French minister insists migrations talks were ‘not anti English’ despite no UK invite

French interior minister Gérald Darmanin has argued that yesterday’s talks on the Channel migration crisis were “not anti English,” despite Priti Patel being disinvited.

The British home secretary Priti Patel had her invite revoked after the French government blasted an “unacceptable” open letter released by Boris Johnson urging France to do more to stop illegal Channel crossings.

The letter also reiterated the British government’s offer to kickstart joint patrols in French waters in order to prevent the crossing of small boats.

It, too, proposed a “readmissions” agreement between the UK and France, which would allow the UK to deport people who illegally cross the Channel to France.

“I’ve had extremely intense exchanges with my British counterpart, but you will have heard what the French president had to say about this after the public remarks that the British government wanted to make. We consider that this wasn’t a serious way of working,” he said, adding: “This reunion was not anti-English, it was pro-European and we should work with our British friends and tell them certain things.”

The talks came after seventeen men, seven women – one of whom was pregnant – and three children died off the coast of France attempting the crossing, the biggest drowning incident in the Channel on record.

Over 26,000 people have made the perilous journey to the UK in small boats in 2021, triple the total for last year.

Ms Patel, who yesterday met with The Netherlands’ migration minister yesterday, said that the UK will “not shy away from the challenge we face” but admitted that “even worse scenes” in the crisis were possible going forward.