Starmer stresses ‘urgency’ of closer defence ties with Europe at Munich conference | Keir Starmer

There is an urgent need for a closer UK defense relationship with Europe, covering supply and production, to place the UK at the center of a stronger European defense structure, Keir Starmer has said.

In a rare visit to the Munich Security Conference, the British prime minister told an applauded audience: “We are 10 years after Brexit. We are not the Britain of the Brexit years.”

Starmer argued that the long-term threat posed by Russia and the need for Europe to take greater responsibility for its own defense required the UK to integrate more closely with its European allies on defense procurement.

The UK and France, considered the most resistant to non-EU states accessing the European defense market, are keen to restart talks about the UK joining Security Action for Europe, an EU rearmament plan, after talks stalled last year due to the UK’s cost of entry.

France insisted that the high cost of Britain’s membership bid was not due to French pressure but the result of European Commission calculations in which France played no part.

Starmer is also reviewing the case European Defense MechanismThis would be an intergovernmental instrument open to all European democracies, inside or outside the EU. Members of the proposed institution will finance joint acquisitions and joint assets across Europe.

This idea has been supported by the Bruegel Institute and, more recently, by former British foreign secretary David Miliband.

Starmer described Europe as a “sleeping giant”.

“Our economy dwarfs Russia’s by a factor of 10. We have huge defense capabilities, but often this amounts to less than the sum of the parts. Fragmented industrial planning and procurement has led to gaps in some areas and massive duplication in others,” he said, adding that the situation was “wildly inefficient and detrimental to our collective security.” “Now, the US security umbrella has allowed these bad habits to flourish, but we must break them now.”

He added: “There is no security for Britain without Europe, there is no security for Europe without Britain. This is the lesson of history and the reality of today. So we must get there together. We must spend more, deliver more and coordinate more.”

The new normal, he said, is for Europe to assume primary responsibility for its own conventional diplomacy. “Instead of claiming that we can simply replace all of the United States’ capabilities, we should focus on diversifying and reducing some dependencies. We should make intergenerational investments that will move us from overdependence to interdependence.”

“We see the necessity, we see the urgency. We want to work together to lead a generational change in defense industry cooperation.”

He said he realized that moving closer to the EU single market required politics and compromises but that “the status quo is not fit for purpose and in my view there is no doubt where the national interests lie”.

He stressed that a closer UK-EU defense relationship does not mean a weakening of UK-US relations or the power of NATO.

He described NATO as “the most effective defense alliance we have ever known, and we must never move away from that,” adding that the security and intelligence relationship with the United States is “so far.” [as] tight as ever”.

He said that Europe’s increased defense autonomy is not a harbinger of the United States withdrawing from NATO. But Starmer added that European leaders need to be more honest with their voters about how the world is changing and the cost of defense will rise.

He insisted that Britain had emerged from a tumultuous week in domestic politics stronger than at the beginning and said it was a good place to be.

Referring to the growing popularity of other parties in the UK, Starmer said: “The easy answer peddlers are ready on the far left and right and will instead offer their own solutions. It is remarkable how much the different ends of the spectrum share. Soft on Russia, weak on NATO without openly opposing it, and determined to sacrifice the relationships we need on the altar of their own ideology.”

“The future they offer is one of division followed by surrender. All over Europe the lamps will go out once again.”