Andy Burnham said the UK's sluggish economic growth "has been partly a result of Brexit"

As Prime Minister Andy Burnham prepared to welcome French President Emmanuel Macron to Downing Street for their first bilateral meeting, he told lawmakers during Wednesday’s question session that the UK’s ten-year run of sluggish economic growth could be attributed in part to Brexit. He voiced support for closer ties with the bloc and said he would build on his predecessor’s effort to improve relations, with a UK-EU summit expected later this year. The talks with Macron are also set to cover migration, the wars involving Ukraine and Iran, and their effects on European security and the economy. Before the visit, British authorities announced additional policing on French beaches to counter larger smuggling boats, after summer Channel crossings fell to their lowest level since 2019 even as vessels grew bigger.