Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are racing to finalise a ‘one in, one out’ Channel migrant deal as more boats were seen crossing today.
The PM and the French president embraced on the steps of Downing Street as he arrived for talks on the final day of his State Visit to the UK.
The outlines of a pact have been emerging, with Britain returning some small boat arrivals to France, while accepting equal numbers of asylum seekers.
Supporters say the idea will deter people from making the perilous crossing, although critics have branded it a ‘migrant merry go round’.
However, according to details leaked to French media just 50 Channel migrants per week are expected to be returned.
That would be just one in 17 of the current level of arrivals, which stands at 44,000 for the year so far.
The official readout of a meeting between Sir Keir Mr Macron at No10 yesterday suggested they are focused on the Channel crisis.
Downing Street also tried to ease tensions after Mr Macron used a speech to Parliament to complain about ‘pull factors’ encouraging people to try to cross in the first place.
‘The Prime Minister spoke of his Government’s toughening of the system in the past year to ensure rules are respected and enforced, including a massive surge in illegal working arrests to end the false promise of jobs that are used to sell spaces on boats,’ a spokesman said.
Mr Macron played up the warmth in the relationship by using the theme tune to TV show Friends in an Instagram video about his visit.
Touring broadcast studios this morning, Defence Secretary John Healey dismissed concerns of a blame game between the countries.
He told Sky News: ‘The discussions are only taking place because over the last year, we’ve been able to establish with the French a recognition that this is a shared challenge, that they are working together with us, and that’s the reason that we’ve seen increased beach patrols, more drone patrols.’
He added: ‘As a Government, we’re not interested in blame.
‘We’re interested in taking the action together that can help reduce the number of small boats coming across, the number of lives also being lost in the Channel…
‘And we’re interested in re-establishing the control of our borders that the previous government lost in the recent years.’
Both Mr Macron and Sir Keir aim for ‘concrete progress’ on the matter at Thursday’s summit, No 10 said, as well as in other areas like support for Ukraine.
Following the French-UK summit, the two leaders will host a call with coalition of the willing partners, the proposed peacekeeping mission to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine in future.
In a sign of close alignment on defence, Britain and France have announced they will buy new supplies of Storm Shadow missiles, which both have loaned to Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia.
The two nations will also work closely to develop a successor to the long-range missile, the Ministry of Defence said.