Starmer will use first two summits to ‘strengthen’ EU ties

Sir Keir Starmer will use his first two international summits to “strengthen” ties to the EU.

The Prime Minister said he would use the 75th anniversary gathering of Nato states in Washington to tell European leaders he wants closer ties with Brussels.

Sir Keir will then seek to further improve relations with EU countries at a conference at Blenheim Palace next week, which was originally organised by Rishi Sunak.

The Prime Minister has brought David Lammy, the Foreign Secretary, and John Healey, the Defence Secretary, with him to the Nato meeting as expected.  He has also taken the unusual step of inviting Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Europe minister.

Asked why Mr Thomas-Symonds was attending, the Prime Minister said: “Look, this is straightforward. 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. Now that is a follow-up, if you like, on some of the phone calls that I’ve already had with international leaders that I’ve been doing since the King invited me to form a Government.”

Sir Keir said he would hammer home the message at the Blenheim Palace of the European Political Community (EPC).

“We’ve got the EPC coming up at the tail end of next week, so that’s why I wanted Nick and David and John and me. I want to make sure we take full advantage of this opportunity,” he said.

“These are meetings that would probably take months and months and months for us to fit in as a team if we were not taking advantage of this summit for the purposes of those relations and the EPC.

“The central purpose is obviously all about Nato, but it is a very important opportunity to strengthen those relations. We built [the relations] in opposition with Nato allies, so I’ve spoken to a lot of Nato allies when I was leader of the opposition.

“I’ve taken the opportunity to speak to them on the phone very early on in this Government, and I want Nick here, David here and John here to double down on that.”

During the general election campaign, Rachel Reeves, the Chancellor, said she wanted to seek closer alignment with EU rules. She referenced chemicals and veterinary sector rules, better touring rights for UK artists and greater mutual recognition of qualifications for financial services workers.

Sir Keir also said he wanted to improve Britain’s defence and security relations with the EU.