The UK’s Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, has pledged £84m to projects in Africa and the Middle East aimed at preventing illegal migration. The funding will be used to support education, create employment opportunities, and provide humanitarian aid and assistance in addressing issues that compel citizens to leave their homes. The fourth summit of the European Political Community (EPC), which was hosted in Oxfordshire, also focused on the issue of illegal migration and provided an opportunity for Sir Keir to meet with his European counterparts, including Italy’s Georgia Meloni and Albania’s Edi Rama.
At the EPC summit, France’s President Emmanuel Macron and Sir Keir agreed that stopping small boats crossing the English Channel was challenging and that there was no easy solution to the problem. The PM, however, turned his attention to “practical solutions” rather than “gimmicks”. He also stated that deeper cooperation between the UK and Europe on defense and border security was necessary.
The UK’s new initiatives with Slovakia and Slovenia to tackle organized crime have also been agreed. The PM aims to tackle illegal immigration issues upstream and has expressed his intention to take down smuggling gangs. The Foreign Office said that the £84m of funding for the next three years will support Syrians in Jordan and Lebanon to access education and jobs, migrants from North and East Africa to fill skills gaps, and provide humanitarian aid for displaced individuals in Sudan.
Sir Keir promised to create a new Border Security Command and to use counter-terrorist tactics to combat people-smuggling gangs instead of sending individuals who arrive in the UK illegally to Rwanda, which was deemed an “expensive gimmick.” The PM was also clear that turning around the rising number of arrivals of small boats would not be overnight but maintained that he was determined to follow through with a “serious response.”
Meanwhile, at the EPC summit, the issue of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine remained central, with Nato’s outgoing Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg expressing the belief that the military alliance must be prepared for the conflict to go on for a decade or more. Sir Keir pledged to stand with Ukraine “for as long as it takes” and urged other European leaders to do more in support of the country
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