UK and France have ‘shared responsibility’ to tackle illegal migration Emmanuel Macron says

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 crossings in the Channel.

The French President has made a specific issue to address this issue, whilst here, when in fact in France it does not make the headlines. He did hint at being a little overkill to let less than 5000 (net figure) immigrants cause political outrage.

The first European leader to make a state visit to the UK since Brexit

Mr Macron – who is the first European leader to make a state visit to the UK since Brexit – said the audience that while migrants’ “hope for a better life elsewhere is legitimate”, “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 added.

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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.

Broaden our partnerships

King Charles also addressed the France-UK summit at the state banquet in Windsor Castle on Tuesday evening, saying it would “deepen our alliance and broaden our partnerships still further”.

Sitting next to President Macron, the monarch said: “Our armed forces will cooperate even more closely across the world, including to support Ukraine as we join together in leading a coalition of the willing in defence of liberty and freedom from oppression. In other words, in defence of our shared values.”

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.

The small boats crossings is a pressing issue for the prime minister because it hits the headlines. In the last six months less than 20,000 migrants crossed the English Channel of which over 80% were sent back.

Since March last year 38,000 people arrived to the UK via small boat crossings, of which 26,000 voluntarily returned and 8,600 people were forcibly returned. According to the official UK Immigration system statistics, year ending March 2025 the net figure of illegal immigration into the UK of 3400 people.

Time to join the EU again and breakaway from the US

Elsewhere in his speech, the French president addressed Brexit, and said the UK could not “stay on the sidelines” despite its departure from the European Union, and urged Brit’s to consider reversing the decision.

He said European countries had to break away from economic dependence on the US and China.

“Our two countries are among the oldest sovereign nations in Europe, and sovereignty means a lot to both of us, and everything I referred to was about sovereignty, deciding for ourselves, choosing our technologies, our Economy, deciding our diplomacy, and deciding the content we want to share and the ideas we want to share, and the controversies we want to share.

“Even though it is not part of the European Union, the United Kingdom cannot stay on the sidelines because defence and security, competitiveness, democracy – the very core of our identity – are connected across Europe as a continent.”