Rishi Sunak to hold crunch talks with Emmanuel Macron at Cop27 with migrant crisis his 'key priority'

Rishi Sunak to hold crunch talks with Emmanuel Macron at Cop27 with migrant crisis his 'key priority'
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Aden-Jay Wood

By Aden-Jay Wood


Published: 07/11/2022

- 08:18

Updated: 14/02/2023

- 10:32

Britain and France are reportedly 'close' to allowing Border Force staff on beaches as migrant crossings continue

Rishi Sunak is expected to raise the migrant crisis with his French counterpart when the two meet for the first time in Egypt on Monday.

Ahead of Cop27, the Prime Minister said his “key priority” at the UN climate change conference was resolving the crisis of small boats crossing the Channel.


“I have spent more time working on that in the last few days than anything else other than the autumn statement,” he said.

Britain and France are reportedly “close” to allowing Border Force staff on the beaches, with the PM insisting he will continue to push for a deal with Emmanuel Macron, according to The Sun.

File photo dated 26/10/22 of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak departs 10 Downing Street, Westminster, London as as Labour will try to force the Government to publish its assessments of Suella Braverman's security breach, as the backlash grows against her reappointment as Home Secretary just six days after she was forced out. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has resisted demands to launch an inquiry into Ms Braverman breaking the Ministerial Code by sharing a sensitive document with a Tory backbencher from a personal email without permission. Issue date: Saturday October 29, 2022.
Rishi Sunak
Victoria Jones

A group of people thought to be migrants are brought in to Dungeness beach by the Dungeness lifeboat following a small boat incident in the Channel. Picture date: Wednesday October 12, 2022.
The Prime Minister said his “key priority” at the UN climate change conference was resolving the crisis of small boats crossing the Channel
Gareth Fuller

“We have to get a grip, do a range of things to stop it from happening, return people who shouldn’t be here in the first place."

The Times reported the Prime Minister will press Mr Macron to sign a deal to reduce crossings while at the summit.

Mr Sunak also reportedly defended his decision to keep Suella Braverman as Home Secretary, saying: “She’s completely focused.”

Deputy Prime Minister and Justice Secretary Dominic Raab said Mr Sunak is set to revive the British Bill of Rights as part of his Government’s strategy to deal with the small boats crisis.

He said the legislation – giving the UK courts supremacy over the European Court of Human Rights – will return to Parliament “in the coming weeks”.

The Bill was shelved by Liz Truss when she became prime minister in September after Government sources warned it was “unlikely to progress in its current form”.

The proposed legislation is unlikely to provide a quick fix though as it is also highly controversial and the Government is likely to face a tough battle – particularly in the House of Lords – to get it on to the statute book.

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