Britain will take a “new path” on tackling illegal migration and human trafficking gangs, Sir Keir Starmer said on Thursday as he hosted a summit of European leaders at Blenheim Palace.
The Prime Minister said the meeting at the birthplace of Sir Winston Churchill was a chance to say "no more", as he reflected on the five recent deaths of people attempting to cross the English channel.
"As we speak here a criminal empire is at work in every country represented here today, “ he told the European Political Community summit.
“Profiting off human misery and desperation, prepared to send innocent people to their deaths.
"This summit is an opportunity to set a new path on illegal migration."
Britain will work with the European Union to tackle people smuggling across the Channel and “the impulse” migrants have to leave their homes, the Foreign Secretary said ahead of the meeting.
David Lammy suggested the UK could use some of its foreign aid budget to make it more attractive for people to stay in their countries, rather than seeking a better life in Britain. Money could particularly be spent “in the Horn of Africa”, he said.
“It is right that we should work with our European partners upstream in the countries that are most affected by smuggling gangs and also by the impulse to leave,” Mr Lammy told Sky News.
“That means jobs and opportunities and skills in those countries and of course it means working with other European partners.
“That is not something that the UK can do alone and of course we have a budget which we can utilise, particularly in the Horn of Africa, with other European partners.”
Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelensky was among those who arrived at the summit this morning for the signing of a new security agreements.
He said: “Since the first days of the full-scale invasion, the UK has been one step ahead in its determination to support Ukraine. This is the kind of resolve we need to stop Russian terror.”
Sir Keir opened the meeting saying he intends to “reset our relationship with Europe” and that border security would be at the heart of the work.
The PM said he believes the challenges facing Europe cannot be solved alone, and that countries must work together. That will start with the UK taking a more active role on the world stage, to strike genuine partnerships that have an impact on people’s lives, he said. “We cannot let the challenges of the recent past define our relationships of the future,” he added.
“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. Asylum decisions will be accelerated and, under the new fast-tracked system in the returns and enforcement unit, we will prioritise those who have no right to be in the UK and the greatest chance of being returned.”
More than 1,000 migrants have arrived in the UK across the Channel since Sir Keir became premier on July 5 and the Government has warned of a “difficult summer ahead”.
