EU push for migrant deal with Starmer that will create legal routes to UK for asylum seekers: France and Germany lead drive to capitalise on PM’s bid to ‘reset’ post-Brexit relations

France and Germany are pushing for the EU to negotiate a migration deal with Sir Keir Starmer’s government, which they view as being ‘conducive’ to advancing their demands.

Brussels would seek to create legal routes for asylum seekers, including through burden-sharing quotas which would see people distributed from Italy and Greece, The Times reports.

The prime minister’s ‘reset’ of Britain’s relations with the EU is being seen by France and Germany as an opportunity to win concessions for their citizens in the UK.

They are hopeful that they can secure ‘legal mobility’ for European workers and students in Britain in exchange for a new migration deal aimed at reducing Channel crossings.

Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser and her French counterpart Gerald Darmanin, who has since left his role, issued a joint letter on Friday urging the European Commission to ‘rapidly present a draft negotiating mandate’ for talks.

Germany’s interior minister Nancy Faeser and her French counterpart Gerald Darmanin, who has since left his role, urged the European Commission to ‘rapidly present a draft negotiating mandate’ for talks 

‘We believe that Brexit has had very detrimental consequences for the coherence of our migration policies,’ they wrote in the letter, first reported by AFP.

‘The absence of provisions governing the flow of people between the UK and the Schengen area is clearly contributing to the dynamics of irregular flows – and to the danger posed to people using this route in the Channel and the North Sea.

‘The arrival in office of a new British government, demonstrating its intention to co-operate constructively with the EU, seems to us to be conducive to concrete progress on this issue.’

The ministers added that they are ‘relying heavily’ on the EU to ‘simultaneously address the issues of legal mobility, in particular family and professional mobility, the fight against illegal immigration and the right of asylum with our British partner.’ 

The Labour government has indicated that it is keen to work with the EU to tackle illegal migration.

However, it has insisted that its ‘red lines’ have not changed, and that there will be no return to freedom of movement, nor will it partake in a quota scheme.

Any deal between the EU and UK would necessitate support from each of the bloc’s 27 members, which looks unlikely given that migration is a contentious issue across the continent.

Yvette Cooper today insisted that Labour is ‘serious’ about reducing net migration

The Home Secretary is set to meet Ms Faeser, along with France’s new interior minister Bruno Retailleau, and Italy’s Matteo Piantedosi at a G7 ministerial meeting next week.

Migration will be high up the agenda after a number of tragedies have unfolded recently, with overloaded migrant boats capsizing in the English Channel.

Yvette Cooper today insisted that Labour is ‘serious’ about reducing net migration but warned Britain must ‘properly train young people’ to replace overseas workers.

In her speech to the party’s conference in Liverpool, the Home Secretary said net migration ‘must come down’ after trebling under the Tories.

Meanwhile France’s new right-wing government, ushered in this week, is also promising to be tougher on illegal migration.

Some 41,078 migrants attempted to reach the UK from the Schengen zone in the first eight months of 2024, according to Frontex, the EU’s border agency. 

Eight men died earlier this month after a boat with 53 migrants on board crashed into rocks off the coast of Ambleteuse in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France. Six people were taken to hospital, including a 10-month-old baby.