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France 24
08-07-2025
- Business
- France 24
France's Macron kicks off pomp-filled UK state visit
The French leader will hold several meetings with UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who promised to reset relations with European capitals when he took power in 2024 after years of Brexit-fuelled tension. Their discussions are expected to focus on aid to war-torn Ukraine and bolstering defence spending, as well as joint efforts to stop migrants from crossing the Channel in small boats -- a potent political issue in Britain. It is the first state visit by an EU head of state since the UK's acrimonious 2020 departure from the bloc, and the first by a French president since Nicolas Sarkozy in 2008. Calling it "historic", Starmer's office said the visit would showcase "the breadth of the existing relationship" between Britain and France. It added that Starmer would "aim to drive forward progress on tackling irregular migration, enhancing our defence and security co-operation and boosting trade and investment". Macron's Francophile host King Charles has called ties with Britain's cross-Channel neighbour "indispensable" and the two men are believed to have a warm rapport. The king made a 2023 state visit to France, one of his first after ascending the throne and widely regarded as a success. Windsor pomp Macron and his wife Brigitte will be greeted off the plane by heir-to-the-throne Prince William and his wife Catherine, Princess of Wales, before travelling to Windsor Castle to meet the king and his wife, Queen Camilla. The French leader and his wife will enjoy various displays of British pomp and pageantry including lunch and later a banquet at the castle. "Our two countries face a multitude of complex threats, emanating from multiple directions. As friends and as allies, we face them together," King Charles is due to tell Macron at the banquet, according to a press release from Buckingham Palace. "Our two nations share not only values, but also the tireless determination to act on them in the world." Macron will follow in the footsteps of predecessors Charles de Gaulle and Francois Mitterrand by addressing lawmakers in the UK parliament. On Wednesday, Macron will have lunch with Starmer and the two leaders will also co-host on Thursday the 37th Franco-British Summit, where they are set to discuss opportunities to strengthen defence ties. Britain and France are spearheading talks amongst a 30-nation coalition on how to support a possible ceasefire in Ukraine, including potentially deploying peacekeeping forces. The two leaders will dial in to a meeting of the coalition on Thursday "to discuss stepping up support for Ukraine and further increasing pressure on Russia", Starmer's office confirmed on Monday. Tapestry loan They will speak to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, according to the French presidency. Irregular migration is also set to feature in talks between Macron and Starmer. The British leader is under intense pressure to curb cross-Channel arrivals, as Eurosceptic Nigel Farage's hard-right Reform UK party uses the issue to fuel its rise. London has for years pressed Paris to do more to halt the boats leaving from northern French beaches, welcoming footage last Friday showing French police stopping one such boat from departing. Meanwhile, speculation is rife that Macron will use the visit to announce an update on his previous offer to loan the Bayeux Tapestry to Britain. It emerged in 2018 that he had agreed to loan the embroidery, which depicts the 1066 Norman conquest of England, but the move has since stalled. The UK government said on Monday that it continued to "work closely with our counterparts in France on its planned loan".
Telegraph
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Telegraph
We're not an ‘island of strangers', Sir Keir. We're an island of mugs
The Labour government is facing the traditional audit of its achievements on the first anniversary of its election. The record, in fact, is nowhere near as grim as media coverage suggests: there have been some significant achievements and manifesto commitments delivered, including an extension of free school meals, the rolling out of breakfast clubs and big increases in health spending as well as a long-delayed and very necessary increase in defence spending. But – and there is always a 'but' – on headline issues that voters care about, or about which they become angry, the government is in perilous waters. First and foremost among such issues is immigration and the seemingly insoluble problem of the daily arrival on our southern shore of illegal immigrants who miraculously are transformed into entirely legal asylum seekers as soon as their feet touch dry land. What is the score card on this most tendentious of issues? Well, in the first half of this year, 20,000 people arrived across the Channel – up by 48 per cent on last year's numbers. On the plus side, French police officers managed to knife one rubber dinghy recently. So much for Yvette Cooper's promises, before and after polling day last year, that her government would 'smash' the trafficking gangs and end the cross-channel scam that has helped so many people successfully avoid UK customs and border checks. No one listening to Labour shadow ministers before last July seriously believed that the party's alternative to the Conservatives' Rwanda scheme – increased co-operation with the French police (because no one had thought of that before) – would work. But the party needed to justify its publicly-stated intention of abolishing the Rwanda scheme, and that achievement was made all the easier by Rishi Sunak's peculiar decision to call an election before the scheme could be proven either to have been a success or a failure. A year in office would seem to most people to be time enough to gauge the success of Labour's policy to halt the small boats. Yet judging by the numbers alone, that policy has failed. Dismally. That no one is particularly surprised at this should itself be a cause for alarm: we are sinking into a state of cynical pessimism where the daily arrivals are accepted with nothing more than a resigned shrug of indifference. That, of course, would be preferable to the government than the outrage that it would otherwise justify. 'Smash the gangs' was a handy sound bite to deploy in the run-up to a general election. It sounded robust, tough (and we know from the prime minister's own mouth that he considers himself a 'tough bastard'). This was a party that was going to get serious about the constant two fingers raised to our notion of territorial integrity every day of fair sailing conditions between Britain and France. But of course Labour were targeting the wrong people. Targeting the 'gangs' allowed Labour to maintain their deep public sympathy and concern for those exploited by the traffickers, the real victims of the villains of the piece. That line worked for as long as it needed to – until exactly a year ago, when the ballot boxes had been emptied and put back in storage. And a year later, the gangs continue to make their money and, according to the numbers, have even increased their capacity and customer base. The home secretary undoubtedly realises that so long as Britain is a welcoming place for new illegal arrivals, they will continue to come. Why on earth wouldn't they? By all means smash the gangs; though it will be only a matter of days, perhaps hours, until they have been replaced by new ones, so long as a willing customer base continues to demand passage across the channel. The migrants know that once they arrive on our shores, their chances of removal are slim. Most of them will have their asylum application accepted, after which they can enjoy the full benefits of UK life. Even if a claim fails, there is no need to worry about imminent removal, thanks to the absurd judicial appeals process that our politicians have instituted, and the similarly absurd activist judges who oversee it. And thanks to employers' very relaxed approach to checking applicants' right to work, they also know that there is plenty of paid employment to be had, just as long as they can hop aboard a dinghy at Calais. Keir Starmer was wrong to describe Britain as in danger of becoming an 'island of strangers': we are already internationally recognised as an island of mugs. We accept thousands of asylum applicants whose last country of residence was France, where they positively refuse to claim asylum. In a normal, functional country, that alone would be a reason to reject any such application. In case Labour ministers haven't quite clocked what is happening in our country, perhaps a reminder is in order: either this government finds a way to stop the small boats, or the next election will result in a new government that will.
South China Morning Post
05-07-2025
- Business
- South China Morning Post
Chinese ambassador's ‘grandstanding' advice for Australia raises eyebrows
The Chinese ambassador to Canberra has urged Australia not to be 'incited' by Nato's support for demands by the US to raise defence spending sharply and instead should cooperate with Beijing to resolve regional disputes. Analysts say the 'unsolicited advice' is unlikely to sway Canberra and could backfire by reinforcing distrust of Beijing, ahead of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese 's visit to China and amid an ongoing debate in Australia over its defence spending. In an opinion article published in The Australian newspaper on June 30, ambassador Xiao Qian said that some countries attending events such as the G7 summit and the recent Nato meeting had 'hyped up the so-called China threat narrative' to increase defence spending and 'even incited Australia to follow suit'. 'Dramatically increasing military spending places a heavy fiscal burden on the countries involved, undermining their efforts to boost economies and improve livelihoods, and further straining a global economy already struggling with weak recovery,' he said. Australia currently spends just over 2 per cent of its GDP on defence, but is under growing pressure from the administration of US President Donald Trump to raise that to 3.5 per cent. Trump and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth have publicly pressed allies to boost spending, with Washington linking the issue to potential trade relief and deeper cooperation within Aukus , which comprises Australia, the UK and the US. Ian Hall, an international relations professor at Griffith University, said Canberra had resisted calls from Washington to boost defence spending significantly.
CTV News
04-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Rising defence costs: what's at stake for Canada?
Watch CTV's Jeremie Charron breaks down rising defence spending, how Ottawa will pay for it, and provides insight into a report warning of major federal public service cuts.
The Guardian
02-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Former UK civil service chief calls Xi Jinping a ‘dictator' over plans to reunify Taiwan
The former head of the UK's civil service has described the Chinese leader Xi Jinping as a 'dictator' and said Donald Trump had put 'helpful pressure' on Europe to increase defence spending. Simon Case, who served as cabinet secretary until December when he stepped down on health grounds, said China had sent a clear message to 'prepare for serious conflict' in Taiwan. The UK has committed to spend the equivalent of 2.6% of GDP in 2027, and it and other Nato members have signed up to increasing spending to 5% by 2035 on militaries and related security. The increased defence spending came after years of Trump raising questions over the future of the Nato alliance – and whether the US would come to allies' defence – if other countries did not increase spending. Case argued for the UK and Europe to increase the pace of increased defence spending. He was speaking at an event in London paid for by Britain's biggest weapons maker, BAE Systems. The manufacturer of artillery, fighter jets and nuclear submarines is expected to be one of the biggest corporate beneficiaries of increased spending on weaponry. Case said: 'There's some actually quite helpful pressure, if you ask me – [this is a] slightly unpopular view – from the White House about us pulling our fingers out in Europe and actually stepping up to the plate on our defence spending. 'But the reason that matters is because President Xi has publicly set out his timetable for, as he would put it, reunifying Taiwan. We're incredibly bad at reading what dictators say in public. We spend millions of pounds on secret intelligence, which is absolutely amazing, but we're really bad at missing what they actually say in public, which is, this is the timetable at which I want everybody to be ready for us to prepare for serious conflict.' Xi exercises near absolute power in China, but the country has strongly objected to the use of the label 'dictator', including by the former US president Joe Biden. The UK's recent strategic defence review highlighted Chinese military exercises around Taiwan as a driver of global instability. Case also raised the threat of Russia starting further conflicts in Europe, beyond Ukraine. In February Case took over as chair of the government-funded 'Team Barrow', which is described as a 'partnership between the government, Westmorland and Furness council, and BAE Systems' to support the local economy, which is heavily dependent on BAE's nuclear submarine shipyard.
