ILLEGAL migration is a “burden” for both France and Britain, Emmanuel Macron admitted today.
The French President promised “tangible results” on stopping small boats following fury at Calais cops failing to grip the problem.
Emmanuel Macron speaking in Westminster
ReutersBritain’s King Charles III and France’s President Emmanuel Macron inspect the Guard of Honour[/caption]
GettySmall boats is top of the agenda for Macron’s visit[/caption]
He was speaking in Parliament on the first day of a three-day state visit culminating in a summit with Sir Keir Starmer on Thursday.
Addressing the Channel crisis, he said: “The hope for better life elsewhere is legitimate, but we cannot allow our country’s rules for taking in people to be flouted by criminal networks to cynically exploit the hopes of so many individuals with so little respect for human life.
“France and the United Kingdom have a shared responsibility to address a regular migration with humanity, solidarity and fairness.
“The decisions that we will take at our bilateral summit will respond to our aims for cooperation and tangible results on these major issues.
“Very clearly, we task our Minister of domestic affairs to work very closely together, and I want to sell you the very close coordination and cooperation.
“But our objective, very clearly, is to have the best ever cooperation between our two countries in order to fix today, what is a burden for our two countries.”
A “one in, one out” agreement has still not been finalised and talks are expected to go down to the wire.
The proposal would see France agree to take back a small boat migrant in return for Britain accepting one of their asylum seekers.
Ministers hope this would break the smuggling gangs’ business model, although the Tories have branded it a “migrant merry-go-round” gimmick.
No10 today also said they expected new French tactics of puncturing small boats with knives in shallow waters to be “operationalised soon” as standard practice.
But the PM’s spokesman did not rule out more cash being handed to Paris in addition to the £480million already paid.
He said: “We’ll only ever provide funding that delivers for the priorities of the British public.
“That is always front and centre of our mind. But international problems of this scale require international solutions.”
Macron’s visit – including an address to Parliament this afternoon and banquet at Windsor Castle tonight – risks being overshadowed if Channel crossings erupt on a sunny week.
Last night the Tories accused Sir Keir of “throwing good money after bad”.
Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said: “We paid the French nearly half a billion pounds and they’ve basically done nothing.
“We’ve all seen photos of French police stand around while the illegal immigrants embark and they won’t intercept at sea either.”
Nigel Farage claims to have been “snubbed” from meeting Macron during his visit to Britain this week.
In addition to his talks with the King and Sir Keir, the French President will also have discussions with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch and Lib Dem boss Sir Ed Davey.
While Reform only has four MPs, it is currently leading the polls and Mr Farage is bookies’ favourite to be the next PM.
Deputy party leader Richard Tice told The Sun: “This is an outrageous and deliberate snub.
“Reform is polling higher than all of the other parties, and by denying Nigel a meeting with Macron, the Establishment is shutting its eyes to the lights of the Reform train that is coming.
“If Macron was confident of his handling of the small boats issue, he would happily meet with Nigel.”
Downing Street said that Buckingham Palace has organised Macron’s state visit, while the Elysée Palace remains in ultimate control of his diary.
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