"Keir Starmer will say the UK and Europe need to step up their commitments to Nato and avoid the risk of overdependence on the US for defence, as he sets out one of the main planks of his foreign policy vision on Saturday. Speaking at the Munich Security Conference, the prime minister will warn against the idea of the UK turning inwards on security, instead calling for a focus on what he will call the sleeping giant of shared European defence capabilities."
"The speech warns that voters will need to be primed to expect greater spending on defence, and to be told the reasons why, or face the peddlers of easy answers such as Reform UK and the Greens risking national security. Downing Street officials stress that Starmer's call is not being made over fears that the US is no longer committed to Nato, and is more a response to demands from Washington that European nations commit more to defence."
"He used his speech to lambast European leaders for supposedly blocking free speech and being soft on migration, questioning whether such values were compatible with a US guarantee of mutual security. Trump has regularly questioned the value of Nato, including the claim in January that European nations stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines while supporting US troops in Afghanistan,"
The UK and European states need to increase commitments to NATO and reduce overdependence on the United States for defence. Priority should be given to developing shared European defence capabilities described as a sleeping giant. Voters should be prepared for higher defence spending and given clear explanations to counter simplistic political messaging from parties such as Reform UK and the Greens. Officials present the push as a response to US demands for greater European burden-sharing rather than evidence of US withdrawal. Recent US political rhetoric has raised questions about mutual defence assurances and tested transatlantic ties.
Read at www.theguardian.com
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]