Emmanuel Macron has said the UK and France have a “shared responsibility” to tackle the “burden” of illegal migration, as he urged co-operation between London and Paris ahead of a crunch summit later this week.
Addressing parliament in the Palace of Westminster on Tuesday, the French president said the UK-France summit would bring “cooperation and tangible results” regarding the small boats crisis in the Channel.
President Macron, who is the first European leader to be invited on a state visit to the UK since Brexit, to the audience that migrants’ “hope for a better life elsewhere is legitimate” and added: “But we cannot allow our countries’ rules for taking in people to be flouted and criminal networks to cynically exploit the hopes of so many individuals with so little respect for human life”
“France and the UK have a shared responsibility to address irregular migration with humanity, solidarity and fairness,” he said.
Looking ahead to the UK-France summit on Thursday, he promised the “best ever co-operation” between France and the UK “to fix today what is a burden for our two countries”.
Sir Keir Starmer will hope to reach a deal with his French counterpart on a “one in, one out” migrant returns deal at the key summit on Thursday.
In April British officials confirmed a pilot scheme was being considered to deport migrants who cross the English Channel in exchange for the UK accepting asylum seekers in France with legitimate claims.
The two countries have engaged in talks about a one-for-one swap, enabling undocumented asylum seekers who have reached the UK by small boat to be returned to France.
Britain would then receive migrants from France who would have a right to be in the UK, like those who already have family settled here.
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