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France has cancelled a meeting with the UK to discuss Channel crossings after Boris Johnson asked the French to take back migrants arriving in Britain.
French interior minister Gerald Darmanin has told Home Secretary Priti Patel “she was no longer welcome” at Sunday’s European meeting on migrant issues, a French government spokesman said.
Spokesman Gabriel Attal said it was because of Mr Johnson’s letter to French President Emmanuel Macron.
“That letter was formally poor and its content inappropriate,” Mr Attal told BFMTV.
Mr Darmanin said the letter is a “disappointment” and the fact it was made public was “worse”, according to reports in French media.
An Interior Ministry statement, reported in French media, said the letter was “unacceptable and contrary to our discussions between counterparts”.
The meeting will now go ahead with just France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Germany and the European Commission.
Governments on both sides of the Channel have been blaming each other this week after 27 migrants drowned on Wednesday evening off the coast of France as they tried to get to the UK on a small dinghy.
In the letter to Mr Macron, which he tweeted out, the PM set out five steps he thinks both sides should take “as soon as possible”.
Migrants, including young children, arriving in the UK the day after 27 died
The PM’s five-point plan entails:
• Joint patrols to prevent migrant boats from leaving French beaches
• Using more advanced technology such as sensors and radar
• Carry out reciprocal maritime patrols in each nation’s territorial waters and utilise airborne surveillance
• “Deepening the work” of the Joint Intelligence Cell and ensuring there is better intelligence sharing to drive more arrests and…
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Source : skynews
