Starmer talks migration and security deal with EU at Political Summit

The new UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has taken full advantage of the opportunity presented to him by hosting a meeting of the European Political Community, which brings together nearly all the countries of Europe, both members and non-members of the European Union. Sir Keir pressed his agenda of increasing EU-UK cooperation on illegal migration and national security. He pledged greater British involvement in Europol and increased cooperation with the EU border agency, Frontex.

The Prime Minister said the UK had “the maturity and leadership to reach out a hand to our European friends … so we are going to deepen our cooperation on defence and security and on illegal migration, where we are resetting our approach”. He said that had been “central” to the one-day summit and of the people smugglers’ trafficking of illegal migrants “we are going to smash the gangs, break their business model, and secure our borders”.

He dismissed the previous Conservative government’s unfulfilled promise to deport illegal arrivals to Rwanda as “committing taxpayer money to gimmicks” and promised “practical solutions, that are in line with international law”. He pledged to increase the UK presence at Europol in The Hague “to play our full part in the European Migrant Smuggling Centre”.

Sir Keir promised that a new UK Border Security Command would “work with our European partners to share intelligence, data and expertise and put the gangs out of business”, meaning cooperation with the EU’s Frontex agency.

In a new development in the English Channel, a UK Border Force vessel intercepted migrants in a small boat in French territorial waters and was able to return them to France. It was perhaps in the spirit of the historic France-British cooperation known as the ‘Entente Cordiale’.

In his remarks after the summit, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed UK attempts to reset relations with the EU but warned it will not be able to “cherry pick” a new deal. But he said that he is a strong believer in the Entente Cordiale and that says Britain and France have a “unique and very strong bilateral relationship”. 

He added that "one obviously has to respect what was decided and signed", when the UK left the EU and that there "should not be a sort of cherry picking" in order to improve the deal."But if this is a comprehensive approach in order to reset relations, I think this is a very important moment”.

He made it clear that there would be no bilateral deal on returning illegal migrants who had crossed the Channel. Rather an EU-wide returns agreement would be required, implying that the UK would have to sign up to it and accept its quota of migrants. The “best answer is to enlarge the discussion”, he said. “We won’t take the full burden of those who are just going through France to join the UK”.

In 2024, 14,759 people have so far arrived in the UK on small boats, a figure dwarfed by the 79,665 who have illegally entered the EU in the same period by making perilous voyages across the Mediterranean. They nearly all landed in Italy (29,485), Spain (26,863) and Greece (23,117). All three have smaller populations than the United Kingdom.

The of the European Political Community was held at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill. “Together we are working for the security of our continent”, observed the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.

If the timing and location of the meeting was fortuitous, that may be less true when the next summit is held later this year, in Hungary.

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