LONDON (Reuters) -British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will host French President Emmanuel Macron for lunch at Downing Street on the second day of a state visit on Wednesday, with the pair poised to discuss subjects like immigration and Ukraine.
During the state visit, the first by a European leader since Britain’s exit from the European Union in 2020, Starmer will likely try to persuade Macron to agree to a returns deal for asylum seekers.
Such an agreement would help the British leader meet a pledge to stop the flow of tens of thousands of people into Britain from across the Channel.
Macron said on Tuesday that French and British interior ministers had worked on the issue and he hoped for tangible results this week.
France has rejected a returns deal for asylum seekers in the past, saying Britain should negotiate with the EU as a whole.
Under Starmer’s plan, Britain would deport one asylum seeker to France in exchange for another with a legitimate case.
But Macron also spoke of the need to address “migration pull factors,” suggesting any deal on small boats crossing the Channel would require Starmer to make it harder for migrants who do not have legal status to live and work in Britain.
The two countries have also been working to create a military force to back Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire between Kyiv and Moscow, and cooperation on trade and defence were themes in Macron’s speech on Tuesday.
Macron and Starmer will also attend a meeting with business leaders. France’s Engie said on Wednesday it would invest 1.2 billion euros ($1.41 billion) in energy storage in Britain, following a 1.1 billion pound deal from France’s EDF in a nuclear power project in eastern England.
($1 = 0.8534 euros)
(Reporting by Sarah Young; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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