Keir Starmer‘s new Labour Government is pushing to “reset” relations with the EU – and it’s all starting with a fresh defence agreement between the UK and France.
Speaking to POLITICO, Defence Secretary John Healey said he aimed to reboot the 2010 Lancaster House Agreement defence pact in the face of increased global threats.
He added that the fresh push was “exactly what we said before the election, that we would be a government that would reset Britain’s relations with Europe and especially with the leading European nations”.
This comes as Starmer has previously outlined his vision for a “new approach” to relations with Europe, stating the need for a robust security pact with the EU soon after becoming PM.
Healy met allies this month at the Ukraine Defense Contact Group in Germany, where he said this was the “the right time” to revisit the treaty with France.
The Defence Secretary said he was “confident that the French will want to take that degree of cooperation further”.
The original agreement, signed by respective leaders of the time David Cameron and Nicolas Sarkozy in 2010, forged a closer military cooperation and joint development of defence technologies.
According to officials, the updated terms will take the recent Russian aggression into consideration, in a broader strategy that one anonymous source said would encompass the “heightened role of defense within diplomacy”.
“We are very happy with our first contacts,” a French diplomat familiar with the discussions said.
“The president told Starmer that the question of security and defense are essential. We already have the Lancaster House treaty; we need to reinvigorate it.”
The Labour PM is also seeking to strenghten its ties with Germany. Just this week, a British negotiating team arrived in Berlin to discuss a bilaterla pact based on Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’ commitments at the recent NATO summit.
These commitments are believed to include joint production of long-range missiles.