A French activist has provoked outrage after video footage appeared to show him coaching migrants as they prepared to cross the English Channel. Thomas Grandrémy told men set to board dangerous vessels bound for the UK to “call 999” and that “UK rescue will come” if they got into difficulty on the perilous journey.

Director Mr Grandrémy’s movie, Tomorrow UK Inch’Allah, premiered in Calais on Thursday night. In clips, he is seen talking with a man preparing to set sail for the UK, offering advice on how to maximise his chances of reaching the UK. He said: “You know how it works? When you are in the middle of the sea, you call 999. Then UK rescue will come.”

The documentary was produced “in participation with” the French taxpayer-funded TV channel France 3, The Sun reports.

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

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

The disclosure could fuel questions over whether Mr Grandrémy received substantial French public funding for the film shortly after Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood authorised £662million in UK taxpayer support for France.

A Home Office source dismissed the idea that the documentary has any connection with UK Government funding to stop the boats, adding that calls to 999 do not affect the coordination or speed of a UK response to illegal crossings.

The video comes as new data showed that more than 200,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel since 2018.

Home Office figures published on Saturday confirm 70 people arrived in one boat that day, bringing the total number of arrivals since the current data began to 200,013.

The 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 Labour took power in July 2024, according to Press Association analysis of Government data.

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

The milestone comes after two women died trying to make the journey on Sunday morning, following the deaths of six people reported in April by French authorities.

Channel crossings so far in 2026 are tracking lower than in the previous two years.

There have been 7,380 arrivals so far in 2026, 36% down on this point in 2025 and 16% below this stage in 2024.

Successive governments have tried to work with France to disrupt crossings, as well as revise the rules for claiming asylum in the UK, in attempts to deter people from making the dangerous journey.

A Home Office spokesperson said: “This Government is bearing down on small boat crossings.

“The Home Secretary has signed a landmark new deal with France to boost enforcement action on beaches and put people smugglers behind bars. This builds on joint work that has stopped over 42,000 illegal migrants attempting to cross the channel since the election.

“We have removed or deported almost 60,000 people who were here illegally and are going further to remove the incentives that draw illegal migrants to this country.”