Britain’s Home Secretary (Interior Minister) James Cleverly visited his counterpart Gerald Darmanin in Paris on Tuesday (January 30).

Amid news that the number of migrants who had crossed the Channel from France to the UK since the beginning of the year had reached more than 1,000, the two ministers pledged to continue their cooperation to fight smugglers and stop the passage of small boats to the UK.

"The UK and France are friends, neighbors and partners. Our cooperation against the full range of security threats and challenges is vital for both of our countries and for Europe," stated Cleverly, reported the German news agency dpa.

'France is an essential partner to prevent illegal migration'

"The UK continues to support the challenges faced by French law enforcement, operating under increasingly difficult circumstances to save lives and disrupt organized criminal gangs," Cleverly told journalists in Paris, reported dpa.

He said that their "commitment is exemplary and the results are impressive," before admitting that the arrivals numbers this year were "comparable" to those in the same period last year.

“They are not what any of us would want to see,” continued Cleverly, before emphasizing that the arrivals came after "an extended period of no crossings at all."

Along with efforts made by French officials to block boats from leaving the northern French coasts, many of the periods of no crossings are due to the weather. As the French authorities continually point out, there are more than 120 days a year in the Channel when the wind strength can be above force 7.

At this time of year, French maritime authorities say, most people couldn’t survive more than about ten minutes in the sea.

Cleverly said that the UK Home Office would "seek to accelerate co-operation efforts between the two countries," reported dpa. News agency Reuters reports that will include the deployment of aerial surveillance equipment. The aerial equipment, stated the British government, would "enable French law enforcement to intercept crossing attempts as quickly as possible."

Between 2018 and 2022, the UK paid France about €224 million to increase police staff and equipment to patrol the coasts and stop the boats. Between 2022 and 2026, the UK has pledged to give France around £480 million (around €562 million).

Stopping the boats is one of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s five main pledges to voters. A general election is expected later this year in the UK.

Deepening cooperation

Cleverly said he wanted to "thank his friend Gerald Darmanin for his continued leadership and support in tackling the small boat crisis," and pledged to continue their work together.

Darmanin replied that in "the follow-up of 2023, France and the UK will deepen their cooperation, which is essential in the very intense fight against violent and reckless smugglers' networks."

Both Darmanin and Cleverly posted positive reports after the meeting on their respective X (formerly known as Twitter) pages.

The French Interior Minister added that France would continue to call for a joint UK-EU agreement on migration issues "so as to better manage illegal as well as legal migration." Darmanin said he hoped that the "dialogue between our two countries should also help improve the fight against radicalization as well as crimes committed online."

At the end of last year, the British government lauded a "reduction" in the number of migrants who crossed the Channel in 2023 compared to the previous year. However, as the French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) points out, 2023 represented the second greatest number of crossings after 2022.

Measures to reduce legal migration to UK

The meeting came on the same day as the UK’s Home Office released a statement pledging to introduce measures to "transform the UK’s legal migration system, bolster border security and drive down unsustainable and unfair levels of migration."

The statement promised the new measures would come into force "within weeks."

Also on Tuesday, the UK's Office for National Statistics (ONS) released figures indicating that the British population is expected to increase by 6.6 million people to almost 74 million by 2036 due to immigration.

In his statement addressing the news, Cleverly said planned restrictions on foreign care workers bringing their dependents to the UK would come into force by March 11.

On April 4, the minimum salary for a skilled worker visa is expected to rise from £26,200 (about €30,600) to £38,700 (about €45,295).

'Robust changes'

Cleverly said these "robust changes" were expected to "curb abuse of the migration system and ensure those choosing to make the UK their home can afford to do so."

In real terms, he said the new measures would have meant that some 300,000 people who entered the UK last year "would now not be able to come."

From April 11, Cleverly said the government would begin “increasing the minimum income requirement threshold in stages for family visas, starting at £29,000 (about €33,938)."

Cleverly called his approach "firm but fair." He said the British people "want to see action, not words."

Minister for Legal Migration and the Border Tom Pursglove added that "delivering change on this scale and at such a pace is hard and challenging work, but we’re making strong headway, with further improvements to modernize and enhance the security of the UK border continuing throughout 2024."

With dpa, Reuters, and AFP