French government disputes Home Office account of Patel migrants meeting
France has rejected a British claim that Priti Patel and her counterpart Gerald Darmanin agreed to work to prevent “100% of crossings” of the English Channel.
The Home Office issued a joint statement from the pair which said they had agreed measures to “stop the dangerous crossings” of the “deadly route”.
But the French embassy in London said the 100% figure “should not be presented as an agreed figure”.
For the record, the 100% figure was not agreed between the Home Secretary and French Interior Minister @GDarmanin and should not be presented as an agreed commitment: it is not. And it is not part of the joint statement. #ChannelCrossings
— French Embassy UK (@FranceintheUK) November 17, 2021
Ms Patel and Mr Darmanin held talks on Monday night with the UK and France involved in a long-running row over how to address the problem of migrants seeking to cross the Channel.
The “joint statement” issued afterwards said: “Both the Home Secretary and interior minister agreed to strengthen operational cooperation further.
“More must be done to stop the dangerous crossings.
“They agreed to accelerate the delivery of the commitments made in the joint agreement of July 2021 to deliver on their joint determination to prevent 100% of crossings and make this deadly route unviable.”
Last night I spoke to my French counterpart @GDarmanin to discuss the problem of small boats crossing the Channel.
We discussed a range of additional steps to tackle the problem and reiterated the importance of working together to make this deadly route unviable.
🇬🇧🇫🇷 pic.twitter.com/a8ZgHbvSiT
— Priti Patel (@pritipatel) November 16, 2021
But the French embassy said on Twitter: “For the record, the 100% figure was not agreed between the Home Secretary and French interior minister @GDarmanin and should not be presented as an agreed commitment: it is not.
“And it is not part of the joint statement.”
However, in a press conference on October 9, Mr Darmanin said that with the correct resources and the support of the British authorities, 100% should be able to be reached.