Robert Jenrick proposed that Britain should pay France to take back small boat illegal migrants, it has been revealed.

       The Tory leadership contender suggested a one-for-one deal with France where Britain would take one of their successful asylum seekers in return for the French accepting back an illegal Channel migrant who had reached the UK.

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       The proposal was revealed in a note written by Mr Jenrick, when he was immigration minister, for Rishi Sunak to present to French president Emmanuel Macron at an Anglo-French summit in Paris in March 2023.

       However, Mr Macron rejected the proposal, despite the offer of an “ex gratia payment” for each illegal migrant returned to them.

       Mr Jenrick argued that if it had been certain that migrants would be returned to France, it would “quickly break the business model of the smugglers and initial numbers, even if large, would subside”, according to the note.

       While accepting the Conservative government would have had to consider the domestic reaction to the plan, Mr Jenrick said the migrant situation was “intolerably expensive” with some ￡3 billion being spent on housing and supporting asylum seekers in 2023.

       Mr Jenrick suggested there was a “strong value-for-money argument in offering [the French] a generous compensatory payment”.

       “Such costs might compare favourably with operationalising Rwanda,” he added.

       Asked about his proposal on The Sun’s Never Mind the Ballots podcast, Mr Jenrick said it was a “short time-limited intervention” to break the incentive for migrants to cross.

       He said: “What was shameful about that incident was that, as I understand it, Rishi Sunak put it to president Macron, and he rejected it. He wouldn’t even give it a hearing, because he didn’t want to fix this problem, probably as a punishment for Brexit.”

       Mr Jenrick claimed the French did not care about helping. “The French could stop this tomorrow… but what I learned is you cannot rely on the French,” he said.

       The Government is currently paying France around ￡500 million over three years for increased patrols on the beaches, extra surveillance equipment and plans for a new centre to hold asylum seekers.

       A total of 26,612 migrants in 503 boats have now made the crossing so far this year, just under 700 more than at the same point last year, but substantially down on the record year of 2022.

       Tony Smith, a former Border Force director general, said Mr Jenrick was right to raise the deal with France – and to “call them out on their reply”.

       “We need returns as a deterrent,” he said.

       Labour has scrapped the Rwanda deportation scheme and diverted the money to create a new Border Security Command to smash the people smuggling gangs with officers from MI5, the National Crime Agency and Border Force handed new powers to treat them like terrorists.

       Yvette Cooper, the Home Secretary, is also setting up a 1,000-strong “returns-and-enforcement unit” to more swiftly remove failed asylum seekers and foreign national offenders.