Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron have agreed a deal to tackle illegal immigration that will see the UK fund a new detention centre in France.
The two leaders announced details of the package at a press conference in Paris following hour-long talks at the Elysee Palace.
The Prime Minister committed to sending Paris £478 million to help crack down on illegal migration. It will fund a new detention centre in France as well as hundreds of extra French law enforcement officers.
“This new centre will support French efforts to increase detention capacity, allowing more migrants who might otherwise travel by dangerous and illegal routes to the UK to be removed from the French coast,” the UK Government said.
But there was no sign of the returns agreement with France that the Government desires as Mr Sunak makes “stopping the boats” one of his top priorities.
Earlier on Friday Mr Sunak shook hands with his French counterpart outside the Elysee before the first UK-France summit in five years.
At the press conference, Mr Sunak hailed the UK-France summit as a “new beginning” between the two countries as he welcomed “important progress” made to tackle illegal migration.
