While they have no shortage of ideological differences, Labour’s Sir Keir Starmer has said his government would be ready to work with a National Rally-led France on Channel crossings should they get into power.
“That’s what serious government is about,” the UK’s new prime minister said.
Asked in 2023 how Britain and France could work together on this issue of asylum, Marine Le Pen indicated her priority would be the stop asylum seekers coming to France in the first place.
“Britain wants to protect its borders and therefore prevent illegal immigrants from entering the UK. They happen to come from France,” she said, according to the Telegraph.
“We have to have the capacity, Great Britain and France bilaterally, to be able to go and see the countries from which these illegal immigrants originate to make joint flights, to send the illegal immigrants back to their country of origin.”
However, political scientist Douglas Webber told Yahoo News last week that “from a technical perspective” he is not sure there’s much more the French police can do, particularly as France has a deficit of €154bn (£131bn)