Ex-PM tells Dublin audience Washington change is permanent, not a Trump aberration
Keir Starmer said on Friday that the UK and other European nations must draw closer together as the United States becomes a less-reliable partner, in his first significant political intervention since leaving No 10. The former prime minister warned European leaders of the threat posed by Russia, among others, and accused them of being caught out by the new realities twice already.
Starmer spoke to an audience at the British Irish Chamber of Commerce in Dublin after spending time in the city meeting senior business leaders and politicians, including the taoiseach, Micheál Martin, with whom he established the annual UK-Ireland summit while in office.
“A stronger Europe is vital and the UK must be at the heart of it,” Starmer said. “Europe has twice been caught asleep, failing to anticipate and prepare for predictable events. First, when Russia’s attack on Ukraine 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.”
The former prime minister said the shift in relations with Washington during Donald Trump’s presidency is not likely to reset once Trump leaves the Oval Office. “I 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,” he said.
He said that does not make the US relationship unimportant. “That doesn’t mean the US relationship is no longer important. On the contrary, the military, security and intelligence alliance is far too strong for that,” he said. “But it does mean enabling Europe to take on far more responsibility for its own defence and security.”
Starmer said the necessary response goes beyond defence. Brexit had done “deep damage” to the UK economy, he said, and he wanted to be “more ambitious”, including pursuing “closer economic cooperation [and] closer security cooperation”.
“We need to build up pan-European cooperation and coordination on defence and security – a common security framework as much as a common market,” he said. “The EU is changing to respond to that, but it cannot be the EU alone when Europe’s periphery is core to its defence.”
“Britain must be central to that project,” he said. “We are one of two nuclear powers. We are a leading Nato member. We have a viable next-generation fighter jet programme. And we are pledged to work alongside European allies to guarantee security in Ukraine.”
Starmer also pointed to cooperation with Ireland in support of Ukraine. “Ireland 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,” he said. “I hope and believe that Britain’s relationship with its friends and allies can and should be strengthened by this urgent and common security project.”
Starmer had called for closer European ties before stepping down as prime minister in July. Three months earlier, amid Trump’s war with Iran and his threats to withdraw from Nato, he described Europe as a “partnership for a dangerous world we must navigate together”.
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’s successor, Andy Burnham said he intended to be “bolder” about closer ties with the EU.
Next month, Burnham will attend an EU-UK summit where new agreements on food standards, energy and youth mobility will be the main focus. The prime minister has also said he wants a public debate on how the UK could move to a closer relationship with the EU after the next election.
At a meeting of European defence ministers in Paris this week, the defence secretary, Wes Streeting, said ministers were “united and unwavering” in support for Ukraine in the face of Russian hostility.