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Britain’s migrant crisis has been fuelled by France’s inability to protect its own border, a close ally of Marine Le Pen has admitted.

Jordan Bardella, speaking exclusively to the Daily Express at the Reform UK conference, blamed the chaos in the Channel on Emmanuel Macron and the EU’s open borders scheme.

And he declared that the Schengen Zone means Britain’s border effectively starts at the French frontier with Italy.

The National Rally President – the favourite to be the next Prime Minister in Paris – said Nigel Farage would not need to deploy the Royal Navy to intercept dinghies carrying dozens – sometimes hundreds – of people because Marine Le Pen will overhaul French immigration laws to prevent people arriving in Calais if she wins the 2027 Presidential race.

Mr Bardella said bluntly: “What I am saying is that if France protects its borders, the Royal Navy won’t need to be deployed in the Channel, because there will no longer be incoming illegal migrants in the Pas-de-Calais region.

“It’s very simple.

“If we want to solve the crisis—and potentially the costs associated with managing the crisis on the ground in Pas-de-Calais for the British – France must regain control of its immigration policy.

“If we come to power with Marine Le Pen, we will hold a referendum on immigration with constitutional status.

“This will reaffirm the primacy of French law over all European and international jurisprudence regarding the fight against immigration, and we will put in place the entire legal, political, administrative, and deterrent shield to prevent France from finding itself with an influx of migrants who then naturally move toward the north of the country, specifically Pas-de-Calais bound for the British coast.

“It’s very simple: if France protects its borders, the Calais issue no longer exists.”

Under Reform’s plan, Royal Marines will be ordered to dump migrants back on French beaches if Paris refuses to take them. The party warned the Elysee Palace that it will have no choice but to accept those detected in dinghies.

Reform said it would set up a joint military command with units from the Royal Navy, Royal Marines, RAF and British Army as well as surveillance.

It said the navy’s River-class offshore patrol vessels would be used for interception.

The ships’ current responsibilities include monitoring Russian naval activity around British waters.

And Bay-Class Landship ships could be used to accommodate hundreds of migrants before they are taken back to France.

Asked how the French people would feel about migrants being returned to French beaches, and potentially having to pay for them, Mr Bardella said: “It’s very simple: the French no longer want to pay for immigration they do not want.

“It is true that for some time now, following the Le Touquet Accord since 2003, the British have been paying for part of the French measures put in place to try to control it, but these resources are completely derisory.”

And Mr Bardella conceded the French carry a portion of blame for the Channel migrant crisis.

He said: “For several years, France and Great Britain have failed, it must be said, to control a border crisis—or at least to channel a migratory crisis that has created a lot of tension in the Pas-de-Calais region—and to dismantle human-trafficking mafias.

“These groups exploit human misery and the distress of people crossing the Channel, often at the risk of their lives, to reach the British coast.

“What I came to say here in the UK is very simple: a portion of the influx of migrants on British shores comes largely from France’s inability to control its own immigration policy.

“In reality, if France tomorrow—under a resolute and determined government—drastically reduces immigration as we wish through various measures (and we can detail those proposals), and if we achieve results, the question of immigration in the UK (at least illegal immigration across the Channel) will no longer arise.

“So, France bears a double responsibility, and the next French government, by protecting France’s borders, will in fact also be protecting the UK’s borders.”

And Mr Bardella, whose ally Marine Le Pen is the frontrunner to become the next French President, said Brussels must overhaul the Schengen rules.

He said: “If tomorrow we are able to do this, we will also demand a reform of the Schengen Area from the European Union, with the intention of reserving free movement—which is currently granted within the Schengen Area—solely to citizens of the European Union.

“Today, for example, if you arrive on the Italian coast and obtain a residence permit in Italy, that permit gives you the right and freedom to travel throughout the European Union thanks to the Schengen Area.

“We want this free movement to be reserved exclusively for EU citizens—for example, if you are Italian and want to spend a few days in France, you can pass through the airport without passport control filters.

“Schengen must become a truly European project again so that, within a framework of dual borders (European and national), we can control illegal immigration entry points.”