Photo: AFP / Carl Court | The 9ft-high fence used at the 2014 NATO summit in Wales, which the UK has proposed to send to Calais

The UK has offered France the security fencing it used at a recent NATO summit to protect world leaders, suggesting the barrier might deter illegal migrants crossing the Channel from the port town of Calais.

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Writing in British daily The Telegraph on Saturday, British Immigration Minister James Brokenshire said the 12 miles of 9ft-high steel fencing, installed for last week's summit at Celtic Manor in Newport, could be used “to replace and enlarge the inadequate fencing at Calais, which is too easy for illegal immigrants to scale”.

It follows demands by Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart that the UK do more to help with the town’s migrant problem, threatening to shut the port if it did not.

“I could take the decision to block the port,” she said. "It would be illegal, but today I want to make a strong gesture towards the British."

However, Brokenshire argued that “it is for the French to maintain security of their port and to maintain public order on their own soil”.

Nevertheless, Britain wants “to do what we can to help”, he wrote.

He pointed to the £3 million the UK offered the Port of Calais earlier this year to help improve security.

“We now need to see the improvements we have committed to fund implemented swiftly,” he said.

Recent months have seen an increasing number of migrants flock to Calais with the intention of crossing to the UK, which many believe is home to a more tolerant immigration system.

Tensions peaked last week when dozens of migrants attempted to storm a passenger ferry destined for Dover, but were foiled when crew raised the boarding ramp before police intervened.

Britain ‘no soft touch’

Bouchart has claimed that Calais had been “taken hostage” by the approximately 1,300 migrants now living in the town, mostly in makeshift campsites or squats with little access to regular food, sanitation or healthcare.

She blamed British immigration policy for making the UK look like "an Eldorado" to immigrants.

But Brokenshire said he wanted to “send out a very clear message” that “Britain is no soft touch when it comes to illegal immigration”.

“It is in the interests of British citizens and legitimate immigrants to have controlled immigration and secure borders,” he said.

“It is in the interests of illegal immigrants themselves not to risk a perilous journey when what they face at the end is arrest and deportation; and it is in the interests of French towns such as Calais to maintain their reputation as safe and prosperous ports for trade and tourism.”

Brokenshire said it was “no surprise” people wanted to come to Britain given its growing economy and “proud history of tolerance” but that “many people still try to come to this country neither for protection nor to make a legitimate contribution to our economy”.

“It is in everyone's best interests if these illegal migrants can be prevented from attempting to come to Britain in the first place,” he said.

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