Martin Lewis has hit out at Priti Patel’s new tactics to redirect migrant boats in the Channel back to France amid crunch talks over crossings.

The MoneySavingExpert founder returned to Good Morning Britain alongside Susanna Reid as a guest presenter on Thursday morning’s instalment of the ITV breakfast show.

While discussing news topics of the day, attention quickly turned to reports that the Home Secretary has ordered officials to rewrite maritime laws to allow Border Force to turn boats around, forcing them to be dealt with by French authorities.

Several newspapers reported that members of Border Force are being given special training to handle migrant boats, but would only deploy the “pushback” tactics when deemed practical and safe to do so.

Priti Patel tweeted on Wednesday: "Today I held constructive talks with French Interior Minister @GDarmanin on tackling illegal migration across the Channel. I made clear that delivering results and stopping crossings were an absolute priority for the British people. #G7UK ".

It comes after Boris Johnson promised to welcome up to 20,000 Afghanistan refugees as the Government unveiled the details of a scheme to provide sanctuary for those most at risk of persecution by the Taliban.

After 20 years of military presence, Afghanistan is now under Taliban leadership after the group took control of Kabul last month.

Martin Lewis on Priti Patel’s migrant boat tactics

Martin Lewis expressed confusion over the difference between the two situations asking “where do you draw the line?”

He said: “What this brings home to me, though - when we’re talking this morning about the front of the papers, about French anger at Patel plans to turn around migrants

“What I’d like to try and understand is when someone who is fleeing their country due to persecution or extreme poverty, is someone who we cheer our forces’ heroes for rescuing, and when are they someone who we say ‘Get back, get lost, and get back to your original country'?"

He added: “Most migrants are fleeing something, it may just be poverty but if our families were struggling and had no food in our mouths, we may be fleeing poverty too.”

Record numbers of migrants arriving in UK

According to the Home Office, 785 migrants arrived in the UK on Monday after making the journey from France in small boats, with several young children and a baby among them.

This is the second highest daily total of the year, following the single-day record of 828 people set last month.

The crossings continued on Tuesday and Wednesday during the better weather conditions, with boats arriving at Dover and others being towed on to beaches along the south coast.

Earlier this year, the UK and France announced an agreement to more than double the number of police patrolling French beaches.

It was the second pledge of its kind in a year, in a bid to stop small boats from leaving France.