British Prime Minister Andy Burnham hosted French President Emmanuel Macron at 10 Downing Street on Thursday for their first official bilateral meeting, covering migration, Ukraine, and post-Brexit trade ties. The two leaders agreed that France will deploy a surge team of 45 officers to western French beaches in the coming weeks to curb small boat crossings in the English Channel, building on a deal signed in April; Burnham noted that the UK recorded its lowest number of such arrivals since 2020. Burnham also raised concerns that the EU's Made in Europe agenda — designed to protect the bloc's steel industries — could harm Britain's struggling steel sector, while both leaders discussed plans to establish local assembly lines in Ukraine for the long-range SCALP missile, which incorporates British technology. Macron described the meeting as a "very important moment" for Franco-British relations, saying he came "with a willingness and a commitment to get closer and closer," as the encounter comes in the final months of his presidency ahead of its May 2027 expiry.