UK, France set to get to grips with migrant crisis

France's President Emmanuel Macron vowed on Wednesday to work more closely with the United Kingdom on solving the migrant crisis.

Macron, who was on day two of a three-day state visit to the UK, met with Prime Minister Keir Starmer at his Downing Street official residence after delivering a speech the day before to lawmakers and members of the House of Lords in which he pledged closer cooperation on the issue.

At their meeting, Macron and Starmer acknowledged the seriousness of the crisis, which has seen tens of thousands of people — largely from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East — enter the UK illegally to claim asylum after crossing the narrow sea between France and the UK in small boats.

The two leaders also spoke on Wednesday about their shared intention to address the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, and about bringing their nations closer together in a post-Brexit Europe.

Before their meeting, some UK lawmakers called on Starmer to push Macron into taking strong action, with Nigel Farage, leader of the anti-immigrant party Reform UK, saying in Parliament through a chorus of boos that the nation left the EU to gain control of its borders and that voters demand "that you say to the French president ... we will not accept undocumented males across the English Channel, and that you are not dictated to by an increasingly arrogant, anti-Brexit French president".

Starmer responded by saying his government, which has been in office for one year, is "fixing the mess that we inherited" and working with countries, including France, on finding "serious answers to serious problems".

Earlier on Wednesday, Macron met entrepreneurs and scientists at Imperial College London and heard about their work on artificial intelligence. And he was scheduled to be the guest of honor of 650 entrepreneurs at a trade and industry dinner in central London in the evening.

The day's activities followed a state banquet on Tuesday in which King Charles III said the partnership between the UK and France was close and should become "ever closer", in light of the "profound challenges" they share.

The banquet followed a 41-gun salute and ceremonial carriage procession through Windsor watched by thousands of people.

Macron's visit, the first by a French leader since 2008 when the UK was still a member of the European Union, is being seen as a statement of intent by the countries to forge closer ties.

Macron and Starmer are set to meet again on Thursday, on day three of the state visit, when they will co-host a UK-France summit.

Macron's office has confirmed the summit will include an announcement that the French energy company EDF will buy a 12.5 percent stake in the Sizewell C nuclear power plant under construction in eastern England.