Migrants gathered at Calais to try to cross to the UK are doing so because others already here describe it as “Eldorado” says the Mayor of Calais.

Natacha Bouchart has told MPs on the Home Affairs select committee today that migrants were prepared to die to cross the channel and the reason so many were gathering in the town was because they believed they could find work.

She told the hearing: “They know from people who have already got here [the UK] who say they can easily find work....they say there are no ID papers and the paperwork is not checked. There has been no message that it is not like that at all.”

She said migrants were told “it is Eldorado” because they could find jobs easily.

“We need a wider strategy beyond Europe to get the message across that it there is no point coming. There needs to be a very strong message” - Natacha Bouchard

If the UK wanted to address the issue, the government needed to be much clearer about sending out messages regarding the welfare and benefits system.

She went on to say the problem required a strategy that went beyond Europe and reached the countries where would-be migrants were travelling from.

“We need a wider strategy beyond Europe to get the message across that it there is no point coming. There needs to be a very strong message.”

She defended plans to build a new shelter at Calais. “We cannot just ignore the problem,” she said.

While the introduction of greater numbers of police officers had been good for security of the port, it had been less good for local people.

“There are more and more incidents and attacks on the population. There are a lot of women being attacked – mothers do not want to let their children out, so that is why we want to set up this new day centre,” she said.

Her appearance before MPs comes amid continuing concern about the large numbers of would-be migrants in the French town.

Groups regularly try to board ferries using increasingly desperate methods by smuggling themselves on to lorries and even cars and caravans.

An estimated 1000-1400 migrants are thought to be gathered in the French town.