Deal to put British boots on French beaches to tackle migrants’ Channel crossings pulled at last minute by Macron
A DEAL to put British boots on French beaches to tackle migrants’ Channel crossings was pulled at the last minute by a peeved Emmanuel Macron.
The agreement appeared to be in the bag until Liz Truss refused to say during her leadership campaign in the summer whether France president Mr Macron was a friend or foe of Britain.
Mr Macron accused the soon-to-be PM of taking cheap potshots.
But since then, the small boats crisis has worsened — with the number of arrivals this year now close to 40,000.
The team were even hoping for quotes from Macron hailing the £50million agreement.
It comes as Rishi Sunak is expected to meet Macron for their first proper face to face chat on Monday at COP27.
A source close to the talks said: “It would have been the first time since the Second World War we’d have seen British boots on French soil. But she scuppered it.”
Under the deal, Border Force and other officials would have been stationed in France to try to smash people- smuggling gangs.
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It was also to include more cash for intelligence sharing and drones.
But after Ms Truss said the jury was still out on whether Mr Macron was friend or foe, he scolded her: “We are heading towards serious problems.”
Former government insiders suggested the French President wanted to renegotiate a better deal with the new PM - and thought a deal soon was for the birds.
The pair later agreed to hold a joint UK France summit — but no such deal has yet been revealed.
Ms Truss embarked on a major charm offensive with Macron when she got into No10.
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Meanwhile, pressure continues to pile on Britain’s creaking asylum system, with up to 4,000 being held for weeks at a centre in Manston, Kent.
Yesterday, policing minister Chris Philp accused migrants complaining about conditions of being cheeky.
He added: “Our asylum accommodation is better than most European countries.”
