Burnham and Macron pledge action on Channel crossings

British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron agreed to intensify efforts against illegal migration across the English Channel on Thursday, using their first Downing Street meeting to focus on border security, Ukraine, trade and closer UK-European ties.

The talks marked the first time Burnham has hosted a European leader since becoming prime minister in July, after taking over from former Labour leader Keir Starmer. Burnham called Macron’s visit “so fitting” and described the French president as “our nearest neighbour and close friend Emmanuel”.

“It shows what collaboration can achieve, just as we are also showing on Ukraine, on small boats, and also on strengthening the UK-EU relationship,” Burnham said.

Macron said the relationship between the two countries was “very strong”. He added: “For me it is extremely important, and I’m here with willingness and a commitment to get closer.” Al Jazeera reported that Macron called it a “very important moment” for relations between the two countries.

Downing Street said the leaders agreed they were making progress in reducing small boat crossings but needed to “scale up” action. The discussions included the “emerging use of mega dinghies” carrying undocumented migrants and asylum seekers to England’s south coast. The BBC reported that one 15-metre vessel seen earlier in August carried a record 230 migrants toward the UK.

The government said France will deploy a 45-officer “surge team” to western French beaches in the coming weeks to tackle the larger dinghies. The BBC reported that Downing Street described the officers as additional police being deployed to French beaches, while Home Office Minister Anna Turley said they were “just part of the armoury” of more than 1,000 officers on northern French beaches conducting “actual intervention” in the water.

Turley told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that recent videos showed officers “going to the boats, slashing them, pushing people back, being bombarded with stones and bricks and coming under a lot of challenge to do that, so they are intervening”.

Downing Street said Britain had recorded the lowest number of small boat arrivals since 2020, according to Al Jazeera. The BBC reported the summer total had fallen to a seven-year low. Burnham, posting on X, described smuggling gangs as a “shared European challenge”.

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch told the BBC she welcomed European collaboration “but the boats aren’t stopping”. She added: “We have spent hundreds of millions, if not billions, paying the French to man the borders.”

Burnham and Macron also discussed the UK’s effort to build closer ties with Europe. Burnham raised concerns about the EU’s Made in Europe procurement plan, which is being developed in Brussels to protect EU industries. A UK government spokesperson said: “The Prime Minister set out how the Made in Europe agenda could pose significant challenges for UK industry.” Al Jazeera reported the concerns include potential harm to Britain’s steel sector.

On defence, the leaders discussed next steps toward establishing local assembly lines in Ukraine for the SCALP long-range missile, the French version of the UK’s Storm Shadow cruise missile. Al Jazeera reported that SCALP uses British technology and that the leaders reflected on a Coalition of the Willing meeting in Kyiv last week.

The two leaders also discussed the Middle East and the need to ensure de-escalation in the Strait of Hormuz. Burnham raised Israeli plans to open tenders for settlement homes in the E1 area of the occupied West Bank, calling the move “unacceptable” and saying it “only served to undermine the prospect of the two-state solution”. The BBC reported the development would in effect divide the West Bank in two and isolate East Jerusalem, and that such settlement plans have long faced international condemnation.

Macron’s UK visit was primarily arranged to mark the Bayeux Tapestry’s loan to the British Museum. He met King Charles at the museum on Wednesday before the medieval tapestry goes on public display next week.