Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the joint statement on migration issues by Ministers from the UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium on 8 December 2022, what specific discussions she had with representatives of those governments on a potential returns agreement between the UK and (a) France and (b) the EU as a whole; and what the outcome was of those discussions.

Migrant crossings across the Channel are illegal, dangerous and unnecessary. This Government is determined to work with European partners to put the evil people smuggling gangs out of business and save lives.

In the joint statement agreed at the 8 December 2022 meeting of Interior Ministers, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Belgium expressed their willingness to work towards an EU-UK cooperation agreement on migration.