Gavin Grey: UK Correspondent on French President Emmanuel Macron's visit to the UK

The red carpet's been rolled out for French President Emmanuel Macron for his first visit to the UK since Brexit. 

The three-day visit marks his first time there since 2008. 

Macron and UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer are set to hold meetings this week, expecting 'good progress' on issues like illegal migration. 

UK and Europe correspondent Gavin Grey told Andrew Dickens the UK wants to be more welcoming towards Europe. 

He says UK dignitaries have shown a great deal of warmth towards Macron. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
International Correspondence with INSI Eye Insurance, Peace of mind for
New Zealand business.

Speaker 2 (00:07):
Goodby two. It is now thirteen to six. We're off
to the UK. Kevin Gray, Hello, Hither Angel, pump and
ceremony as a Manual Macron comes to the UK for
the very first time since two thousand and eight, for
the very first time since Brexit.

Speaker 1 (00:20):
Yes, a three day state visit. The red carpet being
rolled out quite literally. He's just spoken to Parliament saying
that the UK and France have a duty to tackle
illegal migration with humanity, solidarity and firmness. Some people in
this country don't believe France is doing enough to prevent
the small boats from leaving their shores, and the tens
of millions of New Zealand dollars that the UK has

(00:43):
given to France to tackle the problem has simply not
been used for that purpose. Nevertheless, there's a state banquet
at Windsor Castle this evening and so far a great
deal of warmth from all the dignitaries towards Immanual Macron.
Haven't seen any protests either, and of course the UN
very very keen to be slightly warmer towards Europe under

(01:05):
the new Prime Minister of Sekiir Starmership Sakis Starmer and
his premiership rafter the rather tough Brexit use. But there's
another thing. The French are still very very angry at
the orcust deal, the deal between the US, Australia and
the UK over its defense and the canceling at late
notice of a submarine contract between Australia and France which

(01:29):
then led to the announcement of ORCUS a short while later.
So a few apologies I think on the way, and
well hopefully some better news for him at home as well.

Speaker 2 (01:38):
It's always slightly evolved with Orcus. And here's the thing.
The Australians went for the deal with America, and then
of course in came Donald Trump, who says, I don't
really want to worry too much about global global issues
in global pex. So maybe it's all bit of a mess.
We'll see. Now, three men have been found guilty of
an asonatech on a London warehouse and it's got Russian

(02:00):
so it's some reason involved. Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 (02:03):
So a two twenty three year olds and a twenty
year old were found guilty today of aggravated arson with
intent to endanger life at an industrial unit. The reason
it's so important is this particular warehouse the company sent
aid and internet satellite equipment to Ukraine, so when it
suddenly burnt down seemingly without cause, a few eyebrows were

(02:24):
raised and it was said that they a group had
orchestrated this arson attack on behalf of the Wagner Group,
or the Wagner Group, which is of course the Russian
Mercenary Group. The UK government has prescribed this group as
a terrorist group, and it was said that roughly two
point three million New Zealand dollars worth of damage was
caused in the attack at the warehouse. But of course

(02:46):
it did mean as well that production also was disrupted
and that, no doubt is what the Russians were after
all along, not like in the fact that Ukraine was
receiving business and aid from this particular group shipped humanitarian
aid and goods to Ukraine, including the so called Starlink
satellite equipment that's crucial for Ukrainian troops as they work

(03:08):
out where the enemy is. And so consequently this was
a bit of a setback, it's thought to that and
a big warning from the Crown Prosecution Service here that
Russia cannot view the UK as some kind of a
soft target with which to do its dirty deals.

Speaker 2 (03:24):
Getting Gray out of the UK. I thank you so
much for more from Early Edition with Ryan Bridge.

Speaker 1 (03:29):
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