Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have said they hope to make "good progress" on issues including migration and defence when they meet next week, Number 10 has said. The two leaders will hold a summit when the French President travels to the UK for a state visit next week, with the two leaders speaking on Saturday ahead of Macron's journey.
Issuing a readout of the conversation between the Prime Minister and Macron, a Downing Street spokesperson said Sir Keir "looked forward to welcoming the President to the UK next week, with both leaders agreeing that the state visit will provide a historic opportunity to showcase the breadth of the UK-France relationship. "Turning to the UK-France summit on Thursday, they hoped to make good progress across a wide range of our joint priorities including migration, growth, defence and security."
Coalition meeting planned during visit
The two leaders are also due to host a meeting of the coalition of the willing while Macron is in Britain, with the two leaders expected to dial in to speak to other allied nations who are looking to support any future peace deal in Ukraine. There have been extensive talks between the two nations on migration, and the summit comes as the UK has been repeatedly pushing the French authorities to do more to prevent small boats from crossing the Channel.
The number of people who have arrived in the UK by small boat passed 20,000 earlier this week. Downing Street welcomed action from French officers on Friday, after reports suggested knives had been used to puncture a boat in waters off the French coast.
French officers take tougher action
A Number 10 spokesman said: "We welcome action from French law enforcement to take action in shallow waters, and what you have seen in recent weeks is a toughening of their approach." Existing rules have been changed to allow police officers to intervene when dinghies are in the water.
Those alterations have not yet come into effect, but reports on Friday suggested tougher action was already being taken.
(PA/London) Note: This article has been edited with the help of Artificial Intelligence.
