Macron state visit live: French president and Starmer agree ‘new deterrent’ needed to stop small boats

State visits are ceremonial meetings between heads of state that are used to honor friendly nations and sometimes smooth relations between rivals.

While the king formally issues the invitation for a state visit, he does so on the advice of the elected government.

State visits to Britain are particularly prized by heads of state because they come with a full complement of royal pomp and circumstance, including military reviews, carriage rides and a glittering state banquet hosted by the monarch.

The events normally take place in and around Buckingham Palace in central London.

But the Macrons will stay at Windsor Castle, to the west of the capital. Buckingham Palace is undergoing extensive remodeling.

Emmanuel Macron said there were no “tariffs” on cultural exchange as he hailed a deal that will see the Bayeux Tapestry come to the British Museum.

He said: “Mr Prime Minister, you expressed how important are our links and our future projects for our two countries – for Europe, in these hectic times, for the rest of the world – and I strongly believe that culture is part of them.

“I strongly believe that as long as we will have people dedicated to life, to create, to share, to defend culture in our countries, to invent new spaces for that and to have, indeed, sculptors, architects, creators, curators, we will be very special for the rest of the world.

“Because there is no equivalent of that, and this type of tools are unbeatable. There is no trade war or tariffs against this type of approach, and there is no new imperialism vis-a-vis this type of approach, because there are no barriers, there are no borders, by definition.”

He added that the exchange of the Bayeux Tapestry and Sutton Hoo artifacts would be “the best symbol of our common work together”.

George Osborne praised Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron for bringing “some sanity and some fraternity back” to the relationship between Britain and France.

The British Museum chairman and former Tory chancellor said: “Mr President and Prime Minister, congratulations to you both on bringing some sanity and fraternity back to the relationship between our two great nations.”

The small boats crisis is a “shared priority that requires shared solutions”, Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron agreed as they met on Wednesday, Downing Street said.

Giving a readout of the two leaders’ meeting at No 10, a Downing Street spokesperson said they “shared their desire to deepen our partnership further – from joint leadership in support of Ukraine to strengthening our defence collaboration and increasing bilateral trade and investment”.

The spokesperson added: “The prime minister welcomed the news that EDF would take a 12.5 per cent stake in Sizewell C, leading to lower bills, more jobs and better energy security for the UK.

“The leaders agreed tackling the threat of irregular migration and small boat crossings is a shared priority that requires shared solutions.

“The prime minister spoke of his government’s toughening of the system in the past year to ensure rules are respected and enforced, including a massive surge in illegal working arrests to end the false promise of jobs that are used to sell spaces on boats.

“The two leaders agreed on the need to go further and make progress on new and innovative solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model of these gangs.

“Finally, they looked ahead to the 37th UK-France Summit taking place tomorrow and agreed to aim for concrete progress on these areas.”

British prime minister Keir Starmer and French president Emmanuel Macron agreed on Wednesday on the need to go further and develop a new deterrent to tackle irregular migration and small boat crossings across the Channel.

“The leaders agreed tackling the threat of irregular migration and small boat crossings is a shared priority that requires shared solutions,” a British readout of a meeting between the two in London said.

“The two leaders agreed on the need to go further and make progress on new and innovative solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model of these gangs.”

It’s the eternal puzzle of Keir Starmer’s premiership, one that has been brought to light again by Emmanuel Macron’s state visit: how can the PM perform so well on an international stage but so badly on the domestic front?

We’ve just received some detail on how Starmer and Macron’s talks at No 10 went this afternoon.

The Independent’s political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron are yet to hash out the details of a new scheme to slash cross-Channel illegal migration.

But the prime minister and French president discussed the “need to go further and make progress on new and innovative solutions, including a new deterrent to break the business model of these gangs”.

The PM hopes this deterrent will take the form of a one-in one-out deal with France, allowing Britain to send Channel migrants straight back to France in return for accepting those with legitimate claims to be in the UK instead.

A readout of Sir Keir’s meeting with Mr Macron said: “The leaders agreed tackling the threat of irregular migration and small boat crossings is a shared priority that requires shared solutions.

“The Prime Minister spoke of his government’s toughening of the system in the past year to ensure rules are respected and enforced, including a massive surge in illegal working arrests to end the false promise of jobs that are used to sell spaces on boats.”