The prime minister has announced £84m of new funding for African and Middle Eastern countries in an attempt to tackle the migration crisis “at source”.
Speaking in a press conference at Blenheim Palace, where a raft of leaders have been meeting for a European Political Community (EPC) summit, Sir Keir Starmer said the new money would go towards health and education initiatives, as well as humanitarian support.
He said the efforts would be a “vital part of gripping the migration crisis” as the issues in those countries “echo at home [and] the effects play out on our streets,” adding: “In a dangerous world, we serve no one and solve nothing by turning inward.
Politics live: Starmer welcomes European leaders at ‘reset’ summit
Sir Keir said Thursday’s EPC meeting had seen the government “resetting our approach” and “deepening our cooperation” with European partners in order to tackle the issue, including increasing the UK’s presence at Europol, agreeing new cooperation arrangements with Slovenia and Slovakia, and a commitment to share more intelligence “to put the gangs out of business”.
He said: “We are going to smash the gangs, break their business model and secure our borders.
And in an apparent dig at the previous Conservative government’s Rwanda deportation scheme – scrapped by Labour after winning the election – he added: “And we’ll do this, not by committing taxpayer money to gimmicks, but with practical solutions that are in line with international law.”
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Referring to his time as director of public prosecutions, the prime minister said he had seen “the work that can be done across borders to bring terrorists to justice and break up their networks”, adding: “I simply do not accept that we can’t do the same with organised migration crime.
“We can only make progress on the issues that so many people care about – like illegal migration and national security – if you have the maturity and leadership to reach out to our European friends.”
Sir Keir is under pressure to get a grip on Channel crossings, having pledged in his manifesto to set up a new Border Security Command to tackle the people smuggling trade, using money diverted from the abandoned Rwanda scheme.
In a reminder of the stakes, another person died and 71 people were rescued when their dinghy deflated off the coast of northern France as they attempted to make the perilous journey to the UK on Wednesday.
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All European countries – barring Russia and Belarus – were invited to the EPC summit, which is intended to galvanise support for Ukraine, where fighting is expected to intensify over the summer.
But for the new Labour government, it was also a chance to forge closer links with the European Union (EU) after the turmoil of the Brexit years.
Sir Keir wants to strike a security pact with the EU and also address some of the trading problems under the current Brexit deal struck by his Conservative predecessors.
