“Government insiders claim that French officials are too busy arguing over Brexit fishing licences to stop small boats departing their coastline for England.
The Home Office yesterday confirmed 853 migrants arrived on Wednesday. Whitehall insiders accused Paris of “diverting political resources” away from the fight against traffickers to the fishing row.
“A source said: “It means the French system isn’t as focused on this as it should be. They seem to have lost control of their own shoreline and they can’t provide rational explanations of what they are trying to do to stop it.
“It does seem now they are actively playing politics with people’s lives.”