Ministers tried to dodge the blame yesterday after the number of small-boat migrants reaching Britain under Labour passed 50,000.
Keir Starmer was slammed for 'incompetence' over the handling of the Channel crisis, with the soaring figure a clear indication of the lack of a plan since he axed the Tories' Rwanda deportation scheme on his first day in power.
Remarkably, former Labour home secretary Jacqui Smith blamed the Tories, claiming: 'What is happening is the result of the last government.'
Yesterday, large groups of migrants were seen sprinting into the surf off Gravelines beach, between Calais and Dunkirk, to board a boat to Britain.
At first light, as French police stood and watched and a navy boat patrolled nearby, scores waded into the water to clamber on to a taxi boat that appeared just off shore. Only a few of them wore life jackets for the perilous crossing.
