UK, France unveil migrants deal as Macron wraps up state visit

Britain's Prime Minister Keir Starmer and France's President Emmanuel Macron address a joint press conference following a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing. Photo / Ludovic Marin, AFP

London and Paris have unveiled a “pilot” programme to return to France some of the migrants arriving in the UK on small boats across the Channel, as President Emmanuel Macron wrapped up his state visit.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer called the deal, hammered out during the French leader’s three-day visit, “groundbreaking” and capable of stemming the record numbers of people who have embarked on the perilous journey so far this year.

“This is groundbreaking, because this is a scheme intended to break the model, and to make it clear that if you cross in a small boat, then you’ll end up where you started,” he said in a joint press conference with Macron.

“In exchange for every return, a different individual will be allowed to come here” in a safe manner, Starmer said, adding that the scheme would start within “the coming weeks”.

Although Starmer did not say how many people might be returned to France, media reports suggest it could initially total around 50 people a week.

In comments likely to infuriate pro-Brexit groups, Macron said Britain’s 2020 departure from the EU had worsened the situation in the Channel, cutting off legal migration routes and access to the bloc’s own returns agreements.

“So for people wanting to cross, there is no legal way, nor a way of sending people back after a crossing,” Macron said.

“This is a pull factor to attempt the crossing – exactly the inverse effect of what Brexit promised.”

Wide-ranging focus

Alongside migration, the two leaders used the visit to work on a raft of initiatives and shared concerns over defence, trade and culture.

They included addressing the volatile situation in the Middle East, continued support for Ukraine and a “reboot” of defence ties, including joint missile development and nuclear co-operation.

Among the announcements was a commitment to increase from 10,000 to 50,000 troops a Combined Joint Expeditionary Force (CJEF) established more than a decade ago.

The cross-Channel allies also said they would order more Storm Shadow cruise missiles – long-range, air-launched weapons jointly developed by the allies – while stepping up work on a replacement system.

The missiles have been shipped to Ukraine in significant numbers to help Kyiv in its war with Russia following Moscow’s full-scale 2022 invasion.

Starmer and Macron dialled into a meeting of the so-called “coalition of the willing” on Ukraine, announcing that new headquarters for the European-led, 30-nation grouping had opened in Paris.

Britain and France are spearheading talks among the coalition on how to support a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, including potentially deploying peacekeeping forces.

Meanwhile, Macron urged joint UK-France recognition of a Palestinian state, calling such moves “the only hope for peace” in the conflict-ridden region.

Time for pomp

The visit also saw the typical British pomp and pageantry of such occasions, with King Charles III and Queen Camilla welcoming Macron and his wife Brigitte to Windsor Castle.

The entourage enjoyed a horse-drawn carriage procession, a 41-gun salute and a banquet at Windsor Castle, west of London, where the Francophile king and French leader toasted a new “entente amicale”.

However, much of the attention over the three-day visit focused on the vexing issue of cross-Channel migration.

It has become a major headache for Starmer’s year-old Labour Government, as support for the upstart anti-immigrant Reform UK party soars.

More than 21,000 migrants have made the Channel crossing in rudimentary vessels this year alone.

As the leaders met, the UK Coastguard said a number of the small boats headed to southeast England had been sighted in the Channel.

Meanwhile, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage reacted to the returns deal, branding it “a humiliation for Brexit Britain”.

“We have acted today as an EU member and bowed down to an arrogant French President,” Farage said on X.

The main opposition Conservative Party also criticised the plan, accusing Starmer of “weak and ineffective gimmicks”.

The mooted migrant-exchange scheme has also sparked “serious concerns” among some other European nations.

-Agence France-Presse