London, 18 July 2024 (PA Media/dpa/MIA) - New British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he intends to “reset" the UK's relationship with Europe as he hosted leaders from across the continent at a major summit on Thursday.

Starmer is using the European Political Community (EPC) gathering to push for closer security ties and joint action to tackle illegal migration.

The summit at Blenheim Palace to the north-west of Oxford comes as the new Labour government attempts to forge closer links with the European Union (EU) after the turmoil of the Brexit years.

Starmer said: “European security is at the forefront of my Government’s foreign and defence priorities.

“We will only be able to secure our borders, drive economic growth and defend our democracies if we work together.

“It’s time to reset our relationship with Europe.”

Starmer personally greeted leaders as they arrived at the 18th century palace.

As part of the drive to tackle illegal migration the government has redeployed more than 100 Home Office staff from working on the now-scrapped Rwanda scheme to focus on a “rapid returns unit” to send people with no right to be in the UK back to their home country.

The British prime minister called for continent-wide action to tackle the international “people-smuggling webs.”

He will join a session on migration co-chaired by Italy’s right-wing Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the EPC summit, which brings together EU and non-EU countries.

The Labour government is seeking a security pact with the EU and Starmer is also determined to cement European nations’ support for Ukraine in its war with Vladimir Putin’s Russia.

Starmer said: “We cannot let the challenges of the recent past define our relationships of the future.

“That is why European security will be at the forefront of this government’s foreign and defence priorities, and why I am focused on seizing this moment to renew our relationship with Europe.

“The EPC will fire the starting gun on this government’s new approach to Europe, one that will not just benefit us now, but for generations to come, from dismantling the people-smuggling webs trafficking people across Europe, to standing up to Putin’s barbaric actions in Ukraine and destabilizing activity across Europe.

Under the government’s plans to respond to the small boats crisis, asylum decisions will be accelerated and, under a new fast-tracked system in the returns and enforcement unit, officials will prioritize those with no right to be in the UK and who have the greatest chance of being returned.

A new Border Security Command will use counter-terrorism powers to fight organized immigration crime, working “across Europe and beyond,” Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said.

“Dangerous small boat crossings are undermining our border security and putting lives at risk,” she said.

“Criminal smuggling gangs are making millions out of small boat crossings and the Tories [Conservatives] left us with gimmick rather than grip.

“We will work right across Europe to tackle this problem at source, going after those profiting from this awful trade and bringing them to justice.”

More than 380,000 people are believed to have entered the EU through irregular routes in 2023 – an increase of 17% on the previous year.

Around 41% of those arrivals are believed to have come in small boats across the Central Mediterranean, 26% on land through the Balkans, and 16% coming across the Eastern Mediterranean.

The gathering at Blenheim Palace, birthplace of Britain's World War II leader Winston Churchill, is a more informal affair than many international summits.

The leaders will attend a reception hosted by King Charles III in the palace’s Long Library, which has walls lined by more than 10,000 books,

Starmer will have a series of face-to-face talks with key figures including a dinner with French President Emmanuel Macron and a meeting with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk – who was president of the European Council at the height of the Brexit drama – as he attempts to strengthen ties with the continent.

The EPC was the brainchild of Macron and involves 20 non-EU nations including the UK as well as the 27-strong EU bloc.

Photo: Gail Frederick