Keir Starmer signals major UK pivot towards EU after Donald Trump’s taunts

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Sir Keir Starmer has signalled a major pivot by Britain towards the EU after weeks of taunts from US President Donald Trump over the UK’s stance on the war in Iran.

The prime minister on Wednesday said building stronger economic and defence ties with Europe would be at the centre of an EU-UK summit in Brussels in the summer, describing the move as “in our long-term national interest”.

Trump has repeatedly insulted Starmer and the UK in recent weeks and has suggested that the US could pull out of Nato, long seen in London as the cornerstone of European defence.

The US president has said that Starmer is “not Winston Churchill”, that Britain’s two aircraft carriers were “toys” and on Tuesday added that the UK should show some “belated courage” and get its own oil from the Gulf.

At a press conference in Downing Street, Starmer said he would not bow to “pressure” from Trump and would not be dragged into a wider war in the Gulf, but the breach in transatlantic trust has accelerated Britain’s efforts to reintegrate with the EU.

Almost 10 years after the UK voted to leave the bloc in June 2016, Starmer said he would not “choose” between America and Europe, but made it clear that the focus of UK foreign policy was shifting.

“It is increasingly clear, as the world continues down this volatile path, our long-term national interest requires closer partnership with our allies in Europe and with the EU,” he said.

Brexit had caused “deep damage”, Starmer said, signalling a new level of ambition for a summit planned for late June or early July.

“At that summit the UK will not just ratify existing commitments made at last year’s summit,” he said, referring to provisional deals for closer agriculture and energy trade and a youth mobility scheme.

“We want to be more ambitious and build closer economic co-operation and closer security co-operation,” Starmer said.

He added: “It is a partnership that recognises our shared values, our shared interests and our shared future — a partnership for this dangerous world that we must navigate together.”

While Starmer’s rhetoric towards the EU is growing warmer, the practicalities of building closer links with the 27-member bloc are considerable, not least because the prime minister refuses to contemplate rejoining the single market or a new customs union.

Efforts by Britain to join a new EU defence initiative, known as Safe, foundered last year because of the high entry fee being demanded by Brussels, while UK attempts to join parts of the single market are often viewed as “cherry picking”.

Meanwhile, the EU has many other issues to tackle and there are fears in Brussels that any deals with Starmer could quickly be undone were Nigel Farage’s Reform UK to win power at the next election, which must be held by the summer of 2029.

Mujtaba Rahman, of the Eurasia Group consultancy, said: “The EU sees the signals the UK government is sending but is unclear and ultimately cautious about what it means.

“If Starmer’s proposition is ‘we want a bit more of the single market because of greater geopolitical uncertainty’, that is unlikely to move officials in Brussels or national capitals.”