By Sophie Robinson
On the 10th of March, Rishi Sunak arrived in Paris, to meet President Emmanuel Macron, to discuss measures to be taken in order to avoid more migrants crossing the Channel. In the summit, held at the Elysee Palace. £500 million was ensured by Sunak to 500 more officers, ameliorated technology for instance: drones to disclose migrants, along with a new detention centre – however this will not be workable until 2026.
Macron had mentioned how, in the past year, officers had made 500 arrests as well as prohibiting 30,000 small boat crossings. A small boat crossing is the attempted crossing of migrants hoping to gain entry into the UK illegally; usually done in a small boat such as a kayak: hence the name. A dramatic increase in the number of small boat crossings was crossings, was seen last year, with 45,728 migrants arriving. Yet, according to Mail Online, there has been an 86% rise in migrants arriving this year in comparison to last year.
This summit is pointing to a new beginning in Anglo-French relations, with Macron calling it a ‘moment of reconnection’, and Sunak describing the moment as ‘entente renewed’. Since Brexit, the Anglo-French relationship has deteriorated, but after this summit it is now believed that this relationship is renewed.
Sunak adhered that this would ‘put an end to this disgusting trade in human life’, and he stated that with Britain and France ‘Working together, the UK and France will ensure that nobody can exploit our systems with impunity’.
This conference has not only seen Britain and France working together to fight this problem, it sees a step in the right direction to strengthening the Anglo-French relationship back to what it was.
Information courtesy of BBC news.