{"id":819871,"date":"2026-10-31T15:26:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T15:26:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/819871\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T15:26:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T15:26:14","slug":"starmer-says-uk-must-get-closer-to-europe-as-us-relationship-changes-keir-starmer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/819871\/","title":{"rendered":"Starmer says UK must get closer to Europe as US relationship changes | Keir Starmer"},"content":{"rendered":"

The UK and other European nations must draw closer together as the US becomes a less-reliable partner, Keir Starmer<\/a> has said in his first significant political intervention since leaving No 10.<\/p>\n

The former prime minister warned European leaders of the threat posed by Russia, among others, and said the shift in relations with Washington during Donald Trump\u2019s presidency was not likely to reset once he leaves the Oval Office. He accused them of being caught out by these new realities twice already.<\/p>\n

\u201cA stronger Europe<\/a> is vital and the UK must be at the heart of it,\u201d Starmer told an audience at the British Irish Chamber of Commerce on Friday. \u201cEurope has twice been caught asleep, failing to anticipate and prepare for predictable events.<\/p>\n

\u201cFirst, when Russia\u2019s attack on Ukraine<\/a> exposed longstanding European weaknesses on defence and security, and second, when President Trump made clear, once and for all, that the US will no longer bankroll our European security. We have to catch up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Starmer had called for closer European ties before stepping down as prime minister<\/a> in July. Three months earlier, amid Trump\u2019s war with Iran and his threats to withdraw from Nato, Starmer said Europe represented a \u201cpartnership for a dangerous world we must navigate together\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said those ties should go further than just defence, adding that Brexit had done \u201cdeep damage\u201d to the UK economy, and that he wanted to be \u201cmore ambitious\u201d, including pursuing \u201ccloser economic cooperation [and] closer security cooperation\u201d.<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer alongside the US president, Donald Trump, at the Nato leaders\u2019 summit in Ankara, Turkey in July. Photograph: Yves Herman\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Starmer spoke after spending time in Dublin meeting senior business leaders and politicians, including the taoiseach, Miche\u00e1l Martin, with whom he established the annual UK-Ireland summit.<\/p>\n

\u201cI will say here what I have said to European leaders. This is about responding to a permanent change of affairs, not an aberration of the Trump presidency. Things will not go back to the way they were before.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat doesn\u2019t mean the US relationship is no longer important. On the contrary, the military, security and intelligence alliance is far too strong for that. But it does mean enabling Europe to take on far more responsibility for its own defence and security.\u201d<\/p>\n

His comments reflect a growing consensus on the left of UK politics that closer ties with Europe are essential to ensure economic and military security. Soon after taking office as Starmer\u2019s successor, Andy Burnham<\/a> said that he intended to be \u201cbolder\u201d about closer ties with the EU.<\/p>\n

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Next month, Burnham will attend a crucial EU-UK summit<\/a> where new agreements on food standards, energy and youth mobility will be the main focus.<\/p>\n

Burnham has also said he wants a public debate on how the UK could move to a closer relationship with the EU<\/a> after the next election. At a meeting of European defence ministers in Paris this week, the defence secretary, Wes Streeting, said that they were \u201cunited and unwavering\u201d in support for Ukraine in the face of Russian hostility.<\/p>\n

Starmer said: \u201cWe need to build up pan-European cooperation and coordination on defence and security \u2013 a common security framework as much as a common market. The EU is changing to respond to that, but it cannot be the EU alone when Europe\u2019s periphery is core to its defence.<\/p>\n

\u201cBritain must be central to that project. We are one of two nuclear powers. We are a leading Nato<\/a> member. We have a viable next-generation fighter jet programme. And we are pledged to work alongside European allies to guarantee security in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland and the UK stand side by side in the coalition of the willing and with Ukraine, working together to guarantee and shape the security of our continent. I hope and believe that Britain\u2019s relationship with its friends and allies can and should be strengthened by this urgent and common security project.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The UK and other European nations must draw closer together as the US becomes a less-reliable partner, Keir…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819872,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-819871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819871"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819871\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819872"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}