Gravelines beach in France today Migrants run to board dinghies off Gravelines beach in France on Wednesday morning As one of its first acts on taking power, Labour scrapped the previous government’s Rwanda asylum deal. It had opposed the agreement throughout the two years it took the Conservatives to secure a legal green light for deportations to the east African nation. Labour has pursued an alternative plan which relies on increasing operations by police and other law enforcement agencies in a bid to ‘smash the gangs’. Your browser does not support iframes. Initially, it failed to have an impact with last year witnessing the second-highest number of crossings on record, at 42,000. So far this year, however, there have been 13,350 arrivals, a 45 per cent dip compared with the same point last year. This is likely to be due to a number of factors including strong, sustained winds in the Channel during winter and early spring, as well as a number of police successes against traffickers.