Migrants trying to break into Eurotunnel as low as 100 a night

The number of migrants trying to get into the Eurotunnel terminal near Calais has fallen to as few as 100 a night, the operator has said.

Some 2,000 migrants were attempting to break into the tunnel each night at the end of July in a desperate effort to reach Britain.

However, the number of attempted break-ins now varies between 100 and 200 a night, Eurotunnel said, after security was stepped up at the port.

A Eurotunnel spokesman said: “There has been a real fall in the number of attempted break-ins.

“The figure varies every night but is currently between 100 and 200.”

Chaotic scenes in recent weeks have seen would-be illegal immigrants try to scale or break through perimeter fencing around the Channel Tunnel, and jump aboard lorries bound for the UK in a bid to gain asylum.

The unprecedented surge in migrants attempting to cross the Channel has prompted a string of measures to increase security at the terminal, including extra fencing and the deployment of more border force searches and the provision fo dog teams.

Prime minister David Cameron said illegal immigrants were trying to “break in” to the UK and defended his controversial description of the flow of people fleeing war zones across the Mediterranean as a “swarm”.

A migrant camp near the French port — known as the Jungle — is at the heart of the crisis which has seen the requirement of high-level talks involving Cameron and French president Francois Hollande.

A Home Office spokesman said the British government had committed £7m for fencing at the Eurotunnel site and the first phase of the installation was completed last week.

He added: “We continue to work closely with the French government to tackle the situation as it develops in northern France — but we must also treat the causes of this problem, not just deal with there consequences at the tunnel.

“That’s why the UK is playing a leading role in pushing for action through the EU and the UN to tackle the causes of illegal immigration and the organised trafficking gangs that are behind it.”

The BBC broadcasted a special edition of its religious programme Songs Of Praise, in which the episode was filmed from the camp, where a group of would-be immigrants has thrown up a ramshackle church, providing ministry and Christian worship.

Critics claim the BBC’s decision to film there was a waste of TV licence fee-payers’ money but Aaqil Ahmed, the public broadcaster’s head of religion and ethics, said the show would be focussed on faith, not politics.

The programme was broadcast yesterday on BBC One at 5pm.