Keir Starmer to hold talks with EU on defence co-operation

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Sir Keir Starmer has agreed to attend a defence meeting with EU leaders in Brussels in February to illustrate the need for “closer collaboration between like-minded partners”.

The UK prime minister accepted the invitation to attend the meeting, the first between a British leader and the bloc’s 27 members since Brexit, during talks with European Council president António Costa in Downing Street.

In a joint statement on Thursday, both sides said they had “affirmed the intention to strengthen” the bilateral relationship, with Starmer and Costa agreeing on “the vital importance of closer collaboration between like-minded partners at an increasingly volatile time for the world”.

The meeting in Brussels will look at ways to enhance co-operation on security and defence. A separate EU-UK summit “in early 2025” would consider other aspects of a “reset” in relations, including a possible lowering of trade barriers, the statement said.

The two sides added that this “would provide an important opportunity to make further progress on key areas to deliver tangible benefits for the people of the UK and the EU”.

Costa’s meeting with Starmer in Downing Street came just 12 days after he took office in Brussels, in a sign that the former Portuguese prime minister wants to prioritise the bloc’s relationship with the UK.

The Financial Times first reported on Wednesday that Starmer would accept Costa’s invitation to dine with EU leaders on February 3.

Starmer will be the first UK premier to meet the 27 since Britain left the EU in 2020, although he has attended gatherings of the wider European Political Community like his Conservative predecessors Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak.

Lowering barriers is a key focus for both sides but, before the meeting, officials in Brussels stressed it was too early to enter detailed talks on the reset of relations. The EU has postponed the adoption of a negotiating mandate for what it now calls a “youth experience scheme”.

Costa and Starmer also had an informal discussion about political developments, including in the Middle East. Ahead of the meeting, one EU official said: “It’s worth noting that, in the current geopolitical context, it will be a moment to focus on the fact that the EU and UK have a common stance on many topics, such as Ukraine.”

The meeting came amid rising disquiet among the pro-Europe wing of the governing UK Labour party at the level of ambition for the EU-UK “reset”, particularly over improving trade ties and striking a deal to enable 18 to 30-year-olds to live, work and study in each others’ countries.

Starmer is expected to sign a new security partnership accord with the EU early in the new year. But he has been notably cautious on the trade and mobility elements of the reset, repeatedly ruling out a deal on youth mobility.

Meanwhile, voters in the UK and major EU countries are more open to strengthening EU-UK ties than politicians on both sides, particularly in light of Donald Trump’s victory in the US presidential race, according to a new survey.

A total of 55 per cent of Britons supported a “closer” relationship with the EU, compared with 10 per cent who wanted it to be more distant, showed a poll published by the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) on Thursday.

There was also widespread support among major EU states for an EU-UK rapprochement, with more than 40 per cent of Germans, Poles, Spaniards and Italians backing closer ties. French respondents were more reluctant, with just 34 per cent in favour.

The YouGov and Datapraxis poll based on 9,278 respondents across six countries also found a very clear preference among Britons for prioritising relations with Brussels over Washington following Trump’s return to the White House.

Asked if the UK should prioritise relations with “our European neighbours” or with the US, 50 per cent of respondents chose Europe and 17 per cent selected America, with the remainder not expressing a preference.

The EU has also been highly circumspect in its approach to the reset, warning member states in internal documents that the bloc should stick to the “no cherry-picking” mantra that underpinned original Brexit talks after 2017.

However, the poll for the think-tank found that respondents in EU countries were more willing to accept that the UK be granted “special access” to the EU single market in order to strengthen the strategic partnership.

ECFR director Mark Leonard said the polling showed Brexit-era divisions were fading, adding: “Governments now need to catch up with public opinion and offer an ambitious reset.”