Rishi Sunak defends UK payments for French coastline patrols – politics live

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Sunak affirms support for negotiated end to Ukraine war

The war in Ukraine will end at the negotiating table, Rishi Sunak has said, as he vowed to support Volodymyr Zelenskiy to be in the “best possible place to have those talks”, the Guardian’s political correspondent Aletha Adu writes.

While the prime minister indicated that now is not the time for those peace talks, he recommitted to providing additional support to Ukraine to ensure they have an advantage on the battlefield.

Sunak’s comments on his way to the first UK-France summit in five years, marked a clear divide in stance on how the war against Russia will end from that of his predecessor Boris Johnson. The former prime minister heaped pressure on Sunak, urging the UK to send jets and tanks to help Ukraine “finish the job”.

Speaking on the Eurostar to Paris hours before meeting his “friend” Emmanuel Macron, Sunak said:

We’re providing training to use those capabilities. That’s all under way, as well as just helping defend themselves against the attacks that they’re facing, particularly on their critical national infrastructure. Now, that should be everyone’s focus.

Of course, this will end as all conflicts do at negotiating table, but that is a decision for Ukraine to make. And what we need to do is put them in the best possible place to have those talks at an appropriate moment that makes sense for them.

But at the moment, the priority has got to be giving them the resources the training and the support they need to push forward and create advantage on the battlefield.

The prime minister hopes to start a “new chapter” in his relationship with France, and believes the nations’ shared outlook on restoring peace in Ukraine will deepen and strengthen that relationship.

The full story is here:

Sunak warns China to stay out of Ukraine-Russia conflict

During the UK-France summit in Paris, Rishi Sunak and French President Emmanuel Macron are expected to unveil a plan for increased allied activity in the Indo-Pacific.

No 10 said it will include establishing France and the UK as the “backbone” to a permanent European maritime presence there.

The approach will include co-ordinating regular deployment of France’s Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier and the UK’s HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales carriers across the region.

Sunak, speaking to reporters on board the Eurostar to the summit, said Paris and London were aligned when it came to their approach to the Indo-Pacific, with both declaring they want to be “active participants in the region”.

It comes after the UK in 2021 announced a foreign and defence policy “tilt” towards the Indo-Pacific in the government’s integrated review.

The Prime Minister said the UK and France were focused on the region “for the same reason”, adding: “The security is intertwined.”

He continued:

What we’re going to agree today is a really positive step forward, about the joint operations between our armed forces, (about) how we deploy our carrier groups, and how our navies work together.

And we want to broaden that out over time.

We are two European nations that do genuinely project force and influence and are engaged around the world.

So it’s right that we’re collaborating closely and this today, hopefully (what) we will agree later, will be a more significant step forward than we’ve had in the past in that particular region.

An update to the integrated review is set to be announced by Sunak on Monday during a visit to the US, with new wording reportedly expected on Britain’s approach to Beijing.

Sunak confirmed he and Macron wanted to stress to China and other countries “not to be providing support to Russia” following its invasion of Ukraine.

The Prime Minister said he would be discussing the West’s approach to Beijing ahead of the French president’s visit to China, a trip he said was due to happen soon.

He added:

One thing that we’ve talked about previously in our G7 meetings as well, is a) about our collective economic security, but also ensuring that, as we support Ukraine, part of that is making sure that other countries – we’d urge all countries not to be providing support to Russia, or trying to circumvent sanctions.

Downing Street has said that Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron’s joint press conference to discuss the outcome of their talks at the Élysée Palace in Paris will be held around 2pm.

Jeremy Hunt is reportedly planning to give middle-class professionals a pensions boost in next week’s budget to encourage them to continue working, the Guardian’s consumer affairs reporter Jess Clark reports.

The chancellor will announce significant increases to pensions allowances in a bid to tackle the “pension trap”, which has seen many workers take an early retirement, according to the Daily Mail.

The lifetime allowance (LTA) on tax-free pension savings will rise, as well as the £40,000 cap on annual pension contributions, the Daily Mail reported, citing Whitehall sources. The Treasury declined to comment.

The reported increase, which could be revealed in the budget on 15 March, is intended to end the pension trap that can leave some professionals – such as doctors – facing higher tax charges if they stay in the workforce.

Full story here:

Sunak defends 'sensible' payments for French coastline patrols

Rishi Sunak is “throwing everything” at resolving the problem of small boats of migrants crossing the Channel, and defended payments to France as “sensible investments for the UK”.

PA reports:

Speaking to reporters on the Eurostar to France this morning, Sunak said the UK government was ready to “pull all the levers at our disposal” to stem the flow of boats.

Briefings from France have suggested a multi-year financing deal is on the table which could see Britain agree to pay millions of pounds to Paris in exchange for increased coastline patrols.

But the Prime Minister, who has made stopping the boats one of his top five priorities ahead of the next election, defended the cost of potentially handing more money to Paris to crack down on the problem.

He said:

If you look at the track record in the last couple of years more recently, not only are we able to intercept thousands of boats just this year, actually, which is positive, the joint work has led to something like a few hundred different arrests, disrupted something like 50 different organised crime gangs.

That’s the outcome of all that joint work, so those are sensible investments for the UK.

I think everyone knows that we are spending £5.5 million a day plus on hotels.

We would rather not do that, and the best way to stop that is to stop people coming in the first place.

I think it is wrong to characterise it as ‘we are paying someone else to do something else.

This is a shared and joint endeavour to reduce illegal migration more generally, and it’s not just a challenge that the French and ourselves face, it’s a broader European challenge.

If we are investing money we want to make sure that that is going on things that we think will make a difference.

So you would always expect me to do that, and that’s why we would not invest any money alongside the French in a joint endeavour unless we thought it was going to go on things that will make a difference.

Asked why Britain was potentially about to agree to pay more only four months after a £63 million deal was sealed, Sunak said:

It is not about ‘that didn’t work’. That was just the first step on a journey. And actually, that was great, we got that done so quickly… hopefully we can build on it today and hopefully over time even more to come.

The Prime Minister said there was no “silver bullet” for fixing the Channel issue but added that the Illegal Migration Bill announced this week, French co-operation and a deal on returning Albanian economic migrants were part of an overall clampdown.

Sunak was set to discuss with Macron the possibility of an EU-UK returns deal, meaning those arriving from Europe without the right to remain in Britain could be immediately returned to their country of origin. It would also involve the UK taking Britons back who do the same in the EU.

The Conservative Party leader argued that the Windsor Agreement, a pact with the EU designed to fix issues with the Northern Ireland Protocol, could pave the way to an accord with Brussels on a returns deal.

He said he hopes the framework “opens up other areas of constructive engagement” with the EU and that a returns deal is “one of the things that I want to talk to them about”.

During Liz Truss’s brief time as prime minister, she said the “jury is out” on whether Macron was Britain’s friend.

Asked on the train whether Mr Macron was a “friend or foe”, Sunak replied:

I said at the time I thought France was not just a friend but a close friend of the UK, and I stand by that.

I can’t figure out the past, all I can do is look forward, and my view is that having a strong collaborative relationship with the French with President Macron is a good thing for the country.

The UK government should reverse “damaging” plans to tackle illegal migration, a senior member of the Scottish Cabinet has warned, adding that SNP ministers are exploring whether the legislation requires Holyrood’s consent, which they would not give.

PA reports:

Scottish constitution secretary Angus Robertson said SNP ministers were currently “reflecting seriously” on the plans to tackle refugees crossing the English Channel in small boats, to see if Holyrood would be required to give its consent to the legislation.

Robertson made it clear that the Scottish government would not back the Illegal Migration Bill.

In a letter to UK immigration minister Robert Jenrick, he said:

The Scottish government does not support the Bill for a variety of reasons and urges you to reverse your plans and not progress this damaging Bill.

He said the draft legislation outlined earlier this week “deepens already significant damage to the UK’s reputation as a place of refuge and our credibility with international partners”.

But he also indicated the Bill may impede on devolved areas of policy and may therefore require consent from the Scottish Government.

He told Jenrick: “We suspect yet again that some of the measures in this Bill might encroach on already devolved powers and competence – if so, this would be unacceptable.”

PA has some background to the discussions today:

Rishi Sunak has set preventing the small boats from crossing the strait between England and France as one of his top five priorities ahead of the next election.

They are expected to build on a deal announced in November, with the UK agreeing in the autumn to provide £63 million to Paris in a bid to clampdown on trafficking gangs.

Under the commitment, the number of French officers patrolling beaches on the country’s northern coastline rose from 200 to 300, while British officers for the first time were also permitted to be stationed in French control rooms and on the approaches to beaches to observe operations.

Despite the measures, nearly 3,000 people have arrived via small boats in the UK already this year, with almost 46,000 arriving in 2022.

It was reported by the Daily Express that Sunak is ready to give the green light to a deal that would secure a multi-year migration agreement with Paris, which would include Britain paying millions of pounds to France every year to increase the number of patrol officers on French beaches.

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly appeared to confirm that any fresh pact would involve more UK investment. Speaking from Paris, he told BBC Breakfast:

It will cost money, it has cost money and of course we will be negotiating how we fund that joint work to prevent those migration attempts across the Channel.

I’m not going to speculate as to the outcomes of the negotiation but we have been spending money doing this, it’s right and proper that we do and of course we will be spending money in the future.

No 10 has remained tight-lipped on the prospect of a deal being given the green light at the summit but has said the Prime Minister will be calling on his counterpart to “go further” on measures to stop the boats.

The talks between the leaders comes days after Sunak and Home Secretary Suella Braverman, who is also meeting with her counterpart in the French capital on Friday, unveiled the Illegal Migration Bill.

The legislation announced on Tuesday would see migrants who arrive through unauthorised means deported and hit with a lifetime ban from returning.

It is thought Macron is likely to want to hear from the Prime Minister about how the bill will make Britain a less attractive destination for migrants.

As Sunak and Macron are talking, including about a multi-year funding settlement to help pay for policing efforts in northern France, Sky News’ Sam Coates has tweeted documents showing that the UK has spent over £300m in payments to France aimed at stopping small boat crossings since 2014.

France and the UK are “close neighbours”, “great friends” and “historic allies”, prime minister Rishi Sunak has tweeted.

Posting a photo of a warm handshake with his French counterpart, Emmanuel Macron, he added: “It’s great to be in Paris.”

The Guardian’s France correspondent Angelique Chrisafis is in Paris today, reporting from the summit:

Rishi Sunak arrived at the Elysée palace in a Range Rover with a British flag flying. Emmanuel Macron greeted him warmly with several rounds of handshakes and back-patting before they went into their first lengthy working meeting.

The two leaders — both former investment bankers, sons of doctors, and of similar age — have billed this first meeting as a chance to deepen their working relationship and personally “reset” and repair the troubled cross-Channel relationship.

Franco-British relations had in recent years plummeted to their worst state in decades, dominated by bitter rows over submarine contracts, post-Brexit fishing rights and who was to blame for the catastrophic deaths of people trying to reach the UK coast on small boats.

Sunak’s main message, as stressed in an interview with the French daily Le Figaro this morning, was that Macron is a “great friend” and France is an ally and close partner. Sunak said he wanted to write “a new chapter in the relationship”, that he personally had very warm feelings for France, having worked with French bosses in the banking sector. France was his favourite holiday destination, he said.

High on the agenda for this morning’s discussions is joint support for Ukraine and further defence cooperation between the UK and France, with an announcement expected this afternoon on closer British and French support for Ukraine.

Rishi Sunak has now arrived at the Élysée Palace in Paris, where he is meeting with Emmanuel Macron today.

As Emmanuel Macron prepares to welcomes Rishi Sunak to Paris’s Franco-British summit on Friday, the Élysée sees it as a “turning of the page” – the end of a nightmare chapter in cross-Channel relations, writes the Guardian’s France correspondent, Angelique Chrisafis.

The mood between France and the UK had in recent years plummeted to its worst state in decades with bitter rows over submarine contracts, fishing rights and who was to blame for the catastrophic deaths of people trying to reach the UK coast on small boats.

The fact that a Franco-British summit is taking place at all is seen as a kind of victory in Paris. “Our priority is to reconnect and get back into the habit of working together,” an Elysée official said.

The full analysis is here:

A hug between Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron is on the front cover of France’s left-leaning Libération daily newspaper this morning.

The headline reads: “Nice to see you again.”

The embracing pair are pictured on a chintzy mug, encircled by a heart.

The strap line reads:

After several years of turbulence linked to Brexit, Paris and London are attempting to renew relations this Friday with a bilateral summit, the first in five years.

In the article previewing the meeting, Libération takes the meeting as a sign of a “serious relaunch” of “renewed and constructive” relations after “seven years in which they steadily grew colder”. The newspaper views King Charles’s first official overseas visit as “the icing on the cake”.

Refugees have said detaining asylum seekers will “traumatise” and not deter them, describing the government’s illegal migration bill as “cruel and abhorrent”.

The statement shared by the Refugee Council comes before a summit between Rishi Sunak and Emmanuel Macron, which will discuss the UK’s controversial proposals to curb Channel crossings by removing asylum seekers from the UK and banning them for life.

Farzad, who did not wish to share his second name, arrived in the UK by boat in 2019 after fleeing Iran due to persecution he faced for religious reasons and said he did not think the bill would act as a deterrent.

He said:

[Detaining asylum seekers] will traumatise them more and make them more vulnerable. When people are running, they are more concerned with what they are running from, not what they are running to.

They don’t sit down and calculate … they are mostly worried about their life in their home country, and that’s why they are basically leaving their lives and coming here.

I decided to go to the UK, because I speak English … they put me in a lorry, and then in a van.

After this long journey, they forced me and a few other people into a boat – this was not what they had promised me to do, I was not supposed to come by boat … it was dark, it was foggy, it was cold.

I claimed asylum on the spot (and) after a year I was granted asylum.

Had I been treated differently, I’m not sure life would turn out the way it is now for me.

Good morning.

Fridays are often quiet in Westminster but today a major event is taking place: the first UK-France summit in five years. Rishi Sunak is set to meet the French president, Emmanuel Macron, to discuss Channel small boat crossings.

Sunak will be looking to strengthen policing of the Channel coast and reach a deal on returning people who arrive from France, although officials expect Macron will defer this to a wider EU-wide returns deal.

Macron in turn wants the UK to agree to a multi-year funding settlement to help pay for policing efforts in northern France to prevent crossings. The Times reported that the UK could offer up to £200m over three years to stop crossings “at source”.

Small boats are a priority for Sunak, who has invested considerable political capital in the controversial new immigration bill that will criminalise anyone who arrives unofficially, with the threat of rapid deportation and a permanent ban from settling in the UK.

Wider bilateral issues such as defence and Ukraine are also on the agenda, with concrete announcements including an agreement to develop precision strike weapons to combat Russian aggression expected.

Here’s the agenda for the day:

10am: Bilateral talks between Sunak and Macron at the Élysée Palace.

11am: Sunak and Macron to meet UK and French business leaders.

2pm: Joint press conference with live video planned.

A joint statement is also expected at the end of the day.

Suella Braverman, the home secretary, James Cleverly, the foreign secretary, Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, and the energy secretary, Grant Shapps, will all meet their French counterparts.

There will also be a focus on rebuilding more cordial relations following tensions over Brexit and the more abrasive approaches of Boris Johnson and Liz Truss.

The Guardian’s diplomatic correspondent, Patrick Wintour, writes that the summit is “not just important bilaterally, but also in terms of Britain’s relationship with the EU”.

We’ll be keeping you updated with the latest from the summit, where our political correspondent Aletha Adu and France correspondent Angelique Chrisafis are reporting.

Separately, the Labour leader, Keir Starmer, is visiting Scotland today, where he is expected to “pledge to put Scottish innovation at the ‘heart’ of plans to boost the economy”. Meanwhile, the Liberal Democrat leader, Ed Davey, is calling for a cut to energy bills and a plan to insulate homes, before the party’s Scottish conference.

Thanks for following us today, as always you can drop me a line with anything we’ve missed.