Burnham and Macron hold talks at Downing Street: migrant boats, Ukraine and EU relations on agenda

French President Emmanuel Macron and his wife Brigitte are on a two-day state visit to the United Kingdom for the transfer of the Bayeux Tapestry to the British Museum. King Charles III and Queen Camilla inaugurated the exhibition of the 70-metre-long historic work depicting the 1066 Norman conquest alongside the French couple. The work will be open to the public from 10 September.

Prime Minister Burnham will hold his first bilateral meeting with Macron at Downing Street. Burnham, who assumed the premiership on 20 July succeeding Keir Starmer, will address migrant boats in the English Channel, pre-winter support for Ukraine, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz. Under the agreement signed in April, London is paying Paris 766 million euros over three years to bolster coastal security; crossings have fallen to their lowest level since 2020.

Burnham stressed the need not to "let up surveillance" as migrant smuggling networks constantly change tactics. "The small boats crisis is a shared European problem; no single country can solve it alone," he said. He also stated that cooperation with the EU is critical for the stagnant British economy.