The Calais migrant crisis is set to last all summer, David Cameron has warned.

Speaking in Downing Street after chairing a meeting of the Cobra emergency committee, the Prime Minister said the situation was "unacceptable".

He added: "This is going to be a difficult issue right across the summer."

Police and social services in Kent are already struggling to cope with the impact of an unprecedented surge in migrants attempting to reach the UK.

Operation Stack, which turns the M20 into a giant lorry park as a result of chaos on the other side of the Channel, has hit tourists, businesses and lorry drivers.

Lorries parked as part of Operation Stack on the M20 southbound
Lorries parked as part of Operation Stack on the M20 southbound

Mr Cameron said no action would be ruled out as he announced that extra sniffer dogs and fencing will be sent to France and Ministry of Defence land will be used to ease congestion to try to help deal with the crisis.

However, the measures were described as a "sticking plaster" by the Road Haulage Association (RHA).

Mr Cameron has assembled a team of senior ministers to lead the response to the escalating crisis.

"We rule nothing out in taking action to deal with this very serious problem. We are absolutely on it. We know it needs more work," he said.

Mr Cameron said Britain would work "hand in glove" with the French to tackle the problem

"The situation is not acceptable and it is absolutely this Government's priority to deal with it in every way we can," he said.

"We have got people trying to illegally enter our country and here in Britain we have got lorry drivers and holidaymakers facing potential delays.

"We are going to take action right across the board starting with helping the French on their side of the border. We are going to put in more fencing, more resources, more sniffer dog teams, more assistance in any way we can in terms of resources.

"Here in Kent we need to do more to help lorry drivers and holidaymakers. We are going to do everything we can to reduce the disruption, including using MoD land, and we will be looking at other options we can take as well."

Migrants are moved away from the perimeter fence of the Eurotunnel site at Coquelles in Calais, as French police make their nightly sweeps of the area

The Prime Minister will speak to French president Francois Hollande about the crisis later today.

Richard Burnett, chief executive of the RHA, told BBC News: "Quite simply the measures I've just heard from David Cameron aren't enough, they are just sticking plasters in terms of trying to resolve this problem.

"The threats these hauliers are facing every day is unacceptable. The impact financially on the haulage industry and the broader UK economy is unbelievable.

"Until we get the right measures in place and until we actually contain the situation in Calais with the migrants, this situation is a crisis and it's out of control. I really don't think these measures are enough right now."

Ukip leader Nigel Farage called for the port of Ramsgate to be used to ship lorries.

"My feeling as someone who comes from Kent is that we've put all our eggs in the Dover-Calais basket," he said.

He added: "It is a genuinely dangerous situation.

"There have been nine migrants killed so far this year and it's only a matter of time before a British lorry driver gets killed. That's how serious it is."

Migrants, including young children, are moved away from the perimeter fence of the Eurotunnel site at Coquelles in Calais, as French police make their nightly sweeps of the area

James Hookham, deputy chief executive of the Freight Transport Association, said: "We are really pleased it is on the Prime Minister's desk and he seems to have got it.

"Let's just hope he can manufacture a genuine solution to this."

He welcomed measures to increase security at Calais and possible use of MoD land, but also called for Britain to press France to make the port a "strike-free zone" after wildcat industrial action by ferry workers.

"The migrants have been there for 15 years," he said. "The wheels really came off the wagon two weeks ago because the ferry workers went on strike."

It has been revealed that new powers to tackle illegal working and abuse of the asylum system will be fast-tracked in the wake of the crisis, while Britain and France will put on flights to return migrants from Calais to their home countries.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: "The Government will continue to collaborate closely with the French Government to reduce the numbers of migrants in Calais and the incentives for them to stay there.

"That includes stronger cooperation on returns, with UK funding and joint flights to countries like Sudan.

"Domestically, new powers to tackle illegal working and abuse of the asylum system will be sped up - the new Immigration Bill will be introduced as soon as Parliament returns."

Migrants are moved away from the perimeter fence of the Eurotunnel site at Coquelles in Calais, as French police make their nightly sweeps of the area

Details have been provided of measures to help reduce disruption to hauliers, businesses and residents in Kent which were agreed at the Cobra meeting this morning.

New fencing to secure the platform in Coquelles, which is being supplied from the security equipment used at the Nato summit in Newport in September, will be completed by next weekend.

The Prime Minister's announcement today relates to further additional fencing which will be provided "to shore up as much of the perimeter as necessary", the No10 spokeswoman said.

More border force search and dog teams will also be sent in.

The spokeswoman said "urgent options" are being pursued to create alternative parking zones to alleviate the pressure in Kent.

"MoD planners and DfT are working closely with local agencies to rapidly agree a way forward, including the option of temporarily parking freight overspill at Ebbsfleet," she said.

"Increasing ferry capacity on different routes is also being explored."

Former foreign secretary Jack Straw said the borderless system in Europe known as the Schengen agreement, was at the heart of the problem.

Two migrants cling to the top of a lorry as it leaves the Eurotunnel site in Folkestone, Kent, following their arrival from Calais via the Channel Tunnel

He told BBC Radio 4's World at One: "The fundamental problem arises obviously from very, very serious dislocation in countries like Syria, Iraq and the Horn of Africa.

"There's another issue, although whether the EU is willing to tackle it or not I frankly doubt, which is that the Schengen no borders arrangement, which is that within the Schengen area which is most of continental Europe they don't have any internal borders, was only ever going to work in good times.

"You now see the price that Europe is paying, as well as the United Kingdom is paying for this completely open border arrangement.

"They need to face up to the consequences of Schengen. My understanding is there is provision in Schengen to reinstitute border controls if it is necessary."

Calais police union representative Gilles Debove told the programme: "There's a real attraction for the migrants to go to the UK. There are several appealing factors.

"Firstly, in Great Britain, the migrants can work without a residency permit or identity card and they can work illegal.

"In France, we have a police force trained to fight against such illegal work and in the UK you don't have any police force tracking these people who work in the black market."