Emmanuel Macron blames ‘hypocritical’ UK for Channel migrant deaths

French President Emmanuel Macron has told regional French newspaper La Voix du Nord that he will increase the pressure on Boris Johnson to establish legal routes to Britain for asylum seekers.

He suggested that the UK bears some responsibility for each migrant who drowned in the English Channel, going on to accuse London based politicos of hypocrisy.

Speaking to La Voix du Nord, President Macron said: “The responsibility for those who die at sea does not fall upon France but upon this British refusal.”

Following the death of 27 migrants who drowned in the Channel in November, Boris Johnson had urged the French president to take back people who had entered the UK illegally.

President Macron refused this request and continues to push for an agreement between the EU and the UK, where some migrants would be sent back after crossing, but only in return for UK promises to allow an equal number of asylum seekers into the country.

Macron said the UK economy relies on low-paid and illegal migrant Labour, though the French President is soon to face an election campaign, could be sabre rattling to shore up support ahead of the vote.