Germany have agreed to close a loophole that will allow police to seize small boats being used in the Channel as part of a “friendship treaty” with the UK.
Sir Keir Starmer and German chancellor Friedrich Merz are due to sign the deal on Thursday, just one week after the prime minister struck a “one in, one out” migrant return deal with France’s Emmanuel Macron.
While there is no similar returns deal with Germany, it does include a pledge that they EU country will make people smuggling to the UK an offence by the end of 2025.
While people smuggling into fellow EU countries is a crime under German law, trafficking migrants into the UK has not been illegal since Brexit.
The majority of asylum seekers who cross the Channel embark from the French coast, however Germany is viewed as a transit country for migrants and is frequently used as a storage hubs for boats and transport equipment.
At least 22,000 people have already made the journey since January, putting 2025 on course to be a record year for crossings.
Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, had won German agreement to change the law to criminalise assisting the smuggling of migrants to the UK in December with Mr Merz’s predecessor Olaf Scholz
However, a change in government in Berlin meant that it had to be renegotiated and will now be announced on Thursday.
Prior to his visit, Sir Keir said: “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,” Sir Keir said.
“As the closest of allies, we will continue to work closely together to deliver on the priorities that Brits and Germans share.”
During Mr Merz’s visit, the leaders are expected to unveil an agreement to jointly produce defence exports such as Boxer armoured vehicles and Typhoon jets and commit to developing their deep precision strike missile in the next decade, with a range of more than 2,000 kilometres.
The chancellor and Sir Keir will also sign a bilateral friendship and cooperation treaty that includes plans to set up a new UK-Germany Business Forum.
Sir Keir said: “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.”
A series of commercial investments are being announced to coincide with the visit, worth more than £200 million and will create more than 600 new jobs.
These include defence tech company Stark setting up a production facility in Swindon, its first outside Germany, and conversational AI firm Cognigy investing £50 million and expanding its UK team from 13 to 150.
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