Rishi Sunak has arrived in Paris to open a “new chapter” in UK-French relations as he resets ties with President Emmanuel Macron after five rocky years.
The prime minister is visiting the Elysee Palace for talks with “Emmanuel” about stopping small boats crossing the Channel, Ukraine, China and greater military cooperation.
Mr Sunak and the president Macron are likely to strike a further agreement that French authorities will disrupt people smugglers on the beaches and information sharing in return for tens of millions of pounds more in British payments to France.
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Mr Sunak defended paying more barely months after a similar deal for £63m in payments was agreed in November.
The PM said it was a “good thing for us to be doing” and described it as a “sensible investment”.
He added: “Remember, that deal we announced with the French was about a month after I became prime minister.
“So I think, as I said, that is already a positive sign forward because I saw president Macron at COP a couple of weeks after I became PM.
“I had a conversation, that led to the home secretary’s Calais group meetings and other things.
“So I demonstrated some quite quick progress already, but obviously that is not the end of the story.
“And the more that I’ve spent looking at this problem, the more time and energy I’ve devoted to it, the more convinced I am that we can grip the problem and I’m going to throw absolutely everything we can at doing so.”
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On the prospect of a returns agreement with France, the PM said the immediate priority was stopping small boat crossings “given the nature and scale of the problem that we’re facing”.
He said: “Right now, having boots on the ground and greater cooperation between our teams are the things that can make the most difference in the short term and that’s where we focus most of our attention.”
France is a ‘very close friend’ – this is a ‘new chapter in our relationship’
Mr Sunak praised France as a “very close friend” after years of stand-off.
The relationship soured under Boris Johnson, who had a tense relationship with Mr Macron personally, and Liz Truss, who questioned whether he was “friend or foe”.
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Mr Sunak is accompanied by a phalanx of cabinet ministers including Home Secretary Suella Braverman, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Transport Secretary Mark Harper, in the first wide-ranging talks of their kind since 2018.
Travelling on the Eurostar to Paris, Mr Sunak said: “I said at the time I thought France was not just a friend but a close friend of the UK, and I stand by that.
“It’s not just a neighbour, it’s not just an ally, trading partner, it has always been a friend of the UK and it’s better for our citizens, for French citizens, when our two countries are co-operating closely together and that is what today is about.”
He paid tribute to “Emmanuel” and said it was a “new chapter in our relationship”.
‘Constructive engagement’
Mr Sunak heralded a new era of cooperation with EU partners after relations soured after Brexit, particularly after striking his deal on Northern Ireland known as the Windsor Framework.
He said: “I think now post the Windsor Framework being agreed, my hope is that [it] opens up other areas of constructive engagement and dialogue and cooperation with the EU.
“I think we are starting to see some of that from President (Ursula) von der Leyen the other week with regard to research collaboration but I think more generally there’s a range of things now that we will be able to have a constructive and positive dialogue on, and so that’s one of the things that I want to talk to them about.”
However, he has conceded there will be no deal today about returning migrants from the UK to France after Mr Macron insisted this had to be decided at an EU-wide level and signs of division across the 27-member bloc.