French film director caught coaching migrants to ‘call 999’ from sea – ‘UK will rescue’ | UK | News

A French activist has sparked outrage after video footage emerged showing him coaching migrants preparing to cross the Channel. Thomas Grandrémy told men preparing to board dangerous ships bound for the UK to “call 999” and that if they had difficulty on the perilous journey, “Britain’s rescue team will come.”

Director Mr Grandrémy’s film Tomorrow UK Inch’Allah opened in Calais on Thursday night. In the clips, he is seen speaking to a man as he prepares to set off for the UK, offering advice on how to maximize his chances of reaching the UK. He said: “Do you know how it works? When you’re in the middle of the sea, you call 999. Then the UK rescue team comes.”

The documentary was produced “with the participation” of French taxpayer-funded TV channel France 3. The sun is reporting.

The project also received support from France’s state-owned film agency CNC, which provided production support of up to €100,000 (£86,500) through its Aide à la Production programme.

Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “It’s a shame that this French film director is encouraging illegal immigration.”

The revelation could fuel questions about whether Mr Grandrémy received significant French public funding for the film, shortly after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood agreed to allow Britain’s taxpayers to provide £662 million in support to France.

A Home Office source rejected the idea that the documentary had any connection with UK Government funding to stop boats, adding that calls to 999 did not affect the co-ordination or speed of the UK’s response to illegal crossings.

The video comes alongside new data showing more than 200,000 migrants have reached the UK after crossing the Channel since 2018.

Home Office figures published on Saturday confirmed 70 people arrived by boat that day; This brings the total number of arrivals since the beginning of available data to 200,013.

This figure is calculated using the Government’s official statistics for 2018 to 2025 and provisional figures recorded so far this year.

Just over a third of the total, 72,094 (36%), have arrived since Labor came to power in July 2024, according to the Press Association’s analysis of Government data.

The remaining 127,919 people (64%) made the journey under Conservative governments of four Conservative prime ministers (Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak).

The turning point came Sunday morning when two women died while trying to make the journey, after French authorities reported six deaths in April.

So far in 2026, channel throughputs are lower than in the previous two years.

There have been 7,380 arrivals so far in 2026; There was a 36% decrease from this point in 2025 and a 16% decrease from this point in 2024.

Successive governments have tried to work with France to block crossings and revise rules for seeking asylum in the UK in a bid to deter people from making the dangerous journey.

A Home Office spokesman said: “This Government is cracking down on small boat crossings.

“The Home Secretary has signed a groundbreaking new deal with France to step up enforcement on beaches and put people smugglers behind bars. It builds on joint work that has stopped more than 42,000 illegal immigrants trying to cross the channel since the election.”

“We have removed or deported nearly 60,000 people who were here illegally, and we are going further to eliminate the incentives that attract illegal immigrants to this country.”