LONDON — French President Emmanuel Macron arrives in Britain on Tuesday for a state go to mixing royal pageantry with thorny political talks about stopping migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats.
Macron and Prime Minister Keir Starmer may even attempt to advance plans for a post-ceasefire safety drive for Ukraine, regardless of obvious U.S. indifference to the concept and Russia’s refusal to halt the onslaught on its neighbor.
Macron’s three-day go to, on the invitation of King Charles III, is the primary state go to to the U.Okay. by a European Union head of state since Brexit, and a logo of the British authorities’s want to reset relations with the bloc that the U.Okay. acrimoniously left in 2020.
The president and his spouse, Brigitte Macron, might be pushed to Windsor Fort by horse-drawn carriage, greeted by a navy honor guard and handled to a state banquet hosted by the king and Queen Camilla. The British royals made a state go to to France in September 2023.
Macron additionally will deal with each homes of Britain’s Parliament within the constructing’s fabulously ornate Royal Gallery earlier than sitting down for talks with Starmer on migration, protection and funding.
At a U.Okay.-France summit on Thursday, senior authorities officers from the 2 international locations will focus on small-boat crossings, a thorny problem for successive governments on each side of the channel.
Britain receives fewer asylum-seekers than Mediterranean European international locations, however hundreds of migrants annually use northern France as a launching level to succeed in the U.Okay., both by stowing away in vehicles or — after a clampdown on that route — in small boats throughout one of many world’s busiest transport lanes.
The U.Okay. has struck a sequence of offers with France over time to extend patrols of seashores and share intelligence in an try and disrupt the smuggling gangs.
It has all had solely a restricted affect. About 37,000 individuals have been detected crossing the English Channel in small boats in 2024, the second-highest annual determine after 46,000 in 2022. Greater than 20,000 individuals made the crossing within the first six months of 2025, up by about 50% from the identical interval final 12 months. Dozens of individuals have died trying the crossing.
Starmer, whose center-left authorities was elected a 12 months in the past, has pledged to “ smash the gangs ” behind organized people-smuggling. His plan rests on nearer cooperation with France and with international locations additional up the migrants’ route from Africa and the Center East. The U.Okay. additionally goals to strike offers with particular person nations to take again failed asylum seekers.
British officers have been pushing for French police to intervene extra forcefully to cease the boats, and welcomed the sight of officers slashing rubber dinghies with knives in latest days.
U.Okay. Residence Secretary Yvette Cooper stated the French are “bringing in vital new techniques to cease boats which might be within the water.”
Britain is also pushing France to let officers intervene in opposition to boats in deeper waters, a change the federal government in Paris is contemplating. Campaigners for migrants’ rights and a police union warn that doing so might endanger each migrants and officers.
Starmer spokesperson Tom Wells stated a few of the techniques being mentioned are “operationally and legally complicated, however we’re working carefully with the French.”
The 2 leaders have labored carefully collectively to rally assist for Ukraine, although they’ve taken contrasting approaches to U.S. President Donald Trump, with Macron extra prepared to problem the American president than the emollient Starmer.
Britain and France have led efforts to type a world peacekeeping drive for Ukraine to bolster a future ceasefire with European troops and tools and U.S. safety ensures.
Trump has proven little enthusiasm for the concept, nonetheless, and a ceasefire stays elusive. British officers say the “coalition of the prepared” concept is alive and properly, with Macron and Starmer as a consequence of be part of a world videoconference on Thursday to debate planning for the drive.
Starmer spoke with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Monday concerning the “important progress being made by navy planners,” the British chief’s workplace stated.
