Keir Starmer urges China to join battle against small boats in historic Beijing summit

Sir Keir Starmer is expected to strike a new border security pact with China in his latest attempt to end the small boat crisis. More than half of the engines used by people smugglers sending migrants across the English Channel are manufactured in a Far East nation.

But a new deal to stop criminal gangs getting their hands on dinghy equipment will be signed when the Prime Minister meets Chinese president Xi Jinping and premier Li Qiang in Beijing on Thursday. Migrant crossings have surged since Labour came to power 18 months ago, and Sir Keir’s flagship “one in, one out” scheme with France has descended into farce, with more migrants being sent to Britain than are deported back across the Channel. Last year, more than 60% of all engines used by smuggling gangs were found to be branded as Chinese-manufactured engines, while inflatable dinghies used in small boat crossings are also often made using parts sourced in China.

The Prime Minister said: "Organised immigration crime and the business model of the smuggling gangs goes beyond borders, and our approach to shut them down must do the same.

“This deal will help us cut off the supply of boats at source – stopping crossings before lives are put at risk and restoring control to our borders.

“This is Britain back at the top table, delivering real results for the British people through our international relationships.”

Sir Keir’s trip to China is the first by a UK Prime Minister since Theresa May in 2018.

A delegation of almost 60 representatives of British businesses and cultural institutions is accompanying the Prime Minister as he continues his efforts to build bridges with Beijing.

But concerns over the risk China poses to national security, and Xi Jinping’s record on human rights, mean Sir Keir’s visit is politically sensitive.

The head of MI5, Sir Ken McCallum, has warned that “Chinese state actors” present a national security threat to the UK “every day”.

Intelligence chiefs have warned that Beijing seeks to carry out online espionage, interfere in UK public life and harass and intimidate dissidents in the UK.

The security services have warned that “it is not realistic to expect to be able wholly to eliminate each and every potential risk” from a new Chinese embassy approved for the heart of London

Sir Keir said he would “never compromise national security” in taking the economic opportunities presented by China.

In the UK, he has come under pressure to raise a series of human rights issues with Mr Xi, including the imprisonment of British national and Hong Kong pro-democracy activist Jimmy Lai and the treatment of the Uyghur minority.

Ahead of his meetings with the Chinese leadership, Sir Keir declined to be drawn on what he would seek to raise.

He said: “In the past, on all the trips I’ve done, I’ve always raised issues that need to be raised, but I don’t want to get ahead of myself on the specifics until I’ve had the opportunity.”

Sir Keir added: “Part of the reason for engaging with China is so that issues where we disagree can be discussed, and the issues where we agree can be progressed, and so that’s the approach.”

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch said Sir Keir was wrong to visit China.

Taking questions from journalists after making a speech on Wednesday morning, the Conservative leader said: “You asked, would I be going to China? No, not now, because I don’t think that this is the time to do that. We need to be talking to those other countries who are worried about the threat China is posing to them.”

She said Sir Keir “needs to show strength, not approving a super-embassy which many people think is going to become a spy hub”.