reins<\/a> from former Labour Party leader Keir Starmer on July 20.<\/p>\nRecommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n
Burnham and Macron discussed shared challenges, including small boat crossings and the \u201cemerging use of mega dinghies\u201d transporting undocumented migrants and asylum seekers to England\u2019s south coast, according to a United Kingdom government press release.<\/p>\n
Downing Street said the UK saw the lowest number of small boat arrivals since 2020, but \u201cthe government will not stop bearing down on the criminal gangs facilitating the dangerous crossings\u201d, the statement said.<\/p>\n
In response, the UK government said France will deploy a \u201csurge team\u201d of 45 officers to the western beaches of France in the coming weeks, building on a deal signed in April to curb unauthorised small boat crossings in the English Channel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe progress we have seen this summer shows what can be achieved when the UK and France work together,\u201d Burnham said.<\/p>\n
![\"British](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/2026-09-03T104743Z_1236572050_RC2MBNA1N7LJ_RTRMADP_3_BRITAIN-FRANCE-1788466226.jpg\")
British Prime Minister Andy Burnham, right, meets French President Emmanuel Macron during a bilateral meeting at 10 Downing Street on September 3, 2026, in London, UK [Leon Neal\/Reuters]<\/p>\n
The British prime minister is also seeking closer post-Brexit cooperation with Europe in a bid to boost sluggish domestic growth.<\/p>\n
He has said Britain must be \u201cbolder\u201d in getting closer to the EU but has refused to scrap his predecessor\u2019s rejection of rejoining the bloc\u2019s single market or customs union and returning to its internal freedom of movement rules.<\/p>\n
Complicating matters is concern that the EU\u2019s Made in Europe agenda, which seeks to protect the steel industries of states in the 27-nation bloc, could harm Britain\u2019s struggling steel sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Prime Minister set out how the Made in Europe agenda could pose significant challenges for UK industry,\u201d a UK government spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Macron said it was a \u201cvery important moment\u201d for relations between the two countries, adding he was \u201chere with a willingness and a commitment to get closer and closer\u201d.<\/p>\n
On the subject of defence, Downing Street said the leaders discussed the next steps on establishing local assembly lines in Ukraine for the long-range missile, SCALP, which uses British technology, and reflected on the successful Coalition of the Willing<\/a> meeting in Kyiv last week.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham discussed shared challenges in his first official meeting with the French president.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1184968,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5174],"tags":[34,2000,299,5187,1699,36,1234,6657,12,285,7661,1219,657,15],"class_list":["post-1184967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-eu","tag-emmanuel-macron","tag-eu","tag-europe","tag-european","tag-european-union","tag-france","tag-government","tag-migration","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-russia-ukraine-war","tag-trade-war","tag-ukraine","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/117209674444048995","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1184967"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1184967\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1184968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1184967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1184967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1184967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/a><\/p>\n