Extraordinary footage shows a small boat packed with migrants caught on a sandbar in just two feet of water – as watching French police do nothing to prevent those on board getting free to head to the UK.

New Prime Minister Andy Burnham this week defended his government's handling of the Channel crisis, saying that statistics show 'the plan is working'.

But barely 24 hours after he made this startling claim, video evidence shows the French authorities doing nothing to prevent a packed boat leaving the beach for Britain.

And even when fights broke out on the boat as migrants began blaming each other for their stalled progress, the French police still refused to intervene.

Journalist Christian Drogan, who witnessed the fiasco, said: 'The boat came too close to the shore and basically got stuck in the sand.

'The migrants were all screaming and shouting, fighting over how to get it back out to sea.

'I was in the water, quite close, and I saw one young guy literally being thrown off the boat, head first into the water. It was absolutely brutal.'

The dinghy, estimated to have been already carrying around 80 passengers who had been picked up nearby, ran aground on the beach at Neufchatel-Hardelot, near Boulougne, at around 1.30am on Thursday morning.

It became briefly stranded just as dozens more asylum seekers were waiting as instructed in shallow water for their chance to join those on board.

The footage shows that the water's depth at the point where the boat became stuck was below waist height and that waves were minimal.

Mr Drogan, who reports for talkRadio and his own YouTube channel, Watchman, said: 'With the boat stuck in the sand, it would have been totally safe for the French authorities to puncture it.

'All the passengers would have been safe. Instead they did what they almost always do - nothing.'

And the by-then heavily overloaded boat was eventually re-launched and set off unhindered for the Kent coast where its occupants could claim asylum.

Meanwhile a helicopter fitted with a powerful searchlight was being used not to intercept the crowds trying to illegally enter Britain – but unwittingly to help light their way towards Dover.

But in the chaos on the beach, Mr Drogan's footage shows that one migrant was injured – though it's unclear whether this was during the fights that broke out as the boat was stranded or in some other way.

Paramedics can be seen trying to resuscitate the migrant by moonlight, as the chopper continues to circle. In the background is a French naval vessel.

The beach drama happened as four people lost their lives attempting to cross the Channel in small boats.

Three women aged between 20 and 50 were rescued off Dunkirk but were later pronounced dead.

And an African man in his 30s died on the same stretch of beaches where Mr Drogan was filming in what's thought to have been a separate incident - and a baby had to be resuscitated after falling into the water. 

The boat at the centre of Wednesday night's drama which was caught on camera was one of the new breed of 'super dinghies' – larger vessels which can carry over 100 people at a time – which are often launched simultaneously from different embarkation points to reduce any risk of attempted interference.

The beach used for the launch had been crowded with swimmers and bathers during the day, as migrants lurked further back from the shore, awaiting nightfall – at which point they approached the shore.

The dramas on Wednesday night came after an embarrassing day for the Government.

Mr Burnham had said of the migrant crisis: 'The numbers can fluctuate but, overall, boat crossings are down, down quite significantly year on year. So that does suggest the plan is working.'

But this claim about the effectiveness of existing policies to stop the boats was quickly followed by over 700 migrants landing in a single day.

The Conservatives' shadow home office minister Chris Philp has also been on the French coast where he reported being told by one French officer that they had orders not to intervene to stop the boats.

According to official figures, every Channel migrant costs the British taxpayer £40,000 during their first year in the UK. Costs mount exponentially, with the vast majority remaining heavily, or totally dependent on the state for many years.