Monday, 25 May 2026
UK, France seek joint solution to migrant crossings
LONDON — Following the cordial receptions and formal dinners of the state visit, Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Emmanuel Macron are now focusing on an issue that has defied resolution by previous British and French leaders: preventing migrants from crossing the English Channel in small boats, according to the AP.
Wrapping up Macron’s three-day visit, Thursday’s U.K.-France summit will bring top officials from both countries together to finalize agreements on economic growth and defense cooperation—and address, perhaps most challengingly, the issue of unauthorized migration.
In addition, Macron and Starmer plan to tour a military base and join a planning session for the “coalition of the willing,” a U.K.- and France-led international initiative supporting a future ceasefire in Ukraine.
During discussions at 10 Downing Street on Wednesday, both leaders concurred that stopping small-boat crossings is a mutual priority demanding joint solutions, including fresh measures aimed at dismantling the business operations of people-smuggling networks, according to Starmer’s office.
They expressed hope for “concrete progress” at Thursday’s talks.
While Britain receives fewer asylum seekers than many southern European nations, it is confronted each year by the highly visible arrival of thousands making the perilous 20-mile (32-kilometer) journey from northern France in cramped, overcrowded vessels.
In 2024 alone, around 37,000 people were detected making the crossing, with more than 20,000 arriving in the first half of 2025—a 50% increase compared to the same period the previous year. Numerous migrants have died attempting to reach the English shore.
Though both Britain and France recognize that these dangerous, unauthorised crossings are problematic, the two countries have long been divided on how to tackle the crisis.
The U.K. has urged France to intensify efforts to prevent departures from its beaches, providing the French government with hundreds of millions of pounds (euros, dollars) to boost patrols and intelligence-sharing in hopes of disrupting smuggling operations.
“We share information far more extensively than ever before,” Starmer told Parliament on Wednesday. “We now have a new specialist intelligence unit in Dunkirk, and ours is the first government to convince the French to rethink their laws and strategies along the north coast to take more decisive action.”
Meanwhile, Macron argues that the U.K. must address so-called “pull factors,” such as the perception that it is easy for unauthorized migrants to find work in Britain. For many, the draw of friends and family, or a shared language, are also key reasons for choosing the U.K. as their destination.