Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent progress she has made on discussions with her French counterpart on stopping illegal crossings of the English Channel by migrants.

The UK and France agree on the need to cooperate closely to stop people traffickers. Working together we stopped over 23,000 illegal migration attempts in 2021. The Foreign Secretary underlined the need for a practical and pragmatic approach to migration with French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian at the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers' Meeting in December. The Prime Minister has discussed his commitment to work with France on the shared challenge of illegal migration in the Channel with President Macron, most recently on 5 February.