France rules out new Calais welcome centre for UK-bound migrants

am suspicious of centres that are ready to accept migrants for only a few days and eventually become permanent.”

Charities say some 600 migrants are sleeping rough around Calais. Eleven charities and human rights groups appeared before the administrative court of appeal in Lille on Wednesday and called for the construction of a centre. But Mr Collomb said there should be no place for migrants in the area.

Some 8,000 former residents of the Jungle camp were dispersed to other parts of France in October. Mr Collomb said: “We will strengthen security with the arrival of two companies of additional mobile police to prevent new camps being formed.”

This week, Mr Collomb said the axing of British border controls on French soil would “block the functioning of the Channel Tunnel” and cause “complex” security problems. Some had thought President Emmanuel Macron’s new government would push the UK border back to England’s south coast.

However, Mr Collomb indicated that Britain would have to contribute more money towards securing the port of Calais, as well as the Tunnel. “We will have to find more favourable conditions regarding responsibility for a certain number of costs in France,” he said.

Britain pays about £70 million a year for security and other costs. Mr Collomb said: “We need extra security measures in Calais, for the port, the railways, around the motorways.”

On Tuesday, the driver of a van registered in Poland died in an accident near Calais when tree trunks were placed on a motorway to halt UK-bound lorries. Nine Eritreans face manslaughter charges.