Calais migrants try to cross Channel 115,000 TIMES despite France Jungle demolition

Officials said there were now about 500 migrants in Calais compared with about 7,000 before the Jungle was razed to the ground in October 2016. 

Charities said the number was closer top 700 plus 300 further up the coast near Dunkirk.

But figures show, although there is just a tenth of the number of migrants in Calais, attempts to cross the Channel fell by only 31 percent, from 167,000 in 2016 to 115,000 last year.

Officials said this suggested migrants might have moved out of Calais but were still trying to stow away in lorries and trains crossing the Channel from the port.

President Emmanuel Macron pledged there “will be no more jungle in Calais” as he prepares to unveil his new stricter immigration policy.

Mr Macron visited Calais today and met with refugees and toured a welcome centre.

Despite the new hardline on immigrants, the president vowed to protect those in need and said Britain must do more to help.

He said: “We can integrate those who come from countries at peace, but our duty is to protect those who are persecuted and we are seeking asylum.

“A person who flees his country at war should not have to face the roads of misery, and sometimes the violence of slavery. We must help the countries of origin and transit. 

“Those who are here and elsewhere in Europe must be protected in the face of persecution.”

The leader vowed to protect Calais and said there town “should not be a back door to England”.

He said: “The fundamental task is to ensure the security of the Calais port and Channel Tunnel.” 

French sources said Mrs May had bowed to pressure from Mr Macron to put the migration crisis on the agenda at the Franco-British summit at Sandhurst this Thursday. 

The source said: “We have been insisting very hard. I wouldn’t say the British have been resisting, rather that they’ve been listening carefully.

“Mr Macron wants Mrs May to accelerate the process of transferring migrants to the UK when they have a legitimate case to join family members there.”

The French president is also urging Britain to “accept more lone child migrants and to accept them faster”.

More than 750 lone child migrants were allowed to cross the Channel during and after the Jungle’s destruction.

Mr Macron wants Britain, which has already given more than £100million to help to secure the border in Calais over three years, to increase the funding still further.