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'Good Morning Britain' live broadcasts boat of migrants crossing English Channel

A boat carrying migrants across the English Channel from France to the UK has been been caught on camera and broadcast on breakfast television.

Good Morning Britain (GMB) broadcast the live footage on Tuesday, showing a dinghy packed with people trying to make it to Britain.

The ITV programme’s senior news correspondent, Jonathan Swain, was reporting from a boat on the Channel while the dinghy passed in the background.

A boat filled with migrants was filmed crossing the English Channel by Good Morning Britain (ITV/GMB)
A boat filled with migrants was filmed crossing the English Channel by Good Morning Britain (ITV/GMB)

His report came after a record number of migrant crossings last week, as the UK and French governments remain at loggerheads over a plan of action.

Hundreds of discarded boats, believed to have been used by migrants, were found in Dover last month.

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There were about a dozen migrants wearing life jackets on the small dinghy in the GMB report.

Swain said it was just one of four or five small boats spotted in the Channel on Tuesday morning.

He told viewers that his boat were not “allowed to rescue” the migrants, and the ITV vessel was later instructed to move on when border control arrived.

Good Morning Britain reporter Jonathan Swain looks out at the boat filled with migrants (ITV/GMB)
Good Morning Britain reporter Jonathan Swain looks out at the boat filled with migrants (ITV/GMB)

In his report, Swain said: "These are the lengths that they are prepared to take.

"Often, I should say, they only have enough fuel just to get them into the English waters."

"It is like, literally, running around the M25.”

Back in the GMB studio, presenter Kate Garraway said: "It's extraordinary isn't it? The risks people are prepared to take. Even on a calm sunny morning you can see the jeopardy there."

The boat was filled with about a dozen migrants (ITV/GMB)
The boat was filled with about a dozen migrants (ITV/GMB)

The dinghy was later towed to the shore by a UK Border Force boat.

Last Thursday, at least 202 migrants managed to cross to Britain in about 20 boats, a record for a single day.

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Tony Smith, the former head of UK Border Force said the UK and France need to agree a treaty with a joint patrol whereby migrants picked up in the Channel can be returned to France to have asylum claims considered there.

He said: “If they want to come to the UK they need to make their case on the French side, and if they are found in the waterways or even make it as far as Dover we say ‘I’m sorry but you go back there and that’s where you will be interviewed and processed, on the French side’.”

Last month, home secretary Priti Patel blamed France for the “unacceptable” numbers of people making the perilous journey in small boats.

She said migrant boats should be intercepted near the French coast and sent back.