'Weak' Keir Starmer being 'played like a fiddle' by France over migrant crossings

Another Chinese-made "super dinghy" was spotted in the Channel as smugglers sparked fears of a new deadly crisis. Witnesses said the vessel was shadowed by the French navy to British waters.

It comes after a boat carrying 125 people was detected in the Channel on Saturday. The alarming new trend has reignited concerns France is failing to intercept migrant boats in the water. Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: "France has played Starmer like a fiddle. He is completely clueless and has lost control of our borders.

"He boasted earlier this year about how the French would intercept boats near their shore and turn them back.

"But just like the rest of Labour's gimmicks, nothing has changed and the French continue to usher illegal immigrants into the UK.

"The French are facilitating illegal immigration and Keir Starmer is doing nothing about it because he is too weak.

"That's why the first eight months of this year have been the worst in history for illegal immigrants crossing the Channel."

A Labour Home Office minister sensationally claimed smugglers are switching to larger boats because they are struggling to get hold of as many dinghies and engines.

Huge inflatables are being advertised on Alibaba, known as the Chinese Amazon, for around £1,141.

Home Office analysis has previously blamed the increased death toll on the larger boats, which disintegrate under the weight of the higher number of passengers.

And new pictures on Tuesday showed migrants waiting near a canal to board a dinghy bound for Britain.

French police, armed with guns and tear gas, used their vehicles to block in and shepherd the group as they tried to get to the beach in Gravelines.

At least 10 young children, most of whom were wearing large orange life jackets, were among the group stopped from boarding a boat by riot police.

A woman with a baby strapped to her back was pushed back into the crowd by one officer as she tried to break through the police line.

They appeared to be waiting for a dinghy to come up the canal, which runs through Gravelines.

Cries and shouts of confusion were heard as the police forced them to take a new route.

The police later left the migrants, who waited for a while longer at the side of the canal hoping to be picked up.

A black dinghy carrying a different group of migrants trying to reach the UK was pictured off the coast of Dunkirk at around 10.30am local time.

Chinese company Qingdao Rongsheng Sports Goods is offering boats for $1,535 (£1,141) if they are bought in bulk.

It is still offering dinghies for sale on the site.

One ad offered the boats for $1,535 (£1,141) each when bought in bulk, with a mock-up showing one of them pulled up on a beach.

In July, sanctions were brought against another company, Weihai Yamar Outdoors Product Co, which offered 'refugee boats'.

A Home Office minister claimed the sick new trend is linked to smugglers struggling to get hold of boats and engines.

Mike Tapp said: "We're having success upstream in intercepting the actual procurement of boat parts, which is why they're using bigger ones."

But Tuesday Reitano, managing director at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organised Crime, suggested it was mainly a "profit-making strategy".

"The boats seem to be being produced in China," she said.

"Colleagues of mine were doing interviews with French police last week and they reported that the bigger boats and the small boats being picked up had a 'made in China' stamp on them.

"They're also being shipped through Turkey, which we've also seen in the past has been a major producer.

"Germany has proven a real logistics hub for the transfer of boats to the Channel, and they're being divided among different networks depending on the intended final user.

"The challenge has been that it's very hard to prove a crime before it takes place and holding boats isn't illegal, so most of what's been happening is trying to prove that the particular boats are intended for smuggling and have particular flaws or a lack of safety features that you'd expect in a commercial boats."

Ms Reitano said British officials had tried to strike an agreement with China to prevent boats being sold to smugglers but were having little success.

"China has been a very difficult partner and efforts by the UK to try to bridge an agreement around the production and manufacture of boats for smuggling hasn't shown a huge amount of fruit," she said.

"It's obviously a huge country with a massive manufacturing sector and you can very easily find adverts of Chinese advertising boats for smuggling. It's very blatant. And to take down all the adverts and sanction the companies would be a challenge.

"I think the strategy remains cooperating with as many countries as possible - and the UK has been very successful getting that in a number of places - but I'm not sure China is going to be the most effective avenue."