Folkestone and Hythe MP Damian Collins says the trial of a migrant granted asylum by the Home Office should go ahead.

A judge yesterday heard that the Home Office had granted him refugee status on Christmas Eve.

But the 40-year-old man from Sudan might still stand trial charged with entering the UK illegally.

He appeared in court accused of reaching Britain after allegedly walking 31 miles through the Channel Tunnel in a bid to get into the country.

He was granted bail by Canterbury Crown Court and the Crown Prosecution Service is now deciding whether to carry on pursuing the case after the Home Office granted him asylum.

Mr Collins says the trial should go ahead adding his concerns that rulings like this would encourage more migrants to try to enter Britain illegally.

Mr Collins told KentOnline: “I just think it sends out the wrong message. What we should be saying is it is extremely dangerous and people have lost their lives trying it.

“The concern would be with this is more people would take their chances at getting through the tunnel and we would be incentivising that [by granting them asylum].

“I will be looking to raise this in parliament. It’s the court ruling that upheld this [Home Office decision] and we need to look at these guidelines and whether the law should be amended.”

Mr Collins said he had met with Eurotunnel bosses and seen the increased security measures, which are said to be having an effect on the number of people accessing the trains.

Ukip’s migration spokesman, Steven Woolfe, said: “This is yet another example of government policy that belies their tough words on immigration and asylum and shows that, in reality, we live in a borderless Britain.”

A spokesman for Eurotunnel said they were “disappointed” at the court’s decision to postpone Mr Haroun’s trial.