UK relations with France
A Westminster Hall debate on UK relations with France is scheduled for Wednesday 14 January 2026, from 4pm. The debate will be led by Chris Murray MP
As noted in an overview on the French Embassy to the UK website, bilateral relations between France and the UK are driven by regular contacts at all levels, including summits. It explains that France and the UK often share similar approaches as the only European countries that have nuclear weapons, are permanent members of the United Nations Security Council and have “international ambitions with the political and military tools to match”.
The French Embassy overview refers to defence cooperation, governed by the 2010 Lancaster House treaties, as the most structural component of the bilateral relationship with the UK. Other types of cooperation highlighted include supervision of the Channel tunnel and cooperation on security and “combating illegal immigration”.
The Treaty of Canterbury (PDF) in 1986 provided for the construction and oversight of the Channel tunnel, with an Intergovernmental Commission established to supervise all matters relating to the tunnel’s construction and operation.
UK-France cooperation on border crossings, migration and security since the early 1990s had focused on security around the Channel tunnel and ferry terminals but in recent years the focus has switched to addressing crossings by small boats.
Changes in UK-France relations since 2020Several commentaries have been published on UK-France relations, suggesting an improvement in relations since 2022, firstly under Liz Truss’s government and then under the government of Rishi Sunak. The common reaction to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 was viewed as important in improving relations between the UK and France.
This followed difficulties in UK-French relations during the Brexit negotiations, and also following the negative French reaction to the UK-US-Australian AUKUS defence agreement in September 2021.
In March 2023, French President Emmanuel Macron hosted then UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak for the first Franco-British summit in five years, and the first since the UK left the EU. The summit was described in a commentary for the UK in a Changing Europe think tank as reflecting “an important reset in bilateral relations after a rocky few years” which laid important groundwork for the future of the UK-French relationship. Agreement on holding the summit had come under the previous prime minister, Liz Truss, in a meeting held with President Macron on the margins of the European Political Community meeting in Prague in October 2022.
Since taking office in July 2024, the Labour government has been taking further steps to improve relations with France, with Prime Minister Keir Starmer and President Macron reportedly forging a good working relationship. This includes plans to upgrade the Lancaster House defence treaties and also through cooperation on Ukraine and work on the “Coalition of the Willing” on security for Ukraine (see below). Shortly after taking office as Prime Minister, Keir Starmer met with President Macron in the margins of the European Political Community meeting on 18 July 2024 and issued a joint statement pledging to pursue cooperation between the UK and France “across the full spectrum of the relationship, at both a bilateral and at a global level”. They agreed to hold the next UK-France bilateral summit in the UK in 2025.
Following a meeting of the two leaders on 9 January 2025, a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office said that the UK–France summit later in the year would aim “to deepen cooperation on growth, defence, security, AI and energy to deliver for people in both the UK and France”.
President Macron undertook a state visit to the UK from 8 to 10 July 2025. This incorporated a UK-France leaders’ summit, at which the UK and France agreed a declaration on modernising UK-French defence and security cooperation, referred to as “Lancaster House 2.0”.
Lancaster House defence treatiesAn overview of the series of UK-France Lancaster House defence treaties of 2010 was provided by the House of Commons Library research briefing CBP-9743, UK-French defence cooperation: A decade on from the Lancaster House treaties, published in March 2023.
The Defence and Security Cooperation Treaty (PDF) provided an overarching framework for future cooperation, while a separate Letter of Intent and package of joint measures attached to the treaties provided more detail on specific programmes and initiatives that would be taken forward. The treaties envisaged the creation of a Combined Joint Expeditionary force of 10,000 personnel, the development of an integrated maritime task force by the early 2020s and collaboration in capabilities, particularly in the complex weapons sector.
The Nuclear Co-operation Treaty (PDF) was intended to facilitate collaboration in the technologies associated with stewardship of both countries’ nuclear stockpiles.
In November 2020 the UK Government said all the milestones set out in the Lancaster House treaties had been achieved, including the Combined Joint Expeditionary Force which achieved full operational capability in 2020.
UK-France summit, March 2023The UK-France summit held in March 2023 was the first formal bilateral summit between the two countries in five years and sought to build on cooperation set out in the Lancaster House treaties. This would involve further integration of UK and French armed forces, cooperation through the Combined Joint Expeditionary Force and the coordination of aircraft carrier deployments to provide a “complementary and more persistent” European presence in regions of shared interest. There would also be continued armaments cooperation, particularly in the complex weapons sector.
A joint leaders’ statement following the March 2023 summit set out ambitions for cooperation across a wide set of areas, including defence and security, foreign policy, combating organised crime and illegal migration, energy and decarbonisation and promoting social and economic ties.
Lancaster House 2.0, July 2025At the UK-France leaders’ summit in on 10 July 2025, President Macron and Prime Minister Starmer agreed a declaration on modernising UK-French defence and security cooperation, referred to as “Lancaster House 2.0”.
The declaration noted that the UK and France “as Europe’s only nuclear powers and leading militaries, share a unique responsibility for European and international defence and security”. It said that the two countries together represent nearly 40% of the defence budget of European allies, and more than 50% of European spending on research and technology.
Noting the changing global context since the 2010 Lancaster House Treaties, including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and fundamental changes in the threats they faced, the declaration stated the leaders’ intention “to carry out a series of ambitious projects and new areas of collaboration that will underpin our defence and security relationship for the next fifteen years and beyond”. This covered the following areas:
- Deepening cooperation between the UK and French independent nuclear deterrents, including through strengthened ability to coordinate decisions, expanded cooperation on nuclear research and a new UK-France Nuclear Steering Group to coordinate work. The UK and France separately issued the joint Northwood Declaration on 10 July 2025, on deepening their nuclear cooperation and coordination
- Increasing capacity of the Combined Joint Force (CJF), ensuring the ability to plan and command Combined Corps Capability, as part of NATO or bilaterally. CJF structures would also be used to underpin the Coalition of the Willing for Ukraine (see below)
- Launching an ‘Entente Industrielle’ to enhance defence capability and industrial co-operation, with several joint defence development programmes identified
- Developing new cooperation to enhance military interoperability and support NATO driven by annual meetings of Joint Chiefs
- Reinforcing the UK-France integrated defence and security partnership to deter and respond to the full spectrum of threats. This would make the fullest possible use of the UK-EU Security and Defence Partnership and involve strengthened defence and security policy coordination and cooperation on key areas for Euro-Atlantic security. This would also bring together intelligence, law enforcement and policy expertise to address hybrid threats
- Enhanced communications and institutional exchanges across the UK and French systems, to enable strengthened partnership across the entirety of defence and national security. This will involve the development of a new joint UK-France cross government secure communication system and expanded people and training links between UK and French military and national security personnel.
Other summit announcements set out in a UK-France leaders’ declaration on 10 July 2025 included:
- strengthened cooperation to address small boat crossings by irregular migrants from France to the UK (see below)
- a new UK-France Industrial Strategy Partnership to accelerate industrial cooperation in technology, AI and clean energy
- the French government would facilitate the recognition by local authorities of UK blue badges throughout France for disabled drivers
- the UK and France would extend arrangements to facilitate school trips in both directions
- the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to the UK, for an exhibition in the British Museum between September 2026 and July 2027.
Since early 2025, and in the context of doubts about the continuing US commitment to transatlantic security and the defence of Ukraine, the UK and French governments have taken the lead in forging a “Coalition of the Willing” to support Ukraine’s security.
Leaders’ meetings have been chaired by Keir Starmer and President Macron, with 35 countries taking part alongside the President of the European Council, the President of the European Commission and the NATO Secretary General.
The UK defence secretary, John Healey, and his French counterpart have also chaired meetings. On 10 May 2025, Keir Starmer, President Macron and the leaders of Germany and Poland travelled to Ukraine to demonstrate solidarity with the Ukrainian government, calling on Russia to agree to a ceasefire to allow for peace talks.
At a Coalition meeting on 6 January 2026, the UK and France signed a declaration of intent on deploying troops in Ukraine to help keep Ukraine secure should there be a peace agreement.
For further details on the coalition of the willing see the Commons Library briefing paper, Proposals for a Coalition of the Willing in Ukraine
Addressing irregular migrationThe French Embassy overview refers to “combating illegal immigration [as] a priority of the UK authorities and of our bilateral cooperation” with cooperation being multi-faceted and implemented in the framework of a series of bilateral agreements, in particular the 1991 Sangatte Protocol and the Le Touquet Treaty of 4 February 2003.
The House of Commons Library research briefing, Unauthorised migration: Timeline and overview of UK-French co-operation provides an overview of UK-French cooperation on this issue.
Recent initiatives include a UK-EU announcement on 6 March 2025 to deepen cooperation on addressing small boats through the signing of the Upstream Working Group Roadmap. The roadmap has 4 priority issues:
- disrupting the criminal gangs at the heart of organised immigration crime
- deterring illegal migrants from taking the dangerous journey to France and the UK
- ensuring the effective and prompt return of irregular migrants to source and transit countries
- tackling the root causes of irregular migration.
At the UK-France leaders’ summit in July 2025, the UK and France agreed to continue work on novel and innovative approaches to intercept small boats carry migrants across the channel. They also agreed to pilot a “one in, one out” scheme for migrants who cross the Channel in small boats, whereby certain migrants arriving by small boats in the UK would be returned to the UK and an equivalent number of asylum-seekers would be allowed to come to the UK from France via a safe route. This came into force in August 2025.
TradeThe Department for Business and Trade publishes a regularly updated factsheet on UK-France trade and investment, setting out the value of trade and investment and the most important exports and imports.
For the December 2025 factsheet, see Department for Business and Trade, UK Trade and Investment Factsheets - France (PDF), 17 December 2025.
This shows that France was the UK’s 5th largest trading partner in the four quarters to the end of Q2 2025, accounting for 5.5% of total UK trade. Total UK exports to France amounted to £46.9 billion and total UK imports from France amounted to £55.6 billion.
Cultural exchangesThe French Embassy overview refers to cultural and scientific exchanges, developed through direct links between universities, museums, institutes, research centres and foundations. It also refers to the agreement on loaning the Bayeux tapestry to the UK during the renovation of the Bayeux museum in 2026-2027.
Further information on cultural cooperation is provided by the Institut français du Royaume-Uni which promotes French language and culture and encourages cross-cultural exchanges.
France-UK cultural cooperation is also supported by other institutions including the British Council in France and the independent Franco-British Council. The Franco-British Council is a charitable organisation founded in 1972 on the joint initiative of then French President Georges Pompidou and UK Prime Minister Edward Heath with the goal of promoting better mutual understanding and collaboration, bringing together leading representatives of the worlds of culture, politics, defence, science, education and business. It also sponsors young leaders and local leaders programmes.
The Young Leaders programme was announced at the Franco-British summit in March 2016 by the then French President and UK Prime Minister. Itis delivered by the Franco-British Council with the support of the French Foreign Ministry and the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, as well as a number of private sponsors.
Further reading- House of Commons Library research briefing CBP-9743, UK-French defence cooperation: A decade on from the Lancaster House treaties
- House of Commons Library research briefing CBP-9681, Unauthorised migration: Timeline and overview of UK-French co-operation
- House of Commons Library research briefing CBP-10412, Proposals for a Coalition of the Willing in Ukraine
- House of Commons Library research briefing CBP-10112, France: recent political developments and the 2024 National Assembly elections
- Georgina Wright, Why Truss and Macron are right to reset Franco-British relations, Institut Montaigne, 7 October 2022
- Shairee Malhotra, France-UK relations: A much-needed strategic reboot, Observer Research Foundation, 8 December 2022
- Gesine Weber, The Franco-British summit: a reset in relations and an opportunity for UK-EU cooperation, UK in a changing Europe, 14 March 2023
- UK Government, UK-France Leaders Declaration, 10 July 2025
- UK Government, “Lancaster House 2.0: ”Declaration on Modernising UK-French Defence and Security Cooperation, 10 July 2025
- Georgina Wright, The Franco-British Summit: back in business, UK in a changing Europe, 11 July 2025