The Government is coming under pressure to tackle the migrant crisis
(Picture: PA Wire)Britain is on the verge of agreeing a deal with France to tackle the surge of migrants crossing the Channel in small boats, a Cabinet Minister said on Tuesday.
Work and Pensions Secretary Mel Stride told Sky News that the two countries were in the “final stages” of an agreement, following talks between Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron at the COP27 climate summit in Egypt on Monday.
“Clearly the Prime Minister has been engaged with Presiddent Macron and the French Government at all sorts of different levels and my understanding is we are in the final stages of what could be an agreement, which would be very good news,” Mr Stride said.
Mr Stride did not give details of the possible deal but it has been reported that Mr Sunak wants to agree targets with Mr Macron for stopping boats along with a minimum number of French officers patrolling beaches and the ability to deploy Border Force officers in France.
Almost 40,000 migrants have arrived in the UK after crossing the Channel so far this year.
Relations between the UK and France appear to have improved dramatically since Mr Sunak took control of No10.
Predecessor Liz Truss risked further damaging relations with Paris, already strained by Brexit and the migrants crisis, when she said the “jury’s out” on whether President Macron was “friend or foe” during her successful Conservative leadership campaign in the summer.
But Mr Stride said the relationship had improved thanks to Mr Sunak’s approach.
He added: “The good thing is there’s been a fundamental shift in tone between ourselves and the French and of course that’s fundemantal to any deal.
“I know the Prime Minister personally has been absolutely on top of this, a couple of briefings a day on the crisis. I just think the approach of Rishi Sunak has been one of close engagement.
“He’s a person who gets right across all the detail. So I suspect having put a lot of personal time into what the solutions might look like he has probably come up with something that might stand more chance of working than might otherwise have been the case.
“Hopefully the French might see him as someone very serious, somebody who wants to work as a close partner in solving a problem which is not good for either country.”
