the biggest strike day yet, with up to 1.4 million people expected at demonstrations in paris and elsewhere. the government is aiming to raise the retirement age from 62 to 64 years. today marks the sixth day of strikes and protests since mid january. part of the french government plan is also to raise the minimum pension to 1,200 euros a month, which is over 550 euros higher than the current minimum figure. but unions want more because of rising inflation. joining me now is gregory bekhtari who is a member of the fsu , the main teachers union in france, and works as a teaching fellow at the pantheon sorbonne university. thank you for being with us. the government says that these plans are necessary because they say that if they don t, the numbers don t add up, it would mean a deficit. why is raising the pension age such problem? raising the pension age such roblem? , ., , , , raising the pension age such roblem? , ,, , problem? it s a problem because it s ve unfair probl
after they went missing. and, the wait is almost over super fans are poised online as tickets for eurovision go on sale later. hello and welcome to bbc news. welcome to viewers here in the uk and around the world. britain s home secretary, suella braverman, has accepted the government is pushing the boundaries of international law with new legislation aimed at stopping asylum seekers crossing the english channel in small boats. it s thought the measures, being introduced in parliament today, and which put a legal duty on ministers to remove anyone who enters the uk illegally would face legal challenges. here s our political correspondent, iain watson: five years ago, fewer than 300 migrants attempted to cross the channel in a small boat. last year, more than 16,000 undertook the hazardous journey. and as the numbers grew, so too did the political pressure on the government. so injanuary this year, the prime minister made this pledge. we will pass new laws to stop small
0ur correspondent lucy williamson is in the channel port of calais a place where tens of thousands of migrants have gathered over the past few years, trying to cross to the uk. news of the government s new policy trickles through camps in northern france here. there s a sense that it s not in and of itself going to slow the flow across the channel. policy announcements by themselves have not tended to change many minds here. if you think back to the rwanda policy, when that was announced, there was a few days when many migrants here were considering whether it was worth it. there was a little bit of anxiety, but it passed pretty quickly, particularly when there were no concrete measures taken. and i think this raises the question of how the government is going to implement this new policy, particularly when it comes to removing people from the uk when they land on those shores. the rwanda policy is still mired in the courts and france has so far been adamant that it won t take back m
who arrive via small boat? to do that, we need bilateral agreements with countries or an agreement with the eu. and there s precious little evidence so far that we have made much progress in hammering out agreements of that kind of course, we do have one policy like that, that s with rwanda, but we haven t sent anyone there yet. critics, too, are questioning whether the government has the capacity to detain large numbers of people prior to their removal from the uk. the labour leader, sir keir starmer, has called the government s plan unworkable and is calling on the government to do more to tackle the criminal gangs who are responsible for ferrying asylum seekers across the channel. but the prime minister believes if he doesn t try to introduce a new law to stop small boats, he could pay a high political price. iain watson, bbc news. our correspondent, lucy williamson sent this from calais. as news of the government s new policy trickles through camps in northern france here, there