Emmanuel Macron today vowed France and Britain will work closely to tackle the Channel small boat crisis – but said the rest of Europe must also help out.
In an historic address to Westminster politicians the French president said that illegal immigration was a ‘burden’ on both countries.
He said he would work with Sir Keir Starmer – who he referred to as ‘dear Keir’ – on preventing people from crossing the Channel.
But he pointed out that those trying to cross to Britain made up a third of all migrants entering the EU’s Shengen free movement area and called for continent-wide moves to stop the flow.
Before his three-day state visit began today the president faced questions over his country’s failure to make a dent in illegal Channel crossings – despite being handed more than three quarters of a billion pounds of British taxpayers’ money.
Arrival numbers are up 56 per cent so far this year compared with the same period in 2024, with 2,599 last week alone.
And a total of 172,255 small-boat migrants have reached Britain since the crisis began in 2018 – entirely under Mr Macron’s presidency – with the vast majority departing from French beaches. Only 4 per cent have been deported.
He told an audience including Sir Keir and other senior ministers, MPs and Lords: ‘In this unstable world, hope for a better life elsewhere is legitimate. 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.’
In an historic address to Westminster politicians the French president said that illegal immigration was a ‘burden’ on both countries.
Before his three-day state visit began today the president faced questions over his country’s failure to make a dent in illegal Channel crossings – despite being handed more than three quarters of a billion pounds of British taxpayers’ money.
Decisions at Thursday’s UK-France summit will ‘respond to our aims for co-operation and tangible results on these major issues’.
He promised the ‘best ever co-operation’ between France and the UK ‘to fix today what is a burden for our two countries’.
