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Sir Keir Starmer is set to make the case for the UK and its western allies to forge a multinational defence initiative that could oversee joint weapons procurement and drive down the costs of rearmament.

The British prime minister is expected to raise the idea at the Munich Security Conference this weekend, according to UK government officials.

He is poised to call for closer defence co-operation with allies in a speech on Saturday, as well as in private discussions with other leaders at the three-day event.

In the past fortnight Starmer has also expressed interest in re-opening talks about the UK joining Security Action for Europe, an EU rearmament scheme, after discussions stalled last year.

He said he wanted to look at the scheme as well as other ideas spanning defence spending, capabilities and co-operation. 

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said this week she wanted to work with western partners to find ways of driving down the cost of rearmament and delivering joint defence projects more effectively.

The UK is grappling with the huge expense of boosting its military power following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine and as US President Donald Trump presses Nato members to increase defence spending.

Work is now under way across Whitehall to explore potential options to overcome a UK defence funding black hole of up to £28bn over the next decade.

Britain and its Nato allies have promised to increase defence spending to 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2035, but the UK’s tight fiscal position means it has yet to lay out a pathway to achieve that goal.

Reeves said on Wednesday there was common agreement between the UK and many EU member states that they needed to get better “value for money” on the increasing amounts they spend on defence.

That required greater interoperability between defence projects, the use of more joint procurement and European countries not all having different specifications for weapons, she added.

“We are absolutely taking those ideas forward, many European finance ministers and defence ministers are keen to seize the opportunity there,” Reeves told a conference organised by the Bruegel think-tank and London School of Economics.

A paper presented to EU finance ministers by Bruegel last year argued in favour of a “European defence mechanism” that could issue debt to fund joint purchases of weapons.

Weapons financed by the mechanism could be temporarily stockpiled, keeping the associated debt off participating countries’ balance sheets, the paper said.

Reeves is interested in the possibility of developing such a mechanism and is seeking support among EU member states.

Some EU politicians have already backed the concept, including the parties planning to form a minority coalition in the Netherlands.

In their coalition agreement, published last month, the Dutch parties said they were exploring the possibility of an intergovernmental European defence mechanism for the joint procurement of defence equipment and the harmonisation of product standards.

This would involve close co-operation with Nato partners outside the EU, including the UK, they added.

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Guntram Wolff, senior fellow at Bruegel, said Germany, the region’s largest economy, appeared to be more focused on its own massive rearmament rather than joining a scheme such as the one floated by the think-tank.

But he added: “The truth is that with less trust in the US at some stage we will all have to think about it.”

A UK Treasury spokesperson said: “We are committed to deepening co-operation with our allies to deter and disrupt threats — including strengthening the UK’s unshakeable commitment to Nato.”

Reeves’ focus on defence comes as she prepares to build on her “securonomics” strategy for working towards greater UK economic resilience in a speech after the upcoming spring fiscal forecast due from the Office for Budget Responsibility on March 3.

The speech will spell out how she wants to build an “active and strategic state” working in partnership with business to pursue stability and investment, the Treasury said.

Additional reporting by Paola Tamma and Sylvia Pfeifer