Starmer tells Dublin crowd Europe can no longer rely on US to 'bankroll' its defence
Sir Keir warns that "things will not go back to the way they were" as he says the US makes it clear it will no longer "bankroll" its allies.
Starmer tells Dublin crowd Europe can no longer rely on US to 'bankroll' its defence
Sir Keir Starmer has said Europe should create a shared security framework, warning that the shift in its defence ties with the US is lasting rather than "an aberration of the Trump presidency".
Sir Keir said Europe needed a "common security framework" as much as a common market, with the UK at its centre.
He warned that "things will not go back to the way they were," adding that the US had made clear it will no longer "bankroll" its European allies.
Instead, he said the UK-USA military, security and intelligence alliance was "far too strong for that".
But he said Europe must be enabled to "take on far more responsibility for its own defence and security".
"Europe has twice been caught asleep – failing to anticipate and prepare for predictable events," he said.
"First when Russia's attack on Ukraine exposed long-standing 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," he added.
He added: "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.
Sir Keir said higher defence spending was part of the answer, but that the challenge "goes far beyond that."
"We need to build up pan-European co-operation and co-ordination on defence and security – a common security framework as much as a common market," he said.
"The EU is changing to respond to that," he said, warning that it "cannot be the EU alone when Europe's periphery is core to its defence."
The pair built a positive relationship in their first months working together, which Sir Keir's team described at the time as one of the biggest successes of his premiership.
But Trump later mocked Sir Keir as being "no Winston Churchill" in a dispute over the refusal to allow the use of UK bases for the initial US-Israel strikes on Iran, and the repeated his criticism of the UK's response to the conflict.
Asked whether Trump had wished him well as he prepared to leave Downing Street, Sir Keir said: "Yes he did, and we're going to stay in touch."