Britain is an ‘El Dorado’ for thousands of migrants flocking to Calais because of generous handouts, the French port’s mayor has told MPs.

Blaming the UK for the crisis, Natacha Bouchart said lavish benefits and the prospect of illegal work and accommodation were magnets for immigrants determined to get across the English Channel.

She said illegal migrants, many fleeing humanitarian disasters in Africa and the Middle East, were ‘prepared to die’ to reach Britain, believing it to be like the mythical lost city of gold, El Dorado.

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Telling it straight: Calais mayor Natacha Bouchart (left) said Britain was an El Dorado for migrants, while Theresa May is coming under increasing pressure over the immigration crisis

The Mayor of Calais was invited to give evidence to Parliament over the mounting immigration crisis in the northern French town

Giving evidence to the Commons home affairs select committee, she said: ‘The real magnet is not the city of Calais but the benefits that are perceived in Great Britain.

‘The weekly benefits of £36 that are given to migrants or asylum seekers is a huge amount for people who have nothing in their lives.

‘They have no idea about the value of money … But they know from those people who have got through [to Britain] that … they can easily find work, don’t have to declare their work, they can find accommodation and can get some money every week. People who have got through call and say, “ … this is El Dorado and we’re staying here”.’

Labour MP Keith Vaz, chairman of the home affairs select committee, questioned why there was such a severe immigration problem in Calais

Mrs Bouchart was joined by Philippe Mignonet, Deputy Mayor of Calais (right) and Emmanuel Aguis, First Deputy to the Mayor (left) to give evidence to Parliament

Mrs Bouchart (centre) was the centre of attention outside Portcullis House in Westminster this afternoon after giving evidence to the Home Affairs Select Committee about the immigration crisis in Calais

She added: ‘There has not been a message from the British government saying, “This is not El Dorado”. If it is not true you need to be saying it very loudly and clearly in our country and across and throughout Europe.’

Mrs Bouchart said Britain was a ‘soft touch’, telling MPs to ‘take responsibility’ and that ‘if you have conditions that are attractive to migrants you need to be thinking about changing those’.

She said the lure of the UK had drawn 2,500 migrants to Calais, which was suffering increasing violence and being targeted by organised crime gangs.

She said UK border controls should be returned from Calais to Dover. They were moved to French soil more than a decade ago as part of an earlier attempt to tackle the problem.

Mrs Bouchart said the UK was seen as an Eldorado among immigrants. She said: 'What Britain is offering is understood around the world'

French police used tear gas on crowds of migrants last week in Calais when around 300 attempted to storm lorries heading for the Channel

But Michael Ellis, a Tory MP on the committee, said France had been ‘leading proponents’ of the Schengen agreement, which abolished internal border controls within the mainland EU. He added: ‘You only have yourselves to blame.’

Lorraine Fullbrook, another Tory MP, said: ‘You can’t expect us to disadvantage our people because France can’t police its borders.’

Labour’s immigration spokesman David Hanson said: ‘It is not good enough for the mayor of Calais to seek to wash her hands of this problem and seek to simply move the border to Dover.’ Mrs Bouchart fuelled fears of another Sangatte, the now-closed Red Cross centre that housed thousands of migrants near the port, by backing plans for a new centre in Calais.

Hopes: Immigrants trying to make there way across the English channel into the UK risk their lives attempting to jump into lorries as they line up at Calais

Riot: French police used tear gas on crowds of migrants last week in Calais when around 300 attempted to storm lorries heading for the Channel Tunnel

French authorities will offer medical and legal advice to thousands of migrants seeking asylum in the UK at the centre if it is opened

Intended as a humanitarian response to the growing number of people living rough in the area, it would offer mainly medical facilities. But critics said it would serve as a hotspot for those seeking to cross the Channel.

Britain has given £12million to the French to enhance security measures, as clashes between migrants have grown more violent. Last week riot police used tear gas on 400 illegal migrants who tried to storm lorries heading for Britain.

A 16-year-old Ethiopian girl was killed as she crossed the Channel Tunnel approach road.

A Downing Street spokesman said: ‘One of the things we’ve done is … to bolster security and infrastructure in Calais.’ The Government has also provided Calais with security fencing used at the Nato summit in Wales.

But Mrs Bouchart said: ‘The fence makes everybody laugh.’ Ukip said Britain needs to make clear ‘its streets are not paved with gold’.

A day centre, normally used as a summer school (pictured) is the proposed site of a centre for migrants in Calais Own food: Muslim immigrants, who abstain from eating the food distributed by French aid organizations in case they may not be halal, cook their own food