The prime minister pledged to “understand this situation” and promised details on the progress of cross-channel talks “in the coming weeks”, with No 10 hoping to make a major announcement before Christmas. Downing Street sources said the talks were never going to be a breakthrough and Sunak himself tried to build expectations at home by playing down the prospect of the problem being solved overnight. However, Conservative MPs continued to hold his feet to the fire in parliament. Rep. Scott Benton said voters are wondering if “we can’t be bothered to solve this issue.” As he prepared to fly back from Egypt, Sunak insisted that talks with the French president on Monday had left him with “renewed confidence and optimism” that he could “stop people from coming illegally”. Rejecting questions about any concrete actions being agreed or a timetable, the prime minister told broadcasters: “We all want this situation to be resolved as quickly as possible” but it remained a “complex issue”. He added: “There are a number of things we need to do.” Sunak struck a constructive tone about the talks with Macron, one of his first bilateral meetings with a foreign leader since his premiership began two weeks ago. He said it was “great” to meet the French president and reiterated his belief that countries will be able to “take control of this situation”. The Prime Minister’s spokesman confirmed that a deal between the UK and France “has been discussed and is in its final stages”. In a readout of the talks, Downing Street said both leaders stressed the “urgent need to crack down on criminal smuggling gangs” and pledged to “continue to work together”. The Elysée said Sounac and Macron “agreed to remain in contact to promote coordination between their two countries in the face of the challenge of irregular immigration.” Previous attempts to limit the number of people arriving on England’s south coast to seek asylum have failed to stem a significant rise in the number of people making the dangerous journey. Archie Bland and Nimo Omer take you to the top stories and what they mean, free every weekday morning Privacy Notice: Newsletters may contain information about charities, online advertising and content sponsored by external parties. For more information, see our Privacy Policy. We use Google reCaptcha to protect our website and Google’s Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. A £55m deal was signed with France in July 2021 to help fund more police to patrol French beaches and negotiations with Macron are likely to strengthen the current deal. Downing Street insiders dismissed the possibility that any new safeguards secured would themselves be a “silver bullet”. Home Secretary Suella Braverman herself admitted last week that the asylum system was “broken”, with the number of small boat arrivals rising to around 40,000 this year and leading to delays in processing applications. The last week for which the government released figures – starting on October 24 – shows there were 1,766 arrivals on 41 vessels.
