Politicians in Calais have called for the migrant crisis to be dumped on the UK side of the Channel.

The mayor of Calais, Natacha Bouchart, and a senior former centre-right minister, Xavier Bertrand, demanded the French government renegotiate the 12-year treaty which, in effect, moved the UK border to the Pas de Calais.

Such a decision would shift the crisis in Calais to Kent by allowing asylum seekers to leave French soil. “Let the migrants go and invite (David Cameron) to conduct whatever policies he wants on his own island,” said Mr Bertrand, former health minister and centre-right candidate for northern France president.

“The British are imposing their law on our border,” said Natacha Bouchard, the centre-right mayor of Calais. “My town is French, not British.”

In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Show all 20 1 /20 In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis French gendarmes try to stop migrants on the Eurotunnel site in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis French gendarmes try to stop migrants on the Eurotunnel site in Coquelles near Calais Getty Images In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis A migrant climbs a security fence of a Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis A migrant climbs a security fence of a Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis French gendarmes block migrants along a road to prevent them access to train tracks which lead to the Channel Tunnel in Frethun, near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Policemen try to prevent migrants from reaching the Channel Tunnel operated by Eurotunnel in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis A policeman faces migrants trying to reach the Channel Tunnel operated by Eurotunnel in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis A policeman tries to stop migrants on the Eurotunnel site in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants who managed to pass the police block on the Eurotunnel site climb over a fence to make their way towards the boarding docks in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants are seen near a Channel Tunnel train in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants trying to reach the Channel Tunnel run past policemen in Coquelles near Calaisa In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants step over the fence as they try to catch a train to reach England, in Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis A migrant climbs a security fence of a Eurotunnel terminal in Coquelles near Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants warm themselves with a fire as they attempt to access the Channel Tunnel, in Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis An Afghan flag flies above makeshift shelters at a site dubbed the "new jungle", where migrants trying to cross the Channel to reach Britain have camped out around the northern French port of Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants build a makeshift shelter around the northern French port of Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants build a makeshift shelter In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants walk in a makeshift camp in Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis A driver climbs on his truck as he waits to cross the English channel, in Calais In pictures: Calais crisis intensifies Calais crisis Migrants walk along the roadside while a French policeman secures the area as lorries queue in Calais

She called for a transit camp for asylum seekers to be built in Kent. Both politicians belong to the main French opposition party, Les Républicains, led by the former President, Nicolas Sarkozy. They were complaining about the virulent, anti-French mood in the UK press – and Britain’s evasion of its responsibility.

They called for a renegotiation of the 2003 Treaty of Le Touquet, which moved the British border from the Kent coast to Calais. This intended to prevent migrants reaching Britain, and was negotiated by the then Home Secretary, David Blunkett, and by then French interior minister – their own party leader Mr Sarkozy.

The Socialist–led French government insists that it has no plans to scrap the treaty. Its existence explains why the British government has been very slow to criticise Paris.

Whatever the failings of border security in Calais, the migrant problem would be far more acute if France lifted the barriers and let Britain police its own asylum-seekers.