Shabana Mahmood to hold talks with EU over law enforcement cooperation

Shabana Mahmood and Magnus Brunner are meeting to improve cooperation between the UK and EU on migration and security. Their agenda includes border management, law enforcement and counter-terrorism. The talks matter because Brexit disrupted the UK’s access to several European information systems used by police and migration authorities.

A central issue is whether Britain can rejoin selected police and security databases. The UK also wants access to Eurodac, which stores asylum seekers’ fingerprints and facial images. Brunner will separately meet MI5 director general Ken McCallum and visit the National Counter Terrorism Security Office. He will also discuss child sexual abuse investigations with UK officials.

The meeting is Mahmood’s second with Brunner in two months. It comes as London and Brussels increase contact, while Frontex reports a 43% fall in Channel small-boat crossings. Brunner says the UK’s contribution remains indispensable, suggesting cooperation could expand if both sides agree practical arrangements.

The article does not provide a complete list of every database the UK lost after Brexit. It identifies the Schengen Information System, or SIS, as a key police and security database containing alerts about missing people, stolen property, vehicles, number plates and fugitives. The UK wants to rejoin some systems from which it was locked out.

The UK also wants access to Eurodac, a newer migration database. Eurodac collects fingerprints and facial images from asylum seekers aged six and older. It also includes security flags for people connected with terrorism or serious crime. This would add migration information to the law-enforcement cooperation being discussed.

These proposals are part of renewed UK-EU talks. The article says Monday’s meeting will cover rejoining some police and security databases and joining Eurodac. Andy Burnham wants a practical data-sharing arrangement discussed at the EU-UK summit in November, but the Home Office has not commented.

Eurodac is a new platform focused on migration and asylum. Its purpose is to collect identifying information about asylum seekers so authorities can share relevant records across participating countries. That matters when people move through several countries and officials need to understand their previous contact with the asylum system.

The database collects fingerprints and facial images from asylum seekers from the age of six. It also contains security flags for people linked to terrorism or serious crime. These records can help authorities compare identities and identify whether the same person appears in more than one national process.

The UK wants to join Eurodac as part of renewed talks with the EU. The proposed access is separate from the UK’s interest in rejoining police and security databases such as SIS. The article does not state that an agreement has been reached, but the issue is on Monday’s agenda.

The Schengen Information System, or SIS, is a large European police and security database. EU data cited in the article records about 20 million searches daily. Its scale makes it an important shared checking system for authorities operating across internal European borders.

SIS contains information on missing persons, stolen goods, vehicles and number plates. It also holds records on fugitives crossing internal EU borders. Most daily searches concern cars, according to the article. Police and other authorities can use these alerts when checking people, vehicles or property.

The UK lost access to SIS after Brexit and is discussing whether it can rejoin some European police and security databases. The article does not say that Britain has regained access. Any future arrangement would depend on talks between London and Brussels, including Monday’s meeting between Shabana Mahmood and Magnus Brunner.

Access to shared databases can make cross-border checks faster and more consistent. A police officer could compare a person, vehicle or number plate with alerts held elsewhere. Migration officials could compare asylum records and identity details when someone has travelled through several countries. The article presents restored data sharing as lost control that deserves more attention.

For example, SIS contains alerts about fugitives, missing people, stolen goods, vehicles and number plates. Eurodac contains asylum seekers’ fingerprints and facial images, plus security flags linked to terrorism or serious crime. Matching these records could reveal that an identity, vehicle or alert already appears in another country’s system.

The article does not claim that access alone guarantees arrests or prevents repeat asylum applications. It says talks will consider rejoining systems and joining Eurodac. Any effect would therefore depend on a practical UK-EU arrangement and on authorities using the shared information lawfully and effectively.

The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum is a framework of 10 pieces of legislation. It overhauls how the EU manages its borders, processes asylum applications and shares information among member states. The goal described in the article is a more coordinated system, with faster asylum decisions and deportations.

The pact works alongside new migration rules and information systems. Eurodac is a new platform for asylum seekers’ fingerprints and facial images, while the wider framework changes how information is shared. These measures are intended to help countries manage arrivals, decide claims more quickly and return people whose applications do not succeed.

Magnus Brunner will explain the pact’s impact at King’s College London. He says the reforms are already having a significant effect, alongside changing political priorities in Germany, Italy and France. The article links this shift to lower crossings, including a 43% fall in Channel crossings, but it does not give separate figures for each pact measure.

International asylum cooperation depends on countries sharing information about people who move across borders. A shared record can help officials understand whether an asylum seeker has already been registered elsewhere. It can also support coordinated border management and law enforcement when a person is linked to serious crime or terrorism.

Eurodac provides the clearest example in the article. It collects fingerprints and facial images from asylum seekers aged six and older. Authorities can compare those records with information held in the system. SIS serves a related security role by storing alerts about fugitives, missing people, vehicles, number plates and stolen goods.

The article presents this cooperation as a practical issue for the UK after Brexit. Andy Burnham says Britain lost control through reduced immigration data sharing and wants it restored. The UK is discussing access to Eurodac and some police databases, but no final arrangement is reported.