French President Emmanuel Macron is demanding Sir Keir Starmer makes it less appealing for Channel crossing migrants to make the perilous 21-mile journey to the UK, an Elysee Palace source has claimed.
Macron, who yesterday vowed to work with Britain to curb Channel crossings, hopes the Prime Minister will agree to a three-part ultimatum to alleviate the pressures facing both Dover and Calais.
The French President is said to be putting pressure on Starmer to clampdown on illegal migrants exploiting the UK’s black market for labour and welfare payments.
He also wants Britain to make family reunification for genuine asylum seekers easier as conditions for the deal.
“These causes must also be addressed by the British,” an Elysee source told The Telegraph.
Speaking in the Palace of Westminster, Macron addressed the issue of migration and vowed to spearhead an Anglo-French response to deal with the “clear issue” of the crisis.
The French President, who also called Brexit “deeply regrettable”, said: “France and the United Kingdom have a shared responsibility to address irregular migration with humanity, solidarity and fairness.”
Despite suggestions that the UK needs to crackdown on the black market, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper last week announced efforts to stop asylum seekers from working illegally.
However, discussions about a potential cross-Channel deal comes just days after GB News revealed that the Prime Minister has overseen 44,000 Channel crossing migrants arriving on British shores in his first year in No10.
The figure was 40 per cent higher than the 31,000 who made the same journey in Rishi Sunak’s last year as Prime Minister.
The French denied a Telegraph report that Macron blames the UK for the crisis.
A senior Elysee source said: “The French president looks forward to working with the Prime Minister constructively on this shared priority.”
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Labour is ‘breaking own rules’ by letting biological man run to become women’s officer
The Labour Party is breaking its own rules by letting a biological man run to become the women’s officer of an LGBT+ group, gender critical activists have claimed.
A newly formed organisation, called Trans Rights Alliance, put forward a number of candidates ahead of its election on July 19.
Steph Richards, a transgender woman in possession of a gender recognition certificate, was named as a candidate for the organisation’s women’s officer role.
Responding to Richards’s inclusion, Labour LGB said: “Many people say that trans ideology is a men’s rights movement.
“The “Trans Alliance” (seeking to take over the once-great LGBT+ Labour) has set out to prove this.
“Also breaking party rules by putting a man forward to be Women’s Officer.”
However, Richards told LabourList: “I am legally female, other than in regards to the Equality Act and the Equality Act does not apply to the position within LGBT+ Labour so I am thoroughly within my legal right and my moral right to be able to stand.”
What to expect from Emmanuel Macron’s second day in UK?
French President Emmanuel Macron addresses MPs and peers
PA
French President Emmanuel Macron will stride up to No10 alongside his wife Brigitte to meet Sir Keir Starmer and Lady Victoria at 1.15pm.
Macron and Starmer will almost immediately march into bilateral meeting ahead of crunch negotiations on Thursday.
The pair are expected to discuss migration, defence and jobs.
The French President will also appear alongside King Charles and Queen Camilla in the Windsor Castle Gardens.
Macron concludes today’s events with an appearance at Guildhall – attended by the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.
‘Leave the ECHR to stop judges making political decisions’, Tory grandee tells PM
Britain should leave the European Convention on Human Rights to stop judges making political decisions, a Tory grandee has told the Prime Minister.
Ex-Cabinet Minister Lord Lilley said the “vague” terms in which the ECHR was drafted had enabled courts to extend their reach into the political sphere.
In a report released by the Centre for Policy Studies, Lilley said: “The claim that the UK would become a ‘pariah’ if we leave the ECHR is a baseless nonsense.
“No one suggests that Australia, New Zealand and Canada are pariah states, even though they rely on parliamentary sovereignty, common law and domestic courts to maintain their freedoms.”
“On the contrary, they are respected as epitomes of freedom. We would be in the same position as them.”