UK prime minister Keir Starmer said that the UK would reset its relations with the European Union, speaking at a NATO Summit press briefing on Thursday.
“It’s about a reset of our relations. I think for very many people, there was a sense after Brexit that the UK have become too inward looking” Starmer said at the 75th anniversary meeting of the alliance in Washington.
Starmer has previously said that the UK would not seek to return to the European Union, which it officially withdrew from in 2020.
Starmer led Labour to a landslide election victory in July, becoming the first leader from the centre-left party to win a UK national election since Tony Blair in 1997.
During his campaign for prime minister, Starmer ruled out rejoining the EU, the single market, or the customs unions, saying it would only bring “turmoil” to the debate, but he has said that he wants to have a closer relationship with Brussels.
Joe Biden, a critic of the Brexit deal, has backed Starmer’s ambitions to take the UK back closer to the European Union.
“I kind of see you guys as the knot tying the transatlantic alliance together, the closer you are with Europe. We know where you are, you know where we are,” he said during his first meeting with the prime minister last week.
‘Resetting’ relationships within the UK
Starmer met Estonian premier Kaja Kallas, who is about to become the European Union’s new chief diplomat, on the sidelines of the recent Nato summit.
He told GB News: “I’ve been clear with international leaders here that we do want to reset the relationship with each individual countries, whether they’re EU or not, but more broadly, and of course this being a NATO summit, NATO is the cornerstone of our defence in Europe, working with European allies on defence has never been more important than it is at the moment.”
Last week, the PM travelled across all regions of the UK to “reset” relations with Westminster. These included trips to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, with whom tensions have been strained because of border controls due to Brexit.
Next week, he will meet with the presidents of Ireland and France. The war in Ukraine is top of the agenda, but immigration and “democracy” will also be discussed in the context of a rising far right in Europe.
Euronews
