THE Gazette has carried a number of stories about the migrant camps in Calais. I must confess I found the stories rather naive and onesided.

Firstly, it is quite wrong to refer to these people as refugees. If they were refugees, they would claim asylum in France.

Under international law, they should claim asylum at the first safe country they get to.

As they have not done so, and instead have made their way to Calais in order to gain entry to Britain, it is clear these people are trying to illegally enter Britain.

Quite often these people have parted with large sums of money to get them that far.

Criminal gangs equip them with a good story that they can tell the authorities so they can claim asylum if they get caught.

More often than not, if they do get here, they disappear into the black economy, where they are paid illegal wages – unless they have false ID papers, which they can use to get legitimate work.

I know this because I see them in my surgeries when the authorities do catch up with them and try to deport them. It is interesting, isn’t it, that we hear tales of men fleeing persecution in fear of their lives, who in the next breath reveal they have left their wives and children behind.

Let’s not kid ourselves that they are anything other than economic migrants.

We should spareathought for the HGV drivers who have to deal with the attempts to hide away in the backs of their lorries.

Hauliers report to me that they find the situation scary.

We need a real solution to refugees from Syria who are currently residing in camps in the Lebanon, Turkey and Jordan.

That solution will not be found in Calais.