Illegal migration and Ukraine will be the “two dominant issues” as European leaders meet, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
The Prime Minister will hold talks on how European countries can work together to tackle illegal migration at the European Political Community (EPC) summit in Denmark on Thursday.
Ahead of the summit, he announced changes to the UK’s asylum system, saying there would be no “golden ticket” to settlement under Government plans to require refugees to “earn” their right to stay long-term.
As he arrived at the summit, Sir Keir told reporters: “We’re certainly discussing illegal migration and looking at what further options we can take together.
“Obviously, I’ve always argued that working with other countries is always a stronger response. So we’re looking at a number of options there.
“There’s a big appetite for it, a number of countries wanting to work with us on what more we can do. So, we’ll be looking at that.
“There is also, then, obviously, the question of Ukraine and how we put in more support for Ukraine, put pressure on Putin.
“So, it’ll really be migration and Ukraine will be the two dominant issues in the discussions today.”
The Government announced plans to end automatic family union rights for those granted asylum in the UK and change the requirements for long-term settlement on Thursday.
New applications to the existing refugee family reunion route have been suspended since September.
Discussing the plans on Times Radio on Thursday morning, Migration minister Mike Tapp claimed migrants are “shopping around Europe to find the most generous system”.
Mr Tapp said: “We’ve inherited a whole immigration system that’s a complete mess, from open borders to the processing of those that arrive grinding to a halt and a system overall that isn’t fair.
“What we see is migrants shopping around Europe to find the most generous system and we’re creating a level playing field here to ensure that those pull factors aren’t there.”
Asked if the UK is a “soft-touch,” Mr Tapp responded “a lot of them are seeing us as that”, and the Government needs to make sure that’s not the case.
He also revealed that seven people have so far been removed to France as part of a “one in, one out” deal, branding it a “pilot scheme” that will “grow significantly”.
Sir Keir previously said settlement in the UK must be “earned by contributing to our country, not by paying a people smuggler to cross the Channel in a boat”.
While the UK will continue to welcome “genuine refugees fleeing persecution”, the PM said the Government must also address the “pull factors” driving illegal small boat crossings.
“There will be no golden ticket to settling in the UK, people will have to earn it,” he added.
He will also announce a new partnership to tackle the causes of migration upstream in Western Balkan countries in a meeting with Danish prime minister Mette Frederiksen at the summit.
The plan, backed by up to £3 million, will include encouraging people to stay in the region and take up jobs there.
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood will set out reforms in full later in the autumn that will see refugees face a longer route to resettlement.
It will require them to contribute to the UK and they will not have the automatic right to bring their families to join them.
Refugees will still be entitled to “core protection” and not returned home under the changes, the Government says, but a “new, longer route to settlement requiring them to contribute, replacing the current five years” will apply.
The Home Secretary told the Labour Party conference earlier this week that tougher conditions would be introduced to secure indefinite leave to remain.
Migrants will need to be in work, not on benefits, have a high standard of English and no criminal record.
They will also need to reach a certain level of national insurance contributions and contribute, for example, by working in their local community.
The Refugee Council warned that stopping families from reuniting would push more people to come to the UK using smugglers, and said family reunion visas overwhelmingly support women and children.
Jon Featonby, chief policy analyst at the Refugee Council, said: “These unworkable policies have been promised before and we know that they do not have any impact on the number of small boats.
“The previous government tried and failed to put people off taking risky journeys by reducing the rights of refugees once they were in the UK, restricting both family reunion and settlement.
“This approach didn’t work then and there is no evidence to suggest it will work now. It will, however, succeed in damaging integration, making refugees feel unsafe and forcing children to grow up without their parents.
“In reality, restricting family reunion only pushes more desperate people into the arms of smugglers in an effort to reunite with loved ones.”
Shadow home secretary Chris Philp called the changes a “gimmick” and said Sir Keir should repeal the Human Rights Act for immigration matters as the Conservatives have proposed.
He said: “Tweaking family rules is another Starmer gimmick that will make no difference whatsoever – just like his smash the gangs gimmick, and his 11,000 in, one out gimmick.”
The number of migrant arrivals on small boats has topped 34,000 in 2025 so far, marking a record for this point in the year since data on Channel crossings was first reported in 2018.
