What is on the agenda

UK home secretary Shabana Mahmood sits down with the EU's home affairs commissioner on Monday for the second time in two months, in a fresh round of Shabana Mahmood EU law enforcement talks that Brussels says will cover migration, border management, cooperation between police forces and counter-terrorism. According to the European Commission, the agenda also includes the UK rejoining some of the police and security databases it was locked out from after Brexit, along with the EU's new migration database Eurodac.

The meeting comes days after Andy Burnham told MPs he wanted Britain to regain access to those systems, and amid increased engagement between London and Brussels since he announced he would use an upcoming EU-UK summit to lay out what he sees as the different options for the country's long-term relationship with the EU.

The Brexit databases at stake

The systems under discussion hold large volumes of operational data the UK lost access to when it left the EU:

• •Eurodac collects fingerprints and facial images of asylum seekers from the age of six, and carries security flags on people linked to terrorism or serious crime.
• •The Schengen Information System holds data on missing persons, stolen goods, vehicles, number plates and fugitives crossing internal EU borders.
• •About 20 million searches are made daily on the SIS, according to EU data, mostly on cars.

Burnham's push for rejoining

The mayor told MPs that openness from Ursula von der Leyen to restoring data sharing on immigration across the UK and Europe was among the most positive aspects of their meeting in New York. He argued that it was "control" the UK "lost" after Brexit and that this deserved more attention in the debate.

Brunner's visit and migration figures

Brunner's wider programme includes a meeting with MI5 director general Ken McCallum, a visit to the National Counter Terrorism Security Office and talks with senior officials from the UK's child sexual abuse centre about joint efforts against such crimes. He will also deliver a lecture at King's College London on the impact of the EU's Pact on Migration and Asylum, a framework of 10 pieces of legislation overhauling how the EU manages its borders, processes asylum applications and shares information.

His visit coincides with new figures published on Monday showing small boats crossings in the Channel down 43%, according to the latest Frontex data. Brunner said the "reforms are paying" off in the UK too, alongside a shift in political priorities around migration in Germany, Italy and France. He added that illegal crossings at EU external borders are down 55% over two years, with a further third this year, and that asylum applications are at record lows in former main destinations.

The Home Office has not commented.