LONDON — Andy Burnham will welcome French President Emmanuel Macron to Downing Street next week as he intensifies his diplomatic efforts with Britain’s closest allies. Macron will attend the formal opening of the Bayeux Tapestry exhibition at the British Museum, where the 900-year-old artifact is being displayed on loan as a gesture of friendship between the two countries, according to two people briefed on the plans. He is also expected to take part in a bilateral meeting with the British prime minister.
It is the first U.K. visit by an EU leader of Burnham’s tenure and coincides with the return of the U.K. parliament after the summer recess. A U.K. government official, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on the record, said Burnham is looking forward to welcoming Macron to Downing Street. The Elysée declined to confirm the trip.
It follows Burnham’s recent trip to Kyiv to mark Ukraine’s independence day, which saw him meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy and pledge closer support to equip Ukraine with blueprints for Storm Shadow long-range missiles, allowing Ukraine to manufacture components for the weapon domestically. Britain’s new prime minister has focused heavily on domestic issues such as the cost of living and a shortage of prison spaces in the weeks since he took office, but his recent diplomatic blitz shows he is determined to signal continued solidarity with the U.K.’s key allies. In one of his first calls to international counterparts, Burnham told Macron he was “looking forward to building” on “the strong U.K.-France relationship to deliver for people on both sides of the Channel.” Continuing work on the “reset” of relations between London and Brussels begun under Keir Starmer is likely to be high on their agenda, together with tackling illegal migration.
Burnham told António Costa, the president of the European Council, the U.K. must be “bolder” about moving closer to the EU as the pair met en route to Kyiv earlier this week, but has not given any indication he will move away from the red lines set in the last Labour manifesto. The U.K. and EU are due to hold a summit in October after one originally planned for July was postponed due to Starmer’s resignation. The two sides are hoping to reach an agreement on the thorny topic of tuition fees at the meeting, alongside an agri-food deal to smooth trade, an emissions trading arrangement and a youth mobility scheme to make it easier for young people to live abroad.
Dan Bloom and Clea Caulcutt contributed to this report.
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