GETTY Emmanuel Macron has pledged to renegotiate the controversial Le Touquet accord with the UK

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Mr Macron, the winner of the first round of France’s two-stage presidential election, told the French private TV channel TF1: “There is no easy solution to the migrant crisis. “If there was one, it would have been found.” The real problem, he continued, is migrants who come to France and who live in the hope of crossing the Channel to the UK.

There is no easy solution to the migrant crisis. Emmanuel Macron

The left-centrist candidate added: “I want to put the Le Touquet border deal back on the table. It must be renegotiated, especially the parts that deal with the fate of isolated child migrants.” Mr Macron added that he wanted to “limit” illegal immigration, but said asylum applications in France took “too long” to be processed, and that French officials “did not know” how to send failed asylum seekers back to their home country.

GETTY Mr Macron said he would adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards security

He said: “Asylum seekers should be told whether their claim has been accepted or rejected within six months or less of the lodging of the application. “People fleeing war-torn countries have the right to seek sanctuary in France. It is inhumane to let millions of Syrian take risks only for them to have their asylum claim rejected once they get here.”

GETTY

GETTY Many migrants arrive in France hoping to settle in the UK

Mr Macron, a former economy minister under outgoing President François Hollande, added that he would adopt a zero-tolerance policy towards security and recruit 10,000 new police officers, before vowing to wage a relentless war against Islamic State (ISIS). He said: “The fight against terrorism is first and foremost a global battle against ISIS and against all jihadist groups who want to attack France…. I will increase intelligence spending, because intelligence is the best weapon against terrorism. I will also create an anti-ISIS task force this summer.”

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