At least 20 more migrants arrive in UK waters this morning

At least 20 more migrants arrive in UK waters after early morning Channel crossing as French authorities claim they DO stop boats and have already halted five times as many as last year

• French forces have stopped at least 810 migrants crossing the Channel in 2020
• Since last Thursday, 532 people have successfully crossed onto English shores 
• Britain’s home secretary Priti Patel hopes to send migrants back to France
• She has teamed up with defence secretary Ben Wallace to form a new plan
• Former Royal Marines Commando Dan O’Mahoney will negotiate with France  

At least 20 migrants were stopped while crossing the Channel this morning as French authorities claim they have stopped more than five times more refugees compared to last year.

Home Office figures suggest 677 people, including at least one toddler, were caught making the perilous crossing from France to England between Thursday and Sunday.

This morning the Border Force patrol boat Hunter stopped a packed vessel carrying 20 migrants off the coast of Dover.

As pressure grows for more to be done, bosses in Calais have revealed they have intercepted at least 810 people trying to make the perilous crossing. 

Around 4,000 people have managed to make the crossing since the start of this year – with more migrants seen in small boats this morning. 

More migrants were seen crossing the English Channel this morning, as French authorities have insisted they have intercepted more than 800 people so far this year

Up to 20 migrants were intercepted off the coast of Dover by Border Force officials on Monday

Around 4,000 people have managed to make the crossing from France to England since the start of this year

Former MoD chief suggests using cruise ships for quarantining 

Former director general of Ministry of Defence, Rear Admiral Chris Parry has suggested disused cruise liners could be used to try and clampdown on crossings.

He told The Telegraph: ‘One of the things that I’ve been looking at this week is employing one of the many unemployed cruise liners along the south coast.

‘You take them to a cruise liner, you quarantine them, you give them medical checks, and then you can process them and those that can come to the UK come, and those that can’t get returned.’ 

Last week the Home Office made a formal request for support from the Royal Navy to deal with migrants attempting to cross the English Channel in small boats.

Under new plans Royal Navy and Border Force vessels would pick up migrants and take them to Dunkirk, northern France, rather than offering refuge in the UK.

Admiral Lord West, the former head of the Royal Navy, has backed the plan, telling the Daily Mail: ‘This catastrophic situation will only escalate unless the Royal Navy becomes involved. 

‘It is patently obvious that the Home Office cannot cope, despite the best efforts of the Border Force and the assistance of the coastguard and RNLI.’ 

But former foreign secretary David Miliband has criticised the proposal. 

He told The Times: ‘The bigger the wall, the more desperate the measures to get around them.

‘Cooler heads need to prevail if the UK is to sustain an effective response, as well as a humane response, because the law of the sea that says that anyone who is in distress needs to be picked up is there for a reason.’ 

The latest landings come as it was revealed France is expected to demand £30million to help stem the flow of migrants across the Channel.

A source today told The Telegraph French officials have asked the UK to pay the staggering figure to help fund more beach patrols.    

Meanwhile, Home Secretary Priti Patel yesterday appointed a former Royal Marine to the role of ‘clandestine Channel threat commander’.

Border Force patrol boat Hunter intercepted a small vessel carrying refugees toward Dover this morning

Individuals wearing blankets and lifejackets were seen arriving in Dover aboard a Border Force boat on Saturday afternoon, while others were reported to have landed on Kent beaches. Pictured: A Border Force official carries a migrant child

More than 500 migrants have crossed the English Channel to the UK in just three days as the Border Force tackles an unprecedented surge in crossings from France

Another 151 migrants made the dangerous crossing on Saturday, bringing the total the number to 532 since Thursday. Pictured: Migrants are led to shore

They were seen being brought ashore in Dover, just a few hundred metres away from where beachgoers basked in the roasting 33C sunshine

Home Secretary Priti Patel yesterday appointed a former Royal Marine to the role of ‘clandestine Channel threat commander’. Pictured: A Border Force vessel brings in a group of migrants to Dover

As a former Royal Marines Commando who served in Iraq and Kosovo, it is hoped Dan O’Mahoney can stop organised gangs smuggling people across the channel from Calais. Pictured: A Border Force vessel brings a group of migrants into Dover

Ms Patel’s Home Office has been accused of having ‘lost control’ after a new single-day record for migrant crossings was set on Thursday – when a 235 arrived in 17 vessels in one day. Pictured: A Border Force official with a migrant in Dover

As a former Royal Marines Commando who served in Iraq and Kosovo, it is hoped Dan O’Mahoney can stop organised gangs smuggling people across the channel from Calais.

Mr O’Mahoney said: ‘This role is vitally important in the fight to end the heinous crime of people smuggling across the Channel.’ 

Ms Patel’s Home Office has been accused of having ‘lost control’ after a new single-day record for migrant crossings was set on Thursday – when a 235 arrived in 17 vessels in one day.

Migrants are brought to shore in Dover after a number of small boats were intercepted in the Channel today

Under new plans Royal Navy and Border Force vessels would pick up migrants and take them to Dunkirk, northern France, rather than offering refuge in the UK. Pictured: Migrants wearing face coverings arrive in Dover

One refugee charity boss also described the government’s handling of the situation as ‘increasingly chaotic’.

Plans to bring in the Navy will be presented to the French government in Paris on Tuesday.

In a statement, the MoD said: ‘We are assessing the requirement using the formal Military Aid to the Civilian Authorities process and are working hard to identify how we can most effectively assist.

The latest landings come as it was revealed France is expected to demand £30million to help stem the flow of migrants across the Channel. Pictured: Migrants are bought into Dover

Ms Patel’s Home Office has been accused of having ‘lost control’ after a new single-day record for migrant crossings was set on Thursday – when a 235 arrived in 17 vessels in one day. Pictured: A view showing dinghies being stored at Dover harbour

Individuals wearing blankets and lifejackets were seen arriving in Dover aboard a Border Force boat (pictured) on Saturday afternoon, while others were reported to have landed on Kent beaches

‘As ever the MoD will do all it can to support HMG requirements.’ 

Ms Patel said: ‘The number of illegal small boat crossings is appalling.

‘We are working to make this route unviable and arresting the criminals facilitating these crossings and making sure they are brought to justice.

‘Dan’s appointment is vital to cutting this route by bringing together all operational partners in the UK and in France.’   

A group of migrants attempting to cross the channel in a dinghy were picked up by the National Gendarmerie and taken back to Calais today

A toddler (pictured) was carried to safety by the Border Force as officials work around the clock amid a sharp rise in the number of people making the treacherous journey

Other images showed a suspected migrant being pushed along in a wheelchair by officials in Dover

Four men, some using shovels as paddles, use a small dinghy to cross the English Channel on August 7

The youngster was carried from a boat containing at least six others. There appeared to be other young children on board

Border Force officers escort a group of men – believed to be migrants – all wearing protective face masks in Dover

Border Force vessel brings a group of people – including children – thought to be migrants into the port city of Dover

Britain has so far paid more than £100million to fund the French response to the migrant crisis. 

In 2015, the UK paid £10million towards security reviews and reducing the number of migrants waiting to cross. 

Another £17 million was paid in 2016, £36 million in 2017, £45 million in 2018, £3.25 million in 2019 and £2.25 million this year up until March. 

It comes as more than 4,000 migrants have already made the crossing to the UK so far this year – more than double the total for 2019.

The recent heatwave and calm seas have encouraged more boats than ever to cross the vast 84km expanse of water.  

A wheelchair user, a pregnant woman, unaccompanied children and a newborn baby were among the latest to arrive this week. 

Officials are already disagreeing over whether millions more should be paid to help tackle the growing issue. 

Tim Loughton MP, the senior Conservative member of the Home Affairs select Committee which monitors immigration for Parliament, told the newspaper: ‘It is pretty rich for the French to be demanding yet more money from UK taxpayers to deal with a problem that they have singularly failed to deal with on their own territory.’

Border Force officer escorts a young family thought to be migrants from a Border Force vessel in Doveron Friday

A tiny baby was spotted on Thursday morning arriving in Dover with its family after crossing the Channel in a dinghy – carried in what appears to be a gym bag

Migrants were photographed using shovels to paddle their boats (pictured) and some have used paddling pools instead of proper vessels

Meanwhile, a senior French government official blasted the accusation as a ‘fantasy’.

They said: ‘The simple fact is that a huge amount of work is successfully being put into stopping these crossings.’     

Mr Wallace has agreed to tell advisers to put together a military response that could include using Archer class fast patrol boats off the south coast. 

US-made P-8A Poseidon Maritime Patrol Aircraft, drones and helicopters could also spot migrants from the French coast so they can be intercepted by UK vessels. 

The plan will be presented by Chris Philp, the Minister for Immigration Compliance, at a meeting with French interior minister Gérald Darmanin. 

The group of weary migrants attempted to cross the channel by dinghy. They are pictured being escorted back to France

The National Gendarmerie escorted the migrants back to France after they tried to cross the channel

Pictures yesterday emerged of a toddler being carried to safety by the Border Force from a boat containing at least six others. There appeared to be other young children on board the vessel as it docked in Dover.

Other images showed a migrant being pushed along in a wheelchair by officials in Dover.

On current trends, around 7,500 migrants will cross the Channel by the end of the year, according to an analysis of official figures by Migrationwatch.

This would be nearly four times the 1,892 that entered the UK via the crossing in the whole of 2019, the campaign group projected.  

Almost 4,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK so far this year. Pictured: Children are picked up by the Border Force vessel Hunter after being brought into Dover, Kent on small boats crossing the English Channel on Friday

Kent county council has seen more than 500 unaccompanied child migrants, 23 of which came in on Thursday alone.

Council leader Roger Gough told The Times: ‘Numbers started picking up last year with young people coming through in lorries. Then with the shutdown and disruption to freight channels, there was much more reliance on boats.

‘We do not want a situation when there are adults in a setting with children and young people.  

Immigration still too high – poll 

More than half of Britons think immigration is still too high despite years of Tory promises to bring it down, a study said yesterday.

It warned Boris Johnson that if his points-based immigration system allows a wave of mass immigration, then voters will turn against him.

The study from the Migration Watch UK think-tank said most recent polling found that 54 per cent think immigration has been too high over the past decade.

Only 5 per cent think it has been too low. And more than six in ten said they believe the Government has been mishandling immigration policies.

The analysis found that fears over the effects of large-scale immigration became a major concern after Tony Blair opened the doors to millions from both inside and outside the European Union.

Worries declined after David Cameron came to power in 2010 promising to cut immigration back to 1990s levels and subsided further after the 2016 Brexit referendum. 

The report said: ‘Most continue to have strong views about a perceived lack of effective immigration control.’

Ministers are said to be considering using Australia’s ‘push back’ method – a tactic used to stop illegal migrants arriving from Indonesia – according to sources. 

It would involve using the navy to intercept migrant boats in the channel.

But some are concerned that such drastic interventions could lead to drownings – with some questioning whether the move would be legal in the first place.

One source in the Defence Ministry said it was ‘completely potty’ to get the navy involved, The Times reported.

One group of 14 migrants – including a heavily pregnant woman – managed to land on the Kent coast this morning and came ashore in the village of Kingsdown, near Deal.

Officers were seen taking away possessions in evidence bags as the migrants sat on the pebbles looking tired after completing their journey.

Two other groups reportedly landed at Folkestone and Deal while multiple boats were brought into Dover Marina on what is expected to be another busy day for Border Force officials.

A second extra large customs cutter was drafted in to help deal with people making the treacherous 21-mile journey across the world’s busiest shipping route.

The Dover Lifeboat did not return to the marina until shortly before 8pm on Friday after being called out to more migrants in trouble at 4.30pm.

Their first call out was at around 3.30am and the crew were back at sea at 9am today with crossings expected to continue until at least midday. 

It comes after more than 130 migrants were picked up in 13 small boats on Friday.

On Thursday, 235 people landed or were brought ashore from boats in the English Channel, a record number for a single day.

In some cases, makeshift flotation devices have been created out of household items.

The fleet of dinghies included a a girl aged around eight, another around 10 as well as at least five large groups of adults in the Kent town

A group of people thought to be migrants were escorted by Border Force staff into Dover

A man was found with empty lemonade bottles strapped to his body just four miles off the French coast in a highly-dangerous bid to swim to Britain.   

In another shocking case, a group tried to get to the other side of the channel in a children’s paddling pool while some have tried wooden boats or kayaks. 

Harrowing images of children wearing lifevests being picked up by the Border Force vessel Hunter after being brought into Dover, Kent, on a small boat emerged this week. 

Home Secretary Ms Patel has said the Royal Navy could be called in to prevent boats reaching UK waters, though other senior officials and politicians say that could be impractical and potentially dangerous. 

She tweeted: The number of illegal small boat crossings is appalling and unacceptably high. 

‘The figures are shameful. France and other EU states are safe countries. Genuine refugees should claim asylum there, not risk their lives and break the law by coming to the UK.

Pictured: A swimmer crosses the English Channel as, in the background, a dinghy carrying migrants is escorted by French border police on Friday

‘I am working to make this route unviable. This involves: Stopping the boats leaving France in the first place and intercepting boats and returning those attempting to make a crossing.

‘This is complex to do and we face serious legislative, legal and operational barriers.’

But Labour former home secretary Jack Straw said any move modelled on Australia’s controversial ‘push-back’ approach could have deadly consequences.

‘I don’t think that just trying to push these people back is going to work and it will only take one of these dinghies to capsize and everybody to drown, which is perfectly feasible, for their to be a hullabaloo, including in the Conservative Party, and for the policy to have to be reversed, so I wouldn’t go down that route,’ he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

Border Force chief Tony Smith said extra resources may not solve the problem as the Navy would ‘be in the same boat as Border Force in terms of policy. The only powers we have are search and rescue and that is what we have been doing’. 

He said that dangerous crossings of the Channel by boat will continue without an agreement with the French to return migrants.

Dover Tory MP Natalie Elphicke said it was ‘absolutely essential’ to stop the continued migrant crossings and said ‘all options need to be on the table’ to keep them from arriving from France, including the Navy

He said smugglers are exploiting a ‘loophole’ in the law of the sea which obliges vessels to rescue people once they enter the waters of their jurisdiction.

‘I think it can be overcome by bilateral agreements, we’ve done that before with the French.

‘Once you’re on the waterways the law of the sea kicks in and we haven’t, without a bilateral agreement on instant returns or joint patrols with the French, which would enable us to safely return them to France to be processed, we’re going to see I’m afraid continual numbers of this.

‘And we need to find a way of breaking this circle and stopping the pull factor which is fuelling the smuggling supply chains.’

Among Friday’s illegal arrivals there was a group of 12 men in their 20s, who were on a small vessel that was intercepted by Border Force officers

Former Royal Navy officer Rear Admiral Chris Parry said ‘innovative solutions’ like using unemployed passenger liners to re-route migrants are needed.

He said: ‘We don’t have to take them back to dry land. There’s any number of unemployed passenger liners on the south coast at the moment, they could actually be taken there for processing for medical assessment and then onward routing either back to France or to the United Kingdom.

‘I think people need to understand that the old ways are just not cutting it at the moment and we need to apply innovative solutions.’

But Mr Smith said: ‘Once they are under our jurisdiction we will immediately face asylum claims.

The number who have reached Britain so far this year is now already double the total who arrived in the whole of 2019

‘Without that agreement from the French to actually interdict people on the high seas and take them back to France the message is getting back to the migrants and to the smugglers that this is the way in and that does create a huge pull factor.

‘We could see something very similar to what we saw in the Mediterranean three or four years ago where the word will get out that all you need to do is get out on to the English Channel, you will be brought into the UK and it’s very unlikely you’ll be returned.’ 

MP for Dover Natalie Elphicke said more needs to be done to stop the crossings. 

She said: ‘Putting an end to the small boats crossings crisis will only happen when migrants and traffickers alike know that they won’t succeed in breaking Britain in this way.

‘For me that has three parts: firstly making sure that the boats don’t leave France in the first place, if they do leave French shores that they’re picked up early, and returned immediately to France and if people do break into our country and arrive on our shores that they are turned back to France.’

A border force vessel brought the group into Dover today after 130 people made the perilous crossing on Friday

Asked about speculation that Ms Patel was considering drafting in the Navy, Ms Elphicke said: ‘There’s some discussion about the Navy, and what I’d say is that as we’ve gone into this record number of people crossing over this year all options need to be on the table.

‘But whoever it is that’s involved what we must make sure is that boats are deployed not to bring people into this country but to return them to France and for the French to do more to make sure that those boats don’t leave in the first place.’

Ms Elphicke said the UK has an ‘incredibly important’ role in humanitarian and asylum issues around the world.

She added: ‘What I don’t agree with is that we should be encouraging or allowing illegal people trafficking that actually preys on some of the most vulnerable people and puts them at risk of their very lives.

‘What we’ve seen here in Kent, here in Dover and Deal, is we’ve seen an unacceptable situation of small boats actually arriving at the beaches, of people getting off those boats and roaming round the area and that’s very, very worrying and concerning for local residents.’

It comes as migrants crossing the Channel were seen using makeshift flotation devices including lemonade bottles to make the dangerous journey.

UK ministers plead with France to get tough on Channel migrants amid warning that 7,500 could cross by Christmas 

UK ministers have pleaded with France to get tough on migrants crossing the Channel to Britain after figures suggest that 7,500 migrants could cross by Christmas. 

Almost 4,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK so far this year, according to analysis of Border Force figures.

This is thought to be more than double the total for the whole of 2019 where fewer than 2,000 are believed to have arrived in the country.

On current trends, around 7,500 migrants will cross the Channel by the end of the year, according to an analysis of official figures by Migrationwatch.

This would be nearly four times the 1,892 that entered the UK via the crossing in the whole of 2019, the campaign group projected.

Migrants were photographed using shovels to paddle their boats and some have used paddling pools instead of proper vessels.

Clare Moseley of the Care4Calais charity told The Times: ‘The people who do not have money, and not everybody can pay people smugglers, are seeing others getting across and are getting more and more desperate that they will be left out.

‘They try kayaks, wooden rowing boats. It is terrifying.’

Lucy Moreton, professional officer of the Immigration Service Union, said: ‘Prices for crossing have fallen but for some people an average price of around £4,000 per crossing per individual is too much.’

Ms Elphicke’s fellow local Tory MP Damian Collins said the number of migrants crossing the Channel is ‘shamefully high’ and ‘unacceptable’ for his constituents.

Speaking on Channel 4 News, Mr Collins, who represents Folkestone and Hythe, said: ‘It’s good to have more observation at sea and more ships that can intervene if there’s a problem, but having the Navy there doesn’t mean we can suddenly intercept migrants in French territorial waters any more than we would let the French navy conduct operations within ours.’

Mr Collins said: ‘It’s clearly unacceptable for my constituents and for other people on the south-east coast to think that our borders are open, that anyone can get in a small boat, whoever they are, and make their way to the UK illegally.

‘Having the Navy in the Channel is great, but it won’t solve the problem unless they can patrol French waters and at the moment there is no agreement that they can.’ 

The Home Secretary’s spokesman said the ‘fantastic weather’ was behind the surge despite ongoing efforts to prevent them while Immigration Minister Chris Philp said he shares ‘the anger and frustration of the public’ at the ‘appalling number’ of crossings.

Mr Philp is to visit France next week to speak with counterparts following a ‘constructive’ meeting with the country’s deputy ambassador earlier this week.

The fleet of dinghies included a girl aged around eight, another about 10, as well as at least five large groups of adults in the Kent town.

The children, some too young to walk, were picked up by the Border Force vessel Hunter and taken into a white tent at the marina at 12.15pm.

Some of the adults – who appeared mainly to be men – carried their possessions in plastic bags before they were processed.

ABUL TAHER: ‘Now you pay one fee and they’ll keep putting you on a boat till you succeed in getting to Britain’, say determined migrants waiting at the new Jungle camp in Calais 

Sitting cross-legged outside makeshift shelters, the men pore excitedly over tide charts, trying to plot the most favourable time to cross the English Channel.

The new Jungle camp in Calais, a scrubby field near the main hospital, is a kind of tented waiting room.

So few made it to Britain from the infamous old encampment, which closed in 2016, that it became synonymous with despair.

But this shanty town resonates with hope and anticipation. It is possible to get across, newcomers are told.

More than possible. Large numbers make it every day: all you have to do is wait – and eventually you will be called.

Large numbers of refugees try and make the crossing every day. These days passage to England is going comparatively cheaply – as little as £350 in some cases

These days passage to England is going comparatively cheaply – as little as £350 in some cases.

By far the toughest journey the migrants make is the one to Calais, and every day brings new arrivals, from Syria, Iraq, Sudan and Egypt.

How different to a few years ago when it was the final leg that seemed so hopelessly beyond reach.

UK ministers plead with France to get tough on Channel migrants amid warning that 7,500 could cross by Christmas 

UK ministers have pleaded with France to get tough on migrants crossing the Channel to Britain after figures suggest that 7,500 migrants could cross by Christmas. 

Almost 4,000 migrants have crossed the Channel to the UK so far this year, according to analysis of Border Force figures.

This is thought to be more than double the total for the whole of 2019 where fewer than 2,000 are believed to have arrived in the country.

On current trends, around 7,500 migrants will cross the Channel by the end of the year, according to an analysis of official figures by Migrationwatch.

This would be nearly four times the 1,892 that entered the UK via the crossing in the whole of 2019, the campaign group projected.

Back then, I watched migrants try, night after night, to jump on to moving trains, a perilous enterprise with a pitifully low success rate.

Now, however, even if a migrant fails the first time and his boat is intercepted, he has only to keep trying until he gets it right.

Though it is far from risk-free, in most cases he – or she – will do so.

Best of all, explains Sajid Ali Khan, 21, from Lahore, Pakistan, you pay only one fee.

Khan was a mechanic in Germany for two years but when his work permit was not renewed, he came to Calais to make his way to Britain where he has friends.

‘There were 13 of us, from all different countries, including four women with children,’ he tells me. Barely had the boat travelled a mile across the Channel when the French coastguard appeared. After being returned to France, the migrants were released without arrest.

Normally, when migrants are intercepted they are detained for at least 24 hours and fingerprinted to see which European country they have come from so they can be deported back to that country under the Dublin Agreement.

But Khan says: ‘They just let us go and so I will try again. We paid 2,000 euros [£1,800] to the Iranians who say they will put me on a boat as many times as it is needed to get across to England. They are telling the truth because I know others have got across this way.’

A concrete path from the Calais hospital roundabout takes you to the new Jungle, its entrance guarded by a Police Nationale van. Everywhere there are charred circles from bonfires, many left by those who are now in England.

Trees with mangled branches torn for firewood dot the camp and yesterday I heard loud singing in Arabic and Farsi, a stark contrast to the subdued tension of the 2016 camp.

Local charities estimate that around 1,500 migrants live in Calais, all of whom are set on making their way to Britain. Others, mainly from Ethiopia, Eritrea and Chad, occupy a disused industrial park on Rue des Garennes, two miles away.

The new Jungle camp in Calais, a scrubby field near the main hospital, is a kind of tented waiting room 

Back at the new Jungle, Khan laughs at plans to use the Royal Navy to stop migrants. ‘If they make it harder in one way, we will find another way,’ he says, sipping coffee and munching on bread supplied by a local charity which provides three meals per day.

Next to him stands Abebe Haile, 34, an Ethiopian from the capital Addis Ababa, who claims to have fled death threats issued because he was an opposition politician.

Immigration still too high – poll 

More than half of Britons think immigration is still too high despite years of Tory promises to bring it down, a study said yesterday.

It warned Boris Johnson that if his points-based immigration system allows a wave of mass immigration, then voters will turn against him.

The study from the Migration Watch UK think-tank said most recent polling found that 54 per cent think immigration has been too high over the past decade.

Only 5 per cent think it has been too low. And more than six in ten said they believe the Government has been mishandling immigration policies.

The analysis found that fears over the effects of large-scale immigration became a major concern after Tony Blair opened the doors to millions from both inside and outside the European Union.

Worries declined after David Cameron came to power in 2010 promising to cut immigration back to 1990s levels and subsided further after the 2016 Brexit referendum. 

The report said: ‘Most continue to have strong views about a perceived lack of effective immigration control.’

‘The British Government should welcome us, not refuse us,’ he says. ‘Ask her [Home Secretary Priti Patel] when she wears clothes, where does the cotton come from? When she drinks coffee, where that comes from?

‘It’s from Africa. They should respect us. We will keep trying no matter what.’

His determination is typical of other at the camp.

According to official figures, more than 3,500 migrants have reached the UK this year from Calais, including a record of 235 in 17 boats last Thursday.

On Friday, 130 arrived aboard 13 boats and more than 2,000 entered the country using this route in June alone – more than four times the known total of 500 for the whole of 2018.

Back in the new Jungle, migrants use trees as clothes lines, draping jeans, T-shirts and even Islamic prayer mats across the branches to dry.

The ground below is littered with food and carrier bags full of rubbish.

Poppy Cleary, a British volunteer working for charity L’Auberge des Migrants, rejects the charge that organisations like hers encourage migrants to converge on Calais.

‘They are leaving their homes because their countries are being bombed. They are refugees. What is wrong with providing some food, shelter and water to drink on such a hot day?’ she says.

As we walk across the uneven ground, a group of Syrians rise from beneath their tarpaulin and surround me.

Abu Amir, 31, says he is from the war-torn city of Aleppo and has been in Calais for ten months. He was a pharmacist in Syria and believes he will be able to resume that career if he can get to Britain.

‘The agents can put you on a boat for 350 euros. I have already done it once, but I was caught. I will try again,’ he says.

He is dismissive when told that it is difficult to become a legal resident in the UK and fulfilling his dream of becoming a pharmacist may prove impossible.

‘There is nothing here in France,’ he says. ‘I know there is security and work in Britain.’  

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