Germany to seize small boats under migrant deal with Starmer
Sir Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz will seal the 'friendship treaty' on Thursday in the UK. It includes a pledge by Germany to make people smuggling to Britain a criminal offence by the end of the year.
The treaty comes a week after the Prime Minister struck a 'one in, one out' migrant return deal with Emmanuel Macron of France. There is no similar returns deal with the German chancellor.
The small boats, which have crossed in record numbers this year, embark from French beaches. However, Germany is a transit country for migrants hoping to reach Britain and has emerged as a storage hub for boats, engines and life jackets used by migrants in taxi boats.
Under German law, people smuggling into non-EU countries is not a crime. This means that trafficking migrants to Britain has not technically been illegal since Brexit, making it more difficult for German police to seize dinghies used by gangs to make the deadly crossings.
A BBC investigation last year exposed how people smugglers were operating in the city of Essen. A journalist was offered an inflatable dinghy with an outboard motor and 60 life jackets for £12,500 to cross the Channel by two smugglers in the Western German city.
People smugglers do break the law if they pass through EU countries Belgium or France but Mr Merz is willing to make trafficking people to the UK an explicit crime.
Sources confirmed that Mr Merz is prepared to renew that commitment made by his predecessor Olaf Scholz last year before he lost elections in February.
Ahead of the meetings on Thursday, Sir Keir said: 'The progress we are making today is further proof that by investing in our relationships with like-minded friends and partners, we can deliver real change for working people.
'The Treaty we will sign today, the first of its kind, will bring the UK and Germany closer than ever. It not only marks the progress we have already made and the history we share. It is the foundation on which we go further to tackle shared problems and invest in shared strengths.
'Chancellor Merz's commitment to make necessary changes to German law to disrupt the supply lines of the dangerous vessels which carry illegal migrants across the Channel is hugely welcome. As the closest of allies, we will continue to work closely together to deliver on the priorities that Brits and Germans share.'
The friendship treaty is the latest step in Sir Keir's post-Brexit reset with Europe, after a security and cultural exchange pact with France and a May agreement with the EU.
The Telegraph revealed on Thursday that the agreement included efforts to facilitate Eurostar-style direct trains from London to Germany. The two countries will also sign a defence cooperation treaty and agree to make school exchanges easier after an 80 per cent drop in German school trips to the UK since Brexit.
The Telegraph understands there will also be languages, underlining a shared commitment to fighting climate change and boosting interconnections between Germany and British renewable wind in the North Sea.
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