Starmer unveils plan for ‘joint action’ with Germany on cross-Channel migration

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Sir Keir Starmer has unveiled plans for “joint action” with Germany on cross-Channel migration, which could involve authorities intercepting boats in transit across Europe, en route to northern France.

After a bilateral meeting with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz in Berlin, the Prime Minister said developing an action plan could help the countries “deal with issues like data sharing, intelligence sharing, what we can do on joint operations” both sides of the North Sea.

In a speech, Sir Keir vowed to “deepen co-operation on shared social challenges; for example, on illegal immigration, because we cannot smash the smuggling gangs who perpetrate this vile trade without the help of our partners”.

He added: “I’m really glad that we had substantive discussions today about how we tackle the smuggling gangs and agree to develop a joint action plan to tackle illegal migration.”

Asked about his discussions with Mr Scholz after the speech, the Prime Minister confirmed a returns agreement with Germany “wasn’t discussed today”.

He continued: “But the joint action plan was and that is important to me because, as I’m sure you’ll appreciate, quite a number of the boats that end up on the north coast of France carrying people across are coming through Germany, therefore, this isn’t a sort of remote action plan.

“It’s actually a concrete one because, as you’ve heard me say many, many times, I simply don’t accept that the people who are running this trade can’t be taken down, that they can’t be busted, and intercepting the boats as they are in transit across Europe and those that are moving them is an important part of that as far as I’m concerned.”

Sir Keir also labelled the Rwanda plan – a Conservative-led former policy to remove some asylum seekers from the UK and send them to Kigali – a “gimmick”.

He added: “Nonetheless, it is very important we take back control of our borders.

“I have long been convinced that the best way, the most effective way to do that is to take down the gangs that are running the vile trade of putting people in dangerous situations across Europe and across the Channel.”

Mr Scholz had previously said, according to a translation: “The state has to contain irregular immigration so as to not overburden the country.

“This can and must succeed without questioning our basic law and also international treaties.”

More than 500 migrants arrived in the UK on Tuesday after crossing the English Channel, according to Home Office data.

This took the provisional total crossings for 2024 so far to 19,820 – 0.1% higher than at the same point in 2023 (19,801) and 21% lower than 2022 (25,065).