UK fires warning to Macron over EU defence alliance plans
In Washington
The UK is set to warn the EU not to try to replace Nato with its own defence pact – even as Sir Keir Starmer negotiates a new security deal with Brussels.
The Prime Minister has been meeting Nato leaders including Emmanuel Macron and Olaf Scholz at the alliance’s summit in Washington, his first international gathering since taking office last week.
He is focussing on shoring up support for Ukraine and pushing partners to spend more on defence, despite refusing to set a date for a hike in Britain’s own spending.
Sir Keir said as he arrived at the summit that he wanted to “send a message to Putin” about “the resolve of Nato, bigger now than it’s ever been, more united than it’s ever been and absolutely clear-eyed about the threat of Russian aggression”.
Shortly before the summit kicked off, the Prime Minister held one-on-one talks with Mr Scholz, the Chancellor of Germany, and Ukraine’s leader Volodymyr Zelensky.
He told Mr Zelensky: “As you know from the get-go, there’s a change of government but no change of approach.” The Ukrainian President replied: “Thank you for the military financing packages and support, thank you very much.”
While ramping up co-operation on security the UK is also pushing the EU not to seek to replace Nato with a new internal defence pact, i understands.
Leaders including Mr Macron have suggested a pact could make Europe more secure by reducing its reliance on the USA, but British officials have privately warned EU allies against imposing additional protectionist measures on their defence industries.
Sir Keir insisted that Britain’s global defence alliances must remain “Nato first”, adding: “I do see scope for complementing that. That is why we are wanting to advance the defence and security pact or agreement with the EU.”
In a highly unusual move, he has brought Nick Thomas-Symonds – the new Minister for European Relations – with him to Nato, along with the Foreign Secretary David Lammy and Defence Secretary John Healey.
The Prime Minister said: “Because of the timing of the election, which was much discussed for other reasons, it has provided a really important window of opportunity for me and my team, because we’ve got the Nato summit within a week of the election, so we get the opportunity to strengthen our relations with various of the Nato leaders and others obviously that are there, including EU leaders.”
During the summit, Sir Keir is planning to push other countries to ramp up their own defence spending. Now 23 of the 32 member governments meet the target of spending at least 2 per cent of their GDP on the military, but the UK believes that the goal will need to rise in the near future.
The Prime Minister has been under pressure to lay out a timetable to increase Britain’s own spending to 2.5 per cent from its current level of 2.3 per cent – which Rishi Sunak had promised to do by 2030.
A senior No 10 official said: “In terms of the commitment the previous Government gave, then there certainly has been a fair degree of skepticism that the maths of that announcement ever added up in terms of thinking that you can get to 2.5 by 2030 simply by sacking some civil servants.
“We want to get to 2.5 per cent as quickly as we possibly can, we will do that in line with our fiscal rules and obviously spending announcements are for the Treasury and will be made in future spending reviews to set out the way in which we are going to get to increased defense spending in line with that ambition.”
After the meeting with Mr Scholz, a No 10 spokesman said: “The Chancellor welcomed the Prime Minister’s commitment to re-setting the UK’s European partnerships. They discussed the importance of having the widest possible cooperation across all aspects of the relationship.
“The two leaders moved on to discuss the need for enhanced defence cooperation in Europe to act as a deterrent for aggression by hostile actors. They agreed that the Nato summit was an opportunity to solidify and strengthen our support for Ukraine. The two leaders agreed a firm commitment to strike a deep UK-Germany defence agreement and a shared determination to start work together forging the agreement without delay.”
Nato insiders have admitted behind closed doors that they are concerned about the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency undermining support for Ukraine, and are moving to boost the long-term structures of Nato so that it is less dependent on American underpinning.