British Prime Minister Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron are focusing on stopping migrant crossings in the English Channel

Beyond the pomp of the French president's first state visit to London since Brexit, all eyes were on the English Channel — and a controversial migration proposal.

Nigel Farage was also on a boat in the Channel and said he saw 78 migrants, including four women and children, crossing the water accompanied by a French vessel. “This is a classic day in the English Channel over the last five years when the weather’s calm, or a red day, as they call it,” the Reform UK leader told GB News .