Downing Street has said that the UK government is in the “final stages” of talks with France over a deal to crack down on migrants crossing the Channel.
A separate statement from the Elysée Palace said that French president Emmanuel Macron and UK prime minister Rishi Sunak had agreed to “advance coordination to face the challenge of irregular migration”.
The announcements were made as Sunak met with his French counterpart at COP27 in Egypt.
The PM said that there was no “simple solution” to stopping the perilous crossings but spoke of his confidence that the UK could work closer together with European countries on tackling illegal migration and people smuggling.
He said that he'd return to the UK from Egypt with “renewed confidence and optimism that working together with our European partners, we can make a difference, grip this challenge of illegal immigration and stop people coming illegally”, following talks.
Sunak said that more details around the deal with France would be confirmed in the weeks ahead, as the two nations looked to agree action on the “complex issue”.
The number of people crossing the Channel in small boats and reaching the UK has reached almost 40,000 this year, the largest annual number so far since records began in 2018.
The increase in arrivals has been cited as a blame factor by the government for overcrowding and worsening conditions at the Manston asylum processing centre in Kent, which has recently hit headlines.
Manston was designed to temporarily accommodate a maximum of 1,600 people, but it was believed at one point in October there were more than 4,000 there, some of whom had been present for more than a month.
The PM has also defended home secretary Suella Braverman, who was accused of exacerbating the situation at Manston by ignoring legal advice or attempting to block the use of hotels.
Sunak added that the government was “making very good progress” on bringing occupation numbers down at the site, while immigration minister Robert Jenrick confirmed on Monday that those numbers had now been brought back to 1,600.
Jenrick did warn, however, that it was “not sustainable” for the government to be “spending billions of pounds a year” on housing migrants in hotels as alternative accommodation.
In October, the Commons Home Affairs Committee was informed that the bill for hotels to house migrants had reached £7 million per day.
Image by Simon Walker / HM Treasury, OGL 3, sourced from Wikimedia Commons
