The interior minister of France says he wants to work closely with the UK government on migration, but the talks need to be serious

These comments follow the deaths of 27 people who died after attempting to cross the English Channel.

French President Emmanuel Macron has hit back at UK Prime minister Boris Johnson who says France needs to take back migrants who reach Britain.

Macron has accused Johnson of showing a lack of seriousness towards the issue and published the letter to his Twitter account.

Britain was barred from attending a meeting of European officials over the comments made, with the UK government urging France to reconsider the invitation.

Belgium, France, the Netherlands, Germany and the European Commission attended the talks this week which Macron organised to try and tackle the migrant crisis.

The French interior minister says “Britain left Europe, but not the World and leaders need to work seriously on these questions without being held hostage by domestic British politics”