Keir Starmer enjoys love-in with European leaders at Blenheim summit

Keir Starmer mounted a charm offensive on European leaders today as he urged his new ‘friends’ to help tackle the Channel boats crisis.

The PM hugged and giggled with premiers including Emmanuel Macron and Giorgia Meloni during the European Political Community meeting at Blenheim Palace.

He also put on a warm show with Albania’s Edi Rama and Mette Frederiksen of Denmark before they got down to serious political business.  

The talks at the birthplace of Winston Churchill are being dominated by illegal immigration and the Ukraine war – with Volodymyr Zelensky attending to make an impassioned case for more support.

Opening the discussions, Sir Keir underlined his desire for closer ties, insisting the UK was a ‘friend and a partner ready to work with you’ and ‘not part of the European Union, but very much part of Europe’.

And he sent a stark message about the need for cooperation to tackle the flow of migration across the continent.

‘It is now I think a crisis,’ he said. ‘As we speak, as we gather here, a criminal empire is at work in every country represented here today, profiting off human misery and desperation, prepared to send infants, babies, pregnant mothers, innocent people to their deaths.

‘And last week four more souls, and actually last night another one, were lost in the waters of the English Channel – a chilling reminder of the human cost of this vile trade.’

He said the summit was an opportunity to ‘set a new path on illegal migration’ with increased co-operation.

‘We must combine our resources, share intelligence, share tactics, shut down the smuggling routes, and smash the gangs.’

Sir Keir said the ‘root causes’ driving people from their homes, such as conflict, climate change and extreme poverty also needed to be addressed.

On the UK’s approach under his new administration, Sir Keir said: ‘We will approach this issue with humanity and with a profound respect for international law.

‘And that’s why we scrapped the unworkable Rwanda scheme on day one. And it’s why we will never withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights.’  

EU diplomats are expecting Sir Keir to raise a potential returns agreement to send back small boat arrivals in return for accepting a number of asylum seekers. 

However, Downing Street played down the prospect he would push the idea over dinner with Mr Macron tonight.

The Labour Government is seeking a security pact with the EU and Sir Keir is also determined to cement European nations’ support for Ukraine in its war with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Sir Keir will join a session on migration co-chaired by Italy’s right-wing leader Giorgia Meloni at the summit in Oxfordshire. 

He will also have a series of face-to-face talks with key figures including Polish counterpart Donald Tusk – who was president of the European Council at the height of the Brexit drama – as he attempts to strengthen ties with the continent. 

The PM said: ‘We cannot let the challenges of the recent past define our relationships of the future.

‘That is why European security will be at the forefront of this Government’s foreign and defence priorities, and why I am focused on seizing this moment to renew our relationship with Europe.

‘The EPC will fire the starting gun on this Government’s new approach to Europe, one that will not just benefit us now, but for generations to come, from dismantling the people-smuggling webs trafficking people across Europe, to standing up to Putin’s barbaric actions in Ukraine and destabilising activity across Europe. ‘

He added: ‘We will only be able to secure our borders, drive economic growth and defend our democracies if we work together.’

On a round of broadcast interviews this morning, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said he did not ‘recognise’ suggestions Sir Keir would seek a returns deal.

‘We’ve got no plans in that area. But as I said, we’re not in the negotiating space at this point in time. What we have done is set out our red lines.’ 

Under the Government’s plans to respond to the small boats crisis, asylum decisions will be accelerated and, under a new fast-tracked system in the returns and enforcement unit, officials will prioritise those with no right to be in the UK and who have the greatest chance of being returned.

A new Border Security Command will use counter-terror powers to fight organised immigration crime, working ‘across Europe and beyond’, Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said.

‘Dangerous small boat crossings are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk,’ she said.

‘Criminal smuggling gangs are making millions out of small boat crossings and the Tories left us with gimmick rather than grip.

‘We will work right across Europe to tackle this problem at source, going after those profiting from this awful trade and bringing them to justice.’

More than 380,000 people are believed to have entered the EU through irregular routes in 2023 – an increase of 17 per cent on the previous year.

Around 41 per cent of those arrivals are believed to have come in small boats across the Central Mediterranean, 26 per cent on land through the Balkans, and 16 per cent coming across the Eastern Mediterranean.

The gathering at Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Winston Churchill, is a more informal affair than many international summits.

The leaders will attend a reception hosted by the King in the palace’s Long Library, which has walls lined by more than 10,000 books,

The EPC was the brainchild of France’s Emmanuel Macron and involves 20 non-EU nations including the UK as well as the 27-strong EU bloc.

Nick Thomas-Symonds, the minister for European relations at the heart of the Government’s reset plan, will also be at the gathering.