Macron and Starmer Reach Major Deal on Immigration

July 14th, 2025
Jack Riegler

On Thursday, President Emmanuel Macron of France and Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the United Kingdom (UK) appeared in a press conference together. There, they reaffirmed their commitment to cooperation and announced a new deal.

The deal focuses on small boat crossings over the English channel. It aims to clamp down on illegal boat crossing by slowly allowing the UK to send back arrivals to France for repatriation. Illegal crossings over the English Channel have increased 25% over the past year, spelling danger and putting political pressure on incumbent Keir Starmer to take action. This deal represents the first major step towards working with France, where many of the boats are launched from, to eliminate the issue.

President Macron has blamed Brexit for making it harder for the UK to return migrants to European Union (EU) countries if they crossed the border illegally, stating that voters were “sold a lie” when told that leaving the EU helps to restore British sovereignty.

The deal represents a “one-in, one-out” plan where migrants who arrived on small boats would be returned to France. In return, France would send back asylum seekers in the UK who had not tried to enter the country illegally. Nigel Farage—leader of the party ReformUK, which has seen skyrocketing support among the British public—calls the deal a “humiliation for Brexit Britain.”

Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces pressure within the UK to crack down on immigration. Specifically, the British public has become increasingly aware of a controversy surrounding child grooming gangs following a report by Baroness Louise Casey. Her report details how the government had institutionally failed to protect children and teenage girls from rape and sexual assault. She effectively proved how many cases were suspiciously dropped or had charges lowered due to the outrageous claims that minors ranging 13 to 15 years old had “consented.” Her report makes an unclear connection between grooming gangs and illegal immigration, recommending an investigation of the “ethnicity” and origin of the perpetrators. Following this conclusive report, the incumbent majority Labour government made a remarkable U-turn, calling for an inquiry into the incident after resisting for months. Finally announcing immigration reform, it's unclear where the Starmer government is headed next.

Extemp Analysis by: Ty Tan

This question is topical but rather specific, so beware of point bleed.

Question: Will the new France-UK migration deal be successful?

Background:

The new France-UK migration deal is pretty bilateral and not too globally reaching. For the background, I would emphasize

What the new deal is
What is expected to occur/the exact mechanisms
Why some fear it may not succeed

Be specific on your conflict sentence, raising the concerns of your points there for your judge to sort of agree with you.

Answer: Not successful, as it doesn’t have the tools necessary to succeed

Limited Scale and Impact
Political Woes
Bilateral Nature demonstrating a disengagement of EU Policy (I don’t know how I would shorten this tagline)

Analysis + Concluding Thoughts

I think points 1 and 2 are fairly straightforward, demonstrating that the deal is either too small to succeed or too politically egregious (due to the humanitarian concerns and pro-immigration activism that exists) to actually work out.

However, I thought my point 3 represented a nuanced answer. It effectively dives into the idea that France, by taking steps toward bilateral immigration policy, is rejecting the crumbling framework that is EU cooperation on immigration policy. This bilateral approach taken by France may exacerbate tensions rather than foster cooperation needed for a sustainable solution within the EU and in Europe as a whole.

For yourself, answer this question pretty liberally, but be careful of point bleed, especially in how specific the deal in question is.

Happy extemping! Good luck in the summer season!