Starmer Calls Time on Brexit Years and Vows Closer Ties With EU

Keir Starmer delivers a speech at the Munich Security Conference, on Feb. 14. Photographer: WPA Pool/Getty Images Europe Photo by WPA Pool /Photographer: WPA Pool/Getty Ima

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(Bloomberg) — Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Britain is no longer the country that voted for Brexit and vowed to build a closer relationship with the European Union.

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Appearing on stage Saturday alongside European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the Munich Security Conference, Starmer said he’ll pursue tighter UK-EU relations on defense and trade “with some urgency.” 

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“We are not the Britain of the Brexit years any more,” he said to loud applause from an audience of mainly diplomats and officials.

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The embattled prime minister admitted that strengthening relations with the EU will mean political trade-offs at home, but insisted that it is the right thing to do for the national interest. 

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“The prize here is greater security and stronger growth,” he said.

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The speech was Starmer’s most detailed analysis of British foreign policy and European security to date, coming at a time when he is under intense domestic pressure over his political position. It was also his strongest language yet on taking the UK closer to the EU.

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The prime minister outlined a more nuanced and pragmatic position for the UK in comparison to Canada’s Mark Carney and French President Emmanuel Macron, who’ve warned of an historic decoupling from the US. Instead, Starmer wants Britain to bolster ties with Europe while maintaining close relations with Washington, in part because of Britain’s unique interconnectedness with America on nuclear deterrence and intelligence. He rejected talk of a “rupture.” 

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“That could prove to be a moment of destruction,” he said. The US, he added, “remains an indispensable ally.” 

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Nonetheless, he called for a radical overhaul of transatlantic relations to end years of “over-reliance” on Washington and move toward a relationship based on what he called “interdependence.”

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“Rather than pretending we can replace all US capabilities, we should decrease some dependencies and diversify,” he said. “We recognize things are changing.” 

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He called for closer UK-EU cooperation on defense financing and said he would look for innovative proposals for how to fund increases in expenditure. 

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He also touched on the deeper problem facing leaders across Europe: how to prepare voters for the costs and sacrifices of an era of global tensions when budgets are already under stress and they’ve grown accustomed to decades of relative peace. 

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He warned that in the 1930s, European leaders were too slow to level with the public about the realities and that now they “must build consent about decisions we must take to make us safe.” 

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“The road ahead is straight and clear. We must build our hard power because that is the currency of the age,” he said, in comments that will spur expectations that he will have to more rapidly increase UK defense spending. 

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Starmer said that Russia is rearming and that the threat to Europe will only increase if there was a peace deal on Ukraine.

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He committed the UK deploying its Carrier Strike Group to the Arctic this year alongside US and Canadian forces and stressed that the UK would defend any NATO country that comes under attack under its Article 5 clause. 

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“Be in no doubt,” he said, “if called upon, the UK would come to your aid today.” 

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