The French authorities must “follow through with the action they have been taking” to keep illegal immigrants away from our borders.

Those are the words of MP Charlie Elphicke following increasing attempts by immigrants to reach Dover by dinghy.

The recent trend started back in May, when P&O’s Spirit of Britain ferry spotted a suspected illegal immigrant just outside of Calais harbour on a makeshift raft made from two planks of wood. The man, 23, of Afghan origin, was rescued by the Calais lifeboat.

Another batch tried their luck just over a week ago, when twice in three days suspected illegal immigrants were rescued from aboard inflatable dinghies just off the coast.

Mr Elphicke said: “I’m deeply concerned, though obviously it shows that our border controls at Calais are working extremely well.

“The border officers and British dogs have been very effective at catching people so now they have been driven to taking dinghies.

“I welcome the fact the French authorities have taken action on the camps and on the food distribution centre and are saying that they are now prepared to repatriate these people.

“I think that is the right step. But it needs to be followed through and round up the rest of the people who are, it seems, trying to get into dinghies.”

The first rescue was at Dover and the other, spotted by a Dover Sea Safari boat, was seen off Kingsdown; the occupants were screaming for help. So far, 10 people have been pulled in by the HM Coastguard and dealt with by UK Border Force officers.

Mr Elphicke added: “I’m deeply concerned about anyone taking a dinghy across the Channel. It’s not safe, with busy shipping lanes and in rough seas a small craft could easily go over.

“These people are desperate. They pay good money to the traffickers – between £3,000-£5,000 to bring them to Calais.

“They can almost see their final destination and they want to make sure that they get to Britain.

“We have increased border security and the opportunities are less; the more we get that through to the trafficking rings and their supply chains then the less number of people we are going to have.”