Andy Burnham has held talks with French President Emmanuel Macron aimed at "scaling up" efforts to tackle illegal migration across the English Channel, in the new prime minister's first meeting with a foreign leader since taking office in July.
The pair met at Downing Street on Thursday, with Number 10 releasing an official readout of the discussion afterwards. As well as small boat crossings, the two leaders discussed moving the UK closer to Europe, the production of long-range missiles for Ukraine, and the situation in the Middle East.
Burnham described Macron as "our nearest neighbour and close friend", saying it was "so fitting" that the French president was his first overseas visitor. "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," he said.
Macron said the relationship between the two countries was "very strong" and "extremely important" to him, adding that he had come to the UK "with willingness and a commitment to get closer".
The French president's visit to Britain was primarily to mark the loan of the Bayeux Tapestry to the British Museum. He met King Charles at the museum on Wednesday, ahead of the medieval tapestry going on public display next week.
According to Number 10, Burnham and Macron agreed that progress had been made in reducing small boat crossings in the Channel but that further action was needed. They also discussed the UK's ambition to strengthen ties with Europe, with Burnham raising concerns about the potential impact on British industry of the "Made in Europe" procurement plan being drawn up in Brussels to protect EU sectors.
Burnham has previously called for closer ties with Europe, as did his predecessor Sir Keir Starmer. The two leaders also discussed the possibility of establishing local assembly lines in Ukraine for the Scalp long-range missile, a French equivalent of the UK's Storm Shadow cruise missile.
On the Middle East, the leaders discussed the need for de-escalation in the Strait of Hormuz. Burnham also raised Israeli plans to open tenders for new settlement homes in a strategically important area of the occupied West Bank known as E1, which he described as "unacceptable" and said would "only serve to undermine the prospect of the two-state solution". Development in the E1 area would, in effect, divide the West Bank in two and isolate East Jerusalem. Settlement construction in the West Bank is illegal under international law and has long been internationally condemned.
Downing Street said 45 additional police officers are being deployed to French beaches as part of a "surge team" to counter the growing use of larger dinghies carrying more passengers. Home Office minister Anna Turley told BBC Radio 4's Today programme that the officers were "just part of the armoury" of more than 1,000 officers now stationed on northern French beaches undertaking "actual intervention" in the water. She said recent footage 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".
In a post on social media, Burnham set out the latest figures on small boats, returns and asylum hotels, describing smuggling gangs as a "shared European challenge".
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, asked about the deployment of extra police to French beaches, said 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."
Official figures show that between 1 January and 1 September 2026, a total of 16,513 people crossed the Channel by small boat from France, a 43% fall on the same period the previous year. Small boat crossings have been the most common method of detected illegal entry into the UK since 2020, and nearly all those who arrive by this route claim asylum, meaning they are permitted to remain in the country while their application is considered. Small boat arrivals accounted for 40% of asylum applications between July 2025 and June 2026.
Boats arriving in the UK between 2 September 2025 and 1 September 2026 carried an average of 68 people, more than double the average recorded in 2021. Experts have warned that overcrowding increases the danger of crossings; the United Nations recorded at least 84 deaths during Channel crossing attempts in 2024.
People from Eritrea made up 18% of all arrivals between July 2025 and June 2026. Home Office figures show at least 2,335 people who arrived by small boat in 2025 were identified as potential victims of trafficking or modern slavery. A further 4,712 people were detected entering the UK without permission by other means, including concealment in vehicles or arrival via ferries and airports, between July 2025 and June 2026, a 17% fall on the previous year.
