Kemi Badenoch has hit out at Emmanuel Macron’s suggestion that Brexit is the cause for a rise in the number of small boats crossing the English Channel.
The Conservative leader, a supporter of the leave campaign in the 2016 referendum, also said it was time for “people to stop blaming Brexit”.
On Thursday, the French President said the British people had been “sold a lie” that leaving the EU would “make it possible to fight more effectively against illegal immigration”, as he spoke at a press conference alongside Sir Keir Starmer.
His comments came at the end of a three-day state visit, during which he and Sir Keir agreed a landmark deal to return people arriving in the UK via small boats in exchange for people still in France who had a connection to Britain.
As Mrs Badenoch visited Stansted Airport on Friday, she was asked by the PA news agency if she agreed with Mr Macron’s assessment.
She replied: “No, I don’t agree with him, because Italy has seen a significant increase, France has seen a significant increase in illegal migration, even the US has seen a significant increase in illegal migration.
“Brexit didn’t impact any of those countries. It’s time for people to stop blaming Brexit for problems and actually start coming up with solutions for the new problems that are affecting our country. That’s what Government is there for.
“Many of the issues which we came in and dealt with in 2010-2015, have changed, and that is why the Conservative Party under my leadership is looking at how we fix the problems of today, not keep focusing on the past.”
Pointing to the fact that the UK had “no migratory deal” with the EU after Brexit, Mr Macron on Thursday said: “It creates an incentive to make the crossing, the precise opposite of what Brexit had promised.”
The French President also hailed previous success in preventing illegal crossings of the Channel by road and rail prior to Brexit.
He said: “Let’s recall a few years ago, it was the subject of daily comments. We managed to fully close off these routes.”
Boat crossings have increased sharply since Britain formally left the EU, rising from 1,843 people making the journey in 2019 to 28,526 in 2021 and 45,774 in 2022.
Home Secretary Yvette Cooper would earlier not be drawn on whether she agreed with Mr Macron.
Asked about his remarks, the Home Secretary told Sky News: “I think what I’ve seen happen is that the way that the criminal smuggler gangs operate is that they will weaponise anything that is happening.
“And so what we saw in the run-up to Brexit being implemented was we saw criminal gangs promising people that they had to cross quickly, and they had to pay money to the smuggler gangs quickly in order to be able to cross in time before Brexit happened.
“As soon as Brexit happened, they then said ‘Oh, well, now you’ve got to pay us money, because this means you can’t be returned because the Dublin Agreement isn’t in place.’
“So the thing about the criminal smuggler gangs is whatever arrangements are in place, they will use them in order to make money, but that’s why we have to be fundamentally undermining their model.”
