NIGEL Farage last night blasted Emmanuel Macron for blaming the small boats crisis on Brexit.

The leader of the Reform Party suggested that the French President will be “laughing” all the way back to Paris, pleased with the new migrant returns agreement that has brought the UK closer to the EU.

This statement followed a complaint from Mr. Macron, who argued yesterday that Brexit was to blame for the increase in small boat crossings.

But Mr Farage hit back: “Macron must be going back to Paris laughing, saying basically the Brits have rejoined the European Union.

“The European Union have a stupid policy that I warned in 2015 would lead to millions coming. It has. Why should we pay for their problem?

“We voted in a referendum to leave their problem.”

The Reform Party leader further explained, “The issue with illegal immigration isn’t a result of Brexit; this problem was already present when we were part of the European Union.”

“The problem is neither Conservative nor Labour governments had the guts to deal with it.”

It came as Sir Keir’s small boats plan was branded an “absurd gimmick” today, as immigration bosses warned the pilot scheme will have no deterrent effect.

Head of the Immigration Services Union, Lucy Morton, slammed the deal for failing to guarantee returned arrivals won’t just try again.

And Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp insisted that record numbers of illegal migrants will continue to the cross the Channel at pace.

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper refused to say how many illegal migrants would be sent packing to France under the new arrangement.

Pressed to give a figure this morning, Ms Cooper responded: “The numbers are not fixed, even for this pilot phase that we are starting now.

“So this will be a programme that we roll out step-by-step, and we will provide updates as we go.

“But we are going to do this in a steady way.”

The PM’s one-in, one-out deal with President Emmanuel Macron — who blamed Brexit for the surge in illegal crossings — would mean migrants arriving here are detained and then sent back.

But officials are bracing for legal battles similar to those over the axed Tory scheme to sent migrants to Rwanda in Africa.

They admitted those selected for deportation under yesterday’s deal with France would be able to wage lengthy court appeals.

And the initial pilot, hoped to be launched in the coming weeks, will see just 50 migrants sent back per week with the French exercising a veto over who they accept.

I watched in horror with Farage as 78 migrants crossed to UK – what we saw undermined any claims of ‘stopping the boats’

By Sophia Sleigh, Political Correspondent

AS Keir Starmer unveiled his new small boats deal, I watched in horror in the middle of the Channel with Nigel Farage as the French handed 78 migrants to the UK Border Force.

The French even demanded their life jackets back for the next batch of illegal migrants heading to Britain.

A state-facilitated crime was unfolding before my very eyes.

Nothing prepared me for this spectacle in the heart of the English Channel.

We set off from Dover on a small fishing boat with Nigel around 5am. 

Overhead we could hear the buzz of a drone used to monitor the dangerous small boat crossings. 

Soon we spotted a French Navy ship on the horizon chaperoning a migrant dinghy towards international waters.

Using binoculars we could see it was packed with men, feet hanging over the side dragging in the water. 

Reports came in that there was one woman and three children aboard.

Behind us a UK Border Force boat emblazoned with the Union Jack raced to the edge of British waters to wait for the French to bring the boat to them.

The precarious migrant dinghy was soon bobbing within around 250 metres in front of us. French on one side, Brits on the other.

What we saw next undermined any claims of “stopping the boats”.

Suddenly a French rib boat sped over to the dinghy. 

We worried that the migrants were in trouble.

Shockingly it transpired that the French were asking for 40 life jackets back which had been lent to the migrants earlier in the journey. 

They wanted the equipment back before the migrants crossed into UK waters.

Our crew, listening in on their radio, said they had never seen anything like it before.

Usually the French ask for their life jackets back after the migrants have been brought to Dover.

Clearly they were expecting hundreds more to attempt to get to Britain in the warm weather and low winds.

After this, two British rib boats were sent out to help the migrants towards the much larger UK Border Force boat.

As they tried to get off the boat we could hear the migrants shouting up to the crew.

Even after the scramble was over there was still more work to do. 

A British boat had been sent to collect the empty rubber dinghy. 

The handover of migrants in the English Channel was both seamless and shameful.

In around 15 minutes it was all over.

At one point our crew was warned by the French Navy to back off. No-one wants the public to see this. 

It is one of the reasons why the boats are picked up in the middle of the Channel instead of allowing them to land on beaches. 

What I saw on Thursday was less stop the boats and more carry on migrating.

On Thursday the Sun sailed to the Channel Mr Nigel Farage and watched as the French navy escorted a boatload of 78 migrants into British waters before passing them over to Border Force.

The Reform UK leader looked on as a Border Force boat waited for the crammed dinghy to arrive for the handover.

Video footage highlighted the moment the inflatable was monitored by British and French authorities in shocking footage.

Illegal migrants waved and celebrated as they set sail for Britain.

Mr Farage blasted successive UK governments who have handed £750 million to France to deal with the small boats issue – but the crisis continues.