Emmanuel Macron UK visit: Theresa May and French President to agree counter-terror measures as intelligence heads meet

Theresa May and Emmanuel Macron will meet alongside Britain and France’s five intelligence chiefs to agree moves to counter terrorism and boost defence co-operation.

Heads of MI5, MI6, GCHQ and France's DGSE and DGSI will meet for the first time alongside the Prime Minister and the French President at a summit in the UK on Thursday.

They will discuss how the UK and its allies across the Channel can work to counter threats such as the targeting of concert venues like Manchester Arena and the Bataclan in Paris.

It comes also as it was revealed Mrs May is to promise £44.5million to strengthen Britain's border controls in France as she host the talks with the French leader.

Mrs May will also commit to participating in Mr Macron’s "European intervention initiative," which officials do not regard as a European army but a plan to enhance co-ordination of existing armed forces.

Britain will agree to send three RAF Chinook helicopters and around 50 non-combat troops to Mali.

They will provide logistical support to French forces attempting to bring stability to "ungoverned spaces" in the Sahel region of Africa where Islamist extremist groups like Islamic State and al-Qaeda have gained a foothold.

Brexit could be discussed on Mr Macron's first visit to the UK as president, but talks are expected to focus on the bilateral UK-France relationship.

And the meeting will come after a key aide to Mr Macron stressed France would “look with kindness” on any future decision by Britain to remain in the EU.

As part of that Mr Macron is understood to be seeking new financial contributions from Britain to boost security at the French port of Calais as part of a new treaty on the handling of migrants.

But in response to French reporting of a statement from the Elysee Palace, which said the treaty would "complete" the Le Touquet agreement that allows Britain and France to station border officials on each other's soil, Downing Street said discussions were "on going".

Before bilateral talks with Mr Macron at the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst in Berkshire, the Prime Minister said: "Today's summit will underline that we remain committed to defending our people and upholding our values as liberal democracies in the face of any threat, whether at home or abroad.

"But our friendship has always gone far beyond defence and security and the scope of today's discussions represents its broad and unique nature.

"And while this summit takes place as the UK prepares to leave the EU, this does not mean that the UK is leaving Europe.

"What is clear from the discussions we will have today is that a strong relationship between our two countries is in the UK, France and Europe's interests, both now and into the future."

The pair are also expected to discuss what the PM described as "very significant" plans to loan the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain, where it has never been displayed.

The UK Government is understood to be looking at whether the gesture could be part of a wider exchange of artefacts.

Commitments will be made to a 10,000-strong Franco-Anglo combined joint expeditionary force to be ready by 2020.And France will in 2019 contribute troops to the UK-led battlegroup in Estonia to counter Russian aggression.

On the possibility of the UK making fresh payments to France to beef up security at Calais, Mrs May's official spokesman said: "We have in the past contributed to security where it required bolstering and obviously that's in the interests of the UK as well as in the interests of France.

"If there are requests for further help in relation to security we would look at those."