People living in camps along the coast of France have said they are determined to seek a better life in the UK, despite the Home Office targeting them with Facebook ads begging them not to come.

Around 2,000 migrants are reportedly living in northern France, many sleeping rough around Calais and Dunkirk, as they wait to cross the English Channel on board small boats or smuggled in lorries.

One 16-year-old boy, from Afghanistan, said: “I need to go to the UK. I am ready for anything to try and get there.”

READ MORE: Record number of migrants make Channel crossing on single day

“I will try until I die,” he added.

Record numbers of people have risked their lives to reach Britain so far this year. The crossings in unsafe dinghies have continued despite various attempts by the Home Office to stop them and make the route “unviable”.

This has included spending more than £23,000 on social media ads targeted at migrants living in France featuring slogans such as “There is no hiding place”, “Don’t put your or your child’s life in danger” and “We will return you” – translated into Kurdish, Arabic, Persian and Pashto.

Many of those who saw the campaign on Facebook and Instagram are people who have been assisted by migrant charity Care4Calais while living in France.

Founder Clare Moseley accused the Home Office of “wasting money” and called on the Government to step up to help refugees.

She added: “It’s extremely naive of this Government to think that social media ads will deter them. This isn’t a choice.”

One Sudanese man who saw the pictures on Facebook said: “We know that crossing and taking a boat is really dangerous, but we don’t have the choice. UK is our only chance and better than Calais.”

A 21-year-old man from Gambia called for safer routes to the UK and improvements in conditions in Calais.

Images issued by the Home Office showing social media advertising targeted at migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in France
Images issued by the Home Office showing social media advertising targeted at migrants, asylum seekers and refugees in France

He said: “They are complaining, but our conditions is very hard. Everyone need good life, everyone need to leave here.”

Others spoke frankly about the dangers of crossing the Channel – a journey that has claimed lives in the past – in search of a better life in the UK.

A 20-year-old Sudanese man said: “I am ready to die, but I still have faith that I will cross OK.”

Dan O’Mahoney, Clandestine Channel Threat Commander for the Home Office, said: “We are seeing an unacceptable rise in dangerous and unnecessary small boat crossings.

“The adverts are aimed at dissuading migrants in France and Belgium from making dangerous attempts to enter the UK.

“They have reached thousands of migrants highlighting the risk to life of making these journeys and providing information on claiming asylum in the safe country they are in.”

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