Channel crossings by hundreds of migrants this weekend were “pretty shocking” and show Britain has “lost control” of its borders over the last five years, the defence secretary has told Sky News.

John Healey told Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips the previous Conservative government left the UK’s asylum system “in chaos” and the country with “record levels of immigration”, which his government is having to deal with.

On Saturday, hundreds of migrants were seen crossing the Channel.

French police watched on while people, including children, boarded small boats in the shallows of a beach in Gravelines, between Calais and Dunkirk.

Authorities were then pictured escorting the boats as they sailed off towards the UK.

Politics latest: Defence secretary shares ‘message’ to Putin

Mr Healey said: “Pretty shocking, those scenes yesterday.

“Truth is, Britain’s lost control of its borders over the last five years, and the last government last year left an asylum system in chaos and record levels of immigration.”

He said it is a “really big problem” that French police are unable to intervene to intercept boats in shallow waters.

“We saw the smugglers launching elsewhere and coming around like a taxi to pick them up,” Mr Healey added.

He said the UK is pressing for the French to put new rules into operation so they can intervene.

“They’re not doing it, but for the first time for years, for the first time, we’ve got the level of cooperation needed,” Mr Healey said.

“We’ve got the agreement that they will change the way they work, and our concentration now is to push them to get that into operation so they can intercept these smugglers and stop these people in the boats, not just on the shore.”

On Saturday, Conservative shadow home secretary Chris Philp accused Labour of having “completely lost control of our borders”.