Sir Keir Starmer on Monday night urged EU leaders to re-engage with the UK five years after Brexit, as he refused to “choose” between closer relations with Brussels or Washington.
Starmer, the first UK prime minister to address the European Council of EU leaders since Brexit, said he wanted a new defence and security pact to be at the heart of a “reset” relationship.
Asked whether he could have close economic ties with both Europe and Donald Trump’s US, Starmer said: “Both of these relationships are very important to us . . . We aren’t choosing between them.”
That assertion is likely to be tested in the coming months if the US president follows through on his threat of tariffs against the EU, while Starmer attempts to avoid such a fate by seeking improved UK trade terms with America.
Monday night’s European Council dinner at the Palais d’Egmont in Brussels was a symbolic rapprochement between the UK and EU, just over five years after Brexit took effect on January 31 2020.
It was in the same palace that Conservative prime minister Edward Heath signed the treaty taking Britain into the European Economic Community — a forerunner to the EU — in 1972.
Starmer hopes that by offering to work closely on military and intelligence issues with the EU, an area where the UK has traditional strengths, he can start to unlock wider economic benefits.
The proposed security and defence pact — which will also cover areas such as tackling illegal migration — is expected to be wrapped up into broader UK-EU negotiations over the coming months.
At Monday’s dinner Starmer called for closer UK-EU ties in military logistics, procurement, tackling state threats and sabotage of subsea cables.
He also urged greater co-operation on military missions, such as recent efforts to train Ukraine’s troops. “Fragmentation would weaken us all,” Starmer said. “Let’s maximise the industrial weight and clout we have together. We are ready to work together in all these areas and more.”
The mood music at the dinner was positive. António Costa, president of the European Council, said: “The UK is our natural partner and our meeting confirmed that there is a new positive energy in our relationship.”
Donald Tusk, Poland’s prime minister, said: “Defence and security is the easy part of the conversation, but we are also open to talking to the UK on other issues to minimise the negative effects of Brexit.”
Allies of Starmer confirmed the “atmospherics” were positive, but negotiations with Brussels on any deal for closer UK-EU ties are likely to be tough for the prime minister.
The EU is demanding continued access to British fishing waters and a youth mobility scheme that would allow EU nationals aged below 30 to travel and work in the UK.
A full EU-UK summit is expected to take place in April or May to try to galvanise talks between the two sides, with a growing sense in European capitals that the continent needs to heal old wounds, especially as Trump squares up against America’s transatlantic allies.
Starmer is prepared to take some political risks, including seeking to remove barriers to trade in food products, even if that requires the UK to obey EU rules and the jurisdiction of the European Court of Justice.
He is also looking to link the UK’s carbon emissions market to the EU’s own system and to potentially take part in an EU-Mediterranean trade area, a move that would stop short of participation in the bloc’s customs union.
The issue of Brexit remains toxic in the UK, even though a recent YouGov poll found 55 per cent of people said it was wrong to leave the EU. Just 11 per cent saw Brexit as more of a success than a failure.
Conservative critics have dubbed the 50-strong team of officials charged with negotiating an improved Brexit deal — which is headed by former Treasury official Michael Ellam — the “surrender squad”.
Starmer, speaking at Nato headquarters in Brussels before the European leaders meeting, said he wanted Britain and EU countries to be “ambitious” and work closely on defence co-operation.
“Our defence spending is now 2.3 per cent of GDP and we are working hard to set the path to 2.5 per cent,” he added. It is unclear when the UK will hit that target.
“We can’t be commentators when it comes to matters of peace on our continent,” Starmer said. “We must lead and that is what I am determined to do.”
While France and other coastal states want to settle issues around fisheries as a prelude to a wider UK-EU deal, other countries will bring their own concerns to the table.
“Of course, there is still one key piece to be completed in the UK’s post-Brexit settlement, and that is Gibraltar,” said a Spanish foreign ministry official. “Full normalisation will not be possible until this agreement has been reached.”
