Hundreds of millions of people will flee North Africa as migrants in search of a better life unless a “massive” Marshall Plan is launched to transform the region, former International Development Secretary Sir Andrew Mitchell has warned. A project comparable to the reconstruction scheme to rebuild Europe after the devastation of World War Two is needed to prevent such a mass movement of people, he claims.

Sir Andrew writes in a new book that “illegal migration has undeniably spiralled out of control” and the public were “right to be angry” at the loss of control of our borders.

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Looking back at the summer’s disastrous election result for the Conservatives, he writes: “The eye-watering costs of housing asylum seekers, together with a perceived corresponding decline in public services – such as the length of time it took to get a GP appointment – fuelled the not unreasonable view that UK generosity was being meted out unchecked, and that the British people were being taken for fools. Political elites should have learned by now that we patronise voters at our peril.”

There is deep concern in the UK about small boat crossings – with more than 11,500 people coming to the UK this way this year – but Sir Andrew warns that neither sending asylum seekers to a country such as Rwanda nor trying to smash the people smuggling gangs can solve the country’s illegal migration problem. Instead, he presses for a “strategic policy that addresses migration at source, before migrants cross the Mediterranean and long before they reach Calais”.

He writes: “What is really needed is a massive ‘Marshall Plan’ for north Africa and the Sahel: a carrot and stick plan, involving the UK, EU and other nations with a direct interest in that region. Otherwise wait for hundreds of millions of feet to walk towards us in search of a better life.”

Sir Andrew sets out his proposals in a new book of essays on immigration, A Positive Contribution, published by the think tank Bright Blue.

Warning of the dangers of ignoring public anger, he writes: “We need look no further than Trump’s victory to understand the depth of the fury that marginalisation unleashes. Around Europe the emerging patterns are similar, as narrow nationalism rears its head on the back of legitimate fears and concerns and the establishment’s failure to heed them.”

However, he also cautions that an array of factors are pushing people to leave their homes.

“Around the world, people are falling back into poverty and the link between war, poverty and migration from countries like Syria and Afghanistan is inescapable,” he writes. “The toxic mix of instability, insecurity and climate change means the hope of a better life at home vanishes, forcing people to move.”

He makes the case for allowing people to apply asylum before they set foot in the UK, claiming this would “save a huge amount in housing and welfare costs”, reduce the “number of people trying to make dangerous journeys to the UK” and mean “more exploiters of human desperation would go out of business”.

The ex-Deputy Foreign Secretary writes: “Right now, there are few options for people to apply for asylum legally from outside the country, meaning that the only routes available are, by definition, illegal. Creating limited legal routes would provide desperate people with an alternative to risking their lives in dinghies, and crucially, would help stop the criminal gangs who traffic them…

“If you want to starve out supply, take away the demand.”

Sir Andrew also makes a passionate defence of foreign aid, which has been cut from 0.7% of GDP and is due to fall to 0.3% from 2027.

He writes: “Aid budgets tend to be thought of as handouts, but international development is something else entirely: its ultimate goal is to eliminate the reasons people seek a better life on distant shores. We aim to build safer and more prosperous societies over there, so people do not need to come over here.”