Summary of the day
Thanks for following on an eventful Friday in which Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron held the first Franco-British summit in five years, hailing a thawing of relations, which they sought to exemplify through an exchange of rugby shirts.
Here are the main points from the day:
The main announcement from the summit was around strengthened cooperation on the issue of small boats crossing the Channel, which will lead to a new detention centre in northern France, a new command centre with enforcement teams in the same place for the first time, an extra 500 new officers patrolling French beaches, and more drones and surveillance technologies, all of which will be funded by the UK through a nearly half a million pound package. Nevertheless, it will not include an agreement for the UK to be able to return refugees to France, which Macron insisted must be negotiated at an EU level.
Charities were quick to criticise the announcement, saying the focus on more detention was disappointing and anti-refugee.
The two leaders also agreed upon further security cooperation aimed at bolstering Ukraine’s battlefield presence, including training marines. They also plan to increase the interoperability of the two countries’ forces, combine joint expedititionary forces, promote stability in the Indo-Pacific by coordinating carrier deployments and jointly explore the development of complex weapons, like air defence, combat air and long-range weapons.
Partnering on investment in renewable and nuclear energy to improve the two countries’ energy security and reduce cost pressure on citizens was also thrashed out.
Macron said that it was important to “fix the consequences of Brexit”, while Sunak affirmed that although the UK had left the EU, it hadn’t left Europe, and that “a close, cooperative, collaborative relationship with our European partners” should start with the UK’s nearest neighbour, France.
Speaking to reporters on the Eurostar to Paris in the morning, Sunak defended payments to France as “sensible investments for the UK” and said he was “throwing everything” at resolving the problem of small boats of migrants crossing the Channel. He added that security in Europe was “intertwined” with peace in the Indo-Pacific, and said China should stay out of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. He also said that the war in Ukraine would end at the negotiating table, and vowed to support Volodymyr Zelenskiy to be in the “best possible place to have those talks”.
The French press shared its enthusiasm for the meeting with a cover story on the left-leaning Libération newspaper that depicted the two leaders embracing in a chintzy mug. The pairing has swiftly been nicknamed “Le Bromance” in reflection of their similar age and professional background. Sunak tweeted that France and the UK were close neighbours, great friends and historic allies.
Thanks again for following today – we’ll see you on Monday.
Updated
UK to pay France nearly half a billion pounds to prevent Channel crossings
Britain will pay France nearly half a billion pounds over the next three years to step up efforts to prevent small boats from crossing the Channel, Rishi Sunak has announced.
PA reports:
The prime minister praised the “unprecedented” £478m (€541m) package to fund a new detention centre in France and hundreds of extra law enforcement officers on French shores.
Sunak announced the package after holding talks with Emmanuel Macron during a UK-France summit at the Élysée Palace in Paris on Friday.
The French president told Sunak the migration returns agreement that he covets under his pledge to “stop the boats” would have to be negotiated with the European Union rather than Paris.
The major new package comes on top of the more than £300m UK has committed to France in the last decade to help tackle unauthorised migration.
Updated
