UK opposition chief Starmer talks security, energy, Ukraine and Europe with Macron

The French president has dealt with no less than four UK Conservative premiers over the last half decade during a period of political turbulence in Britain that has seen surging tensions between Paris and London.

He and Starmer spoke about "the importance of strengthening cooperation between France and the United Kingdom, so that this partnership continues ensuring prosperity and security for the French and British people," Macron's Elysée Palace office said in a statement.

More specifically, the pair "discussed the need to guarantee economic and energy security in Europe and reiterated their desire to lend continued support to Ukraine," the Elysée added.

Just spoken to Keir Starmer in Paris after his meeting with Macron. He gave the 🇫🇷 president an Arsenal shirt (👏). They spoke without aides in English for around 45 minutes. Starmer described the meeting as “warm and constructive”
🇫🇷🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/Nk9jZeYd7Y

— Sophie Pedder (@PedderSophie) September 19, 2023

 

The closed-door talks at Macron's Elysee Palace in Paris came as part of a mini-international tour for Starmer.

He visited Europol in The Hague last week and appeared alongside fellow centre-left leaders - including Canada's Justin Trudeau and former British prime minister Tony Blair - at a weekend gathering in Montreal.

In a Sunday interview billed by the Financial Times as Starmer "stepping onto the global stage", he told the newspaper he would "attempt to get a much better deal for the UK" with the EU.

The post-Brexit Trade and Cooperation agreement struck by ex-PM Boris Johnson is due for review in 2025.

Starmer, who has been wooing international investors as a potential PM, on Tuesday posted a photo on Twitter with business leaders before seeing Macron.

"My Labour government will provide the economic stability needed for international business to invest in the UK," he wrote.

France is a partner of rare importance for Britain as an EU heavyweight, close military ally and fellow nuclear power, fellow UN Security Council member and immediate neighbour.

Cross-Channel ties have warmed under Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a former banker like Macron whose relationship with the president has been dubbed a "bromance" by parts of the media.

But with his party struggling in the polls, the Conservative leader must call an election by January 2025 - even as he confronts stubborn challenges including inflation and irregular arrivals of migrants across the Channel.

Even so, Macron's invitation was "not an endorsement, it's not going to be a negotiation," Georgina Wright, a European politics expert at French think-tank Institut Montaigne told AFP ahead of his meeting with Starmer.

"It's really just a question of meeting and hearing what Labour would do differently and that's it," she added, saying Macron would be "as much as he can in listening mode" but may also "highlight France's priorities".

"Macron does this all the time" but "never once has he endorsed a candidate" ahead of an overseas election, Wright noted - recalling his meetings with German candidates including now-Chancellor Olaf Scholz and his opponent Armin Laschet ahead of the 2021 election to the Bundestag.

Struggling to make headway on his legislative priorities in a hung parliament, Macron also has a domestic political interest in showing he remains a coveted interlocutor abroad.

Any British-French meeting was likely to include discussion of migration, as one of Sunak's biggest political headaches is the frequent arrivals in small boats from northern France.

Starmer last week signalled that he would like Britain to join an EU-wide quota system for sharing out migrants.

The arrangement has come under strain following record arrivals on the Italian island of Lampedusa and Germany's suspension of accepting migrants living in Italy.

Starmer's trip to France also comes the day before a state visit by King Charles III and Queen Camilla.