Sir Keir Starmer (Labour) and Emmanuel Macron will engage in crunch talks to hammer out a migration deal, after the pair admitted a "new deterrent" was needed to stop small boats crossing the English Channel.
The Prime Minister hopes the French president will sign up to a "one in, one out" deal when they hold a Franco-British summit at Downing Street on Thursday, the last day of Macron's state visit to the UK.
Under the terms of the deal, Britain would accept migrants with links to the country in exchange for sending others back across the channel.
French newspaper Le Monde reported that some 50 migrants a week would initially be returned to France under the terms of the proposed deal, which it described as largely symbolic.
Record crossings
If such a deal were struck, it would only result in the return of a fraction of the 21,000 people who have made the channel crossing so far in 2025, a record for this point in a year.
But it would also represent a concession by the French that such returns are possible, after years of MPs on the right of British politics insisting France is a "safe" country where migrants can be sent back to.
The Times reported the scheme would be scaled up after an initial pilot had shown "proof of concept", citing Government sources.
In return, Macron is said to be pushing for the UK to do more to address "pull factors" which are attracting people to make the dangerous crossing to the English coast.
When Macron and Starmer met in Downing Street on Wednesday, the small boats crisis appeared to be the mainstay of their conversations.
The pair agreed the crossings are a "shared priority that requires shared solutions", a Downing Street spokesperson said.
They added: "The Prime Minister spoke of his Government's toughening of the system in the past year to ensure rules are respected and enforced, including a massive surge in illegal working arrests to end the false promise of jobs that are used to sell spaces on boats. The two leaders agreed on the need to go further and make progress on new and innovative solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model of these gangs."
Both Macron and Starmer aim for "concrete progress" on the matter at Thursday's summit, Number 10 said, as well as in other areas like support for Ukraine.
Following the French-UK summit, the two leaders will host a call with coalition of the willing partners, the proposed peacekeeping mission to deter Russia from attacking Ukraine in future.
In a sign of close alignment on defence, Britain and France have announced they will buy new supplies of Storm Shadow missiles, which both have loaned to Ukraine to strike targets deep inside Russia.
The two nations will also work closely to develop a successor to the long-range missile, the Ministry of Defence said.
Defence Secretary John Healey, who will also attend the summit, told ITV's Good Morning Britain that footage of French authorities puncturing a migrant dinghy to stop it from setting off last week was a "recognition" that France has agreed to change its rules to intervene in shallow waters.
To reduce small boat crossings, he said those changes need to be "fully implemented" alongside new legislation, building up the new border security command, and any steps to be announced by Starmer and Macron after the summit.
(PA/London) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
