PM to deliver speech in Munich calling for UK to work more closely with EU on defence
Daily Telegraph 14/02/26
Sir Keir Starmer will claim the UK is no longer “the Britain of the Brexit years” when he addresses world leaders in Munich.
The Prime Minister will argue that Britain should work more closely with the EU on defence, and will urge Europe to end its over-dependence on the United States.
In a speech at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday, Sir Keir will claim that turning inwards would amount to a “surrender” of control during an era of heightened international instability.
“We are not the Britain of the Brexit years anymore,” he will say. “Because we know that, in dangerous times, we would not take control by turning inward – we would surrender it. And I won’t let that happen.
“There is nThe Chancellor’s comments represented a significant shift in tone. In January, she said Britain could not “go back in time” in its relationship with the EU.
Europe ‘must reduce dependence on US’
The Telegraph understands that Labour has ordered officials to find new ways to align sectors of the British economy with EU rules.
A team of civil servants has spent the last six weeks looking for areas to apply “dynamic alignment”, whereby the UK would agree to match standards regulations with Brussels.
The more pro-European stance comes as the Prime Minister’s position has been weakened by the Lord Mandelson scandal and the rebellion against his leadership by Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, on Monday.
Morgan McSweeney, who believed Labour had to honour the Brexit vote, was also recently forced out as Sir Keir’s chief of staff and the Cabinet is expected to flex its muscles to demand he adopt a more Europhile position.o British security without Europe, and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history – and it is today’s reality too.”
Sir Keir’s comments come days after Rachel Reeves said she was “up for” taking Britain closer to the EU, and claimed it would be the “biggest prize” for the UK economy.
The Prime Minister arrived in Munich on Friday evening. During the conference, he will discuss European defence and the future of the trans-Atlantic relationship – at a time when the US commitment to Nato has been called into question.
In his speech, Sir Keir will say that in the age of Donald Trump, Europe must reduce its dependence on the US and take more responsibility for its own defence.
His comments follow the announcement by Friedrich Merz, the German chancellor, that he was in talks with France to develop a European nuclear deterrent that could protect the Continent without the help of the US.
PM’s ‘vision of European security and autonomy’
Sir Keir will say: “I’m talking about a vision of European security and greater European autonomy, that does not herald US withdrawal but answers the call for more burden sharing in full, and remakes the ties that have served us so well.”
He will also highlight Europe’s failure to make the most of its defence capabilities and call for closer UK-EU defence co-operation “to multiply our strengths and build a shared industrial base across Europe which can turbocharge our defence production”.
Talks on Britain joining the EU’s new £130bn Security Action for Europe (Safe) rearmament fund were reported to have broken down at the end of last year, as the price for entry was thought to be too high.
“Europe is a sleeping giant,” the Prime Minister will say. “Our economies dwarf Russia’s, 10 times over. We have huge defence capabilities. Yet, too often, all of this has added up to less than the sum of its parts.
“Across Europe, fragmented industrial planning and long, drawn-out procurement mechanisms have led to gaps in some areas – and massive duplication in others.”
Reform and Greens to come under fire
The Labour leader will also hit out at Reform UK and the Green Party, which threaten to push his party into third place in this month’s Gorton and Denton by-election, describing them as “the peddlers of easy answers on the extreme Left and the extreme Right”.
He will say: “It’s striking that the different ends of the spectrum share so much. Soft on Russia and weak on Nato – if not outright opposed – and determined to sacrifice the long-standing relationships that we want and need to build, on the altar of their ideology.
“The future they offer is one of division and then capitulation. The lamps would go out across Europe once again. But we will not let that happen.”
Ministers have already signed a dynamic alignment deal with the EU on food, animal and plant health regulations, and are planning to link up the British and European electricity and carbon credit markets.
Sources told The Telegraph that the automotive and digital service sectors could be the next to be brought under European rules, which will make it easier to export products to the EU.
David Lammy, the Deputy Prime Minister, and Wes Streeting, the Health Secretary, have called for Britain to consider re-entering the customs union.
But that approach has been ruled out by Nick Thomas-Symonds, the minister for the Cabinet Office, who is seen as a calming influence in debates with more pro-European Labour colleagues and in negotiations with Brussels.
Labour sources said the change in Downing Street personnel after the Lord Mandelson scandal would help determine the UK’s approach to the EU.
‘Political suicide’
Rejoining the customs union was reportedly under discussion by Sir Keir’s former communications director, Tim Allan, but was opposed by Mr McSweeney. Both men have now left the Government, but ministers remain concerned about the electoral impact of any attempt to reverMr Macron is expected to deliver a major speech later this month offering to extend his country’s nuclear “umbrella” over fellow European allies.
European leaders want to be able to stand up to Mr Trump, who has eroded transatlantic relations with his threats to impose tariffs on EU states and to seize Greenland, as well as siding with Russia during Ukraine peace talks.
But the Continent is unable to break free of the historic reliance because it depends too heavily on US military might, including its nuclear arsenal.se Brexit.
A Whitehall source told The Telegraph: “Rejoining the customs union would be political f---ing suicide”.
Mr Merz confirmed at the conference on Friday that high-level discussions had begun with France about the potential European nuclear deterrent.
He said: “We’re not doing this by writing Nato off. We’re doing it by building a strong, self-supporting European pillar within the alliance. I have started the first talks with French President Emmanuel Macron about European nuclear deterrence.”
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