The Sangatte stand-off in France has given tough-talking Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy his first serious test since returning to government in June.

Mr Sarkozy is refusing to bow to pressure to allow the refugees entry to the camp, which closed its doors to new arrivals last week and will shut permanently next April.

He says closing the refugee centre in northern France was the correct course of action and long overdue.

Mr Sarkozy has come under fire for bringing forward the deadline to end new arrivals, but he says his decision was not in "the least hurried; it was planned, intended and pondered".

Some 100 refugees are holed up in the Calais church

The minister believes the closure is necessary because the camp is too small, as well as for combating the growing problem of illegal immigration to France and the UK by organised gangs of people smugglers.

He has rejected charges his decision was forcing migrants into vagrancy.

"The inflow of arrivals has been considerably reduced. Yes, dozens of people are still arriving. But we have places in accommodation centres across France to receive these foreigners. No-one is condemned to wander the streets," Mr Sarkozy told French newspaper Le Figaro.

France remains open to "all those who want to become integrated into our country," but it has to defend itself against tides of immigrants "it cannot manage," he says.

"[Sangatte] is a marshalling yard for illegal immigrants who do not want to stay in France. In Sangatte, only 1% of refugees apply to us for refugee status. They have only one aim - to cross to Britain, even at the risk of their lives," he said.

Only those issued an identification badge over the past month are now allowed to enter.

Law and order man

Since returning to the cabinet, Mr Sarkozy has lived up to his hardline reputation by introducing one tough measure after another - from curbing Roma immigration to banning most forms of prostitution.

This latest measure is part of a controversial new security bill which is currently working its way through the French parliament.

Britain originally took France to task over Sangatte for turning a blind eye to the flood of migrants trying to get into Britain from there, and demanded the closure of the camp.

In return, Mr Sarkozy asked for Britain to adopt tougher asylum laws and put paid to its reputation as an easy place for refugees to settle.