British Prime Minister Andy Burnham and French President Emmanuel Macron have agreed that co-operation against small boat crossings in the English Channel should now be scaled up across Europe to deter illegal migration.
They met at Downing Street on September 3, Burnham’s first bilateral talks since he took office in July.
Burnham told Macron the joint effort was clearly working and that operational teams were making headway on driving down numbers, according to a readout issued by his office.
The language marks a shift for Paris. Macron said in London in July 2025 that Brexit lay at the heart of the crisis and that the British had been “sold a lie”.
Some 16,391 people have reached Britain by small boat this year, 43 per cent fewer than at the same stage in 2025, and the 102 boats recorded between June and August were the fewest for a summer since 2019.
Smugglers have responded by packing more people onto larger vessels and charging up to €2,000 a place, against about €1,300 a year earlier.
Downing Street said a surge team of 45 officers would be sent to beaches west of Calais in northern France, covering Le Touquet, Berck, Le Tréport and Dieppe.
Similar undertakings have been given before. France agreed at the July 2025 summit to intercept boats at sea rather than only on the beach, and French law still bars officers from acting against a dinghy already afloat unless lives are at risk.
Paris has been reviewing that restriction since the gangs began using offshore taxi boats to collect migrants from a string of beaches.
The one in, one out returns pilot agreed at the same summit was expected to cover about 50 people a week, one in every 17 who crossed.
Britain is paying France around £660 million (€760 million) to police its northern coastline.
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp has called for that money to be withheld unless French officers stop boats leaving shallow water.
Burnham also told Macron that the European Union’s Made in Europe agenda could pose significant challenges for UK industry.
The scheme, part of the European Commission’s proposed Industrial Accelerator Act, would give priority in public contracts to European-made goods in sectors including steel and cars.
Paris has championed the plan. The leaders agreed it was vital to work together to protect shared interests, the readout said.
On Ukraine, the two discussed opening local assembly lines for the SCALP long-range missile, which uses British technology.
Macron said on X that the partnership mattered more than ever for defence and European security.
