French President Emmanuel Macron has promised "concrete, effective and lasting" cooperation on migration as he arrived in the UK under pressure to do more to stop small boats crossing the English Channel. The visit marks the first state visit by a French president since 2008, with Macron being hosted by the King during his three-day stay.
The visit carries significant political weight, with Macron and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer set to lead a Franco-British summit later this week. Top of the agenda will likely be action on small boat crossings as Sir Keir attempts to solve one of voters' key concerns.
Migration talks take centre stage
Macron said the two nations would address major challenges together, including "security, defence, nuclear energy, space, innovation, artificial intelligence, migration, and culture". He emphasised these were areas where both countries sought to "act together and deepen our cooperation in a concrete, effective, and lasting way".
The UK hopes this could include a so-called "one in, one out" deal to exchange Channel migrants for asylum seekers in Europe who have a British link. Such an agreement is thought still to be on the table, but a deal has not yet been done.
French tactics under review
Ministers have also been pushing for France to revise its rules to allow police to intervene when boats are in shallow water, rather than requiring them still to be on land. Last week, French authorities appeared to change tactics when officers used a knife to puncture an inflatable boat after it had launched.
On Monday, Downing Street appeared to suggest a new approach had been discussed but not yet rolled out. A spokesman for Number 10 said: "We are the first Government to have secured agreement from the French to review their maritime tactics so their border enforcement teams can intervene in shallow waters."
Record crossings continue
The state visit comes as the total number of people crossing the Channel in small boats this year passed 20,000 last week. The total now stands at more than 21,000, a record for this point in the year.
Macron will address Parliament on Thursday, as his predecessor-but-one Nicolas Sarkozy did during his state visit in 2008. Sir Keir and the French president are also expected to co-host a meeting of the "coalition of the willing", the peacekeeping mission proposed to be deployed to Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire with Russia.
Opposition leaders weigh in
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged Sir Keir to use the state visit to create a "united front" against Donald Trump's "damaging trade war". He said: "It's time to make clear to Trump that we will not take his playground bullying and divide-and-rule tactics lying down."
Both Sir Ed and Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, the leaders of the two largest opposition parties, will meet Macron during his visit. Macron said: "There is so much we can build together: for the stability of our continent, for our shared prosperity and competitiveness, and for the protection of our democracies."
(PA) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
