'Running rife in France!' Priti Patel slaps down Macron - 'He's worried about Rwanda because it keeps migrants in France'

During a speech on the future of Europe at Sorbonne University in Paris, Macron said: "I also do not believe in this model that some people want to put in place which means that you go and look for a third country, for example in Africa, and take people who arrived illegally on our soil there who don’t come from that country.

"This will create a geopolitics of cynicism that is a betrayal of our values. It will create new dependencies and will prove totally ineffective."

The MP for Witham told GB News: "Britain is serious about tackling illegal migration, deterring dangerous crossings, and bringing to justice the vile criminal gangs that out lives at risk.

"Our world leading partnership with Rwanda will make a difference to saving lives and protecting our borders and other European countries are already looking to copy our plans.

"President Macron is clearly worried that our partnership with Rwanda will mean that fewer migrants will attempt to cross the Channel and he will need to take responsibility for dealing with their asylum applications and with the criminal gangs that are running rife in France."

Home Secretary James Cleverly added: "We always rely on third countries. That’s not anything new. That was why I went to Italy. We work with the French. We rely in large part on the French, that’s a third country, we rely on the French.

"They work with us, we work closely. The point is, we do rely on other countries. That will always be the case because migration, by definition, is international and the solutions will by definition, be international."

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Sunak's flagship programme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda if they arrive in Britain illegally was approved by parliament earlier this week and the government wants the first flights to take off in 10-12 weeks.

However, there were concerns from Ireland's deputy prime minister, who said the threat of deportation to Rwanda is causing migrants to head for Ireland instead of staying in Britain.

Micheal Martin told The Daily Telegraph that the policy was already affecting Ireland because people were "fearful" of staying in Britain.

He said asylum seekers were seeking "to get sanctuary here and within the European Union as opposed to the potential of being deported to Rwanda".

Rishi Sunak’s spokeswoman rejected the criticism from President Macron and said: "We don’t agree. We think that our approach is the right one. In terms of breaking the business model of the criminal gangs, we’ll need a strong deterrent.

"We need to make clear that if you come here on a small boat you won’t be able to stay. That is how we will break that business model. And indeed, we’ve seen other partners and other countries around the world explore similar options."