UK’s Starmer aims to overhaul EU relations at key summit

OXFORD, England — The U.K.’s new Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer is seeking to reset fractured relations with Europe on Thursday, as he hosts more than 45 heads of state from across the continent at Winston Churchill’s birthplace.

Starmer told the European Political Summit that the challenges facing Europe cannot be confronted alone, and that the region must work together to present a united front on security and defense.

“We want to work with all of you to reset relationships,” he told attendees in opening remarks at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England. “The task is urgent because our security is on the line.”

Starmer, who has been in post for two weeks, said he wanted to “extend a hand” to all European leaders and re-establish Britain’s role as a key ally outside of the European Union.

“Under my leadership, Britain will be a friend and a partner — ready to work with you, not as part of the European Union, but very much part of Europe,” he said.

The comments are part of Starmer’s goals for his new U.K. government to take a “more active and greater convening role” on the global stage, according to a Wednesday statement from Downing Street.

“We cannot let the challenges of the recent past define our relationships of the future,” Starmer said in the statement.

“That is why European security will be at the forefront of this government’s foreign and defence priorities, and why I am focused on seizing this moment to renew our relationship with Europe,” he added.

It comes as the prospect of a second presidency from Republican candidate Donald Trump hangs over Europe after an assassination attempt over the weekend buoyed support for the former president.

Both Trump and his newly announced running mate JD Vance have indicated that continued support for Europe — and in particular Ukraine — are not guaranteed under a second Trump administration. The Republican presidential nominee has repeatedly lambasted the continent’s lack of defense spending, and has threatened to pull out of NATO, while Vance has shown ambivalence over U.S. intervention in foreign affairs.

In anticipation, European NATO members have been upping their defense spending, including a new commitment from Starmer to spend 2.5% of U.K. gross domestic product (GDP) on defense.

The leaders of the European Union’s 27 member states, as well as 20 other heads of state from across the region, arrived Thursday to attend the one-day EPC summit at the historic English country house.

For the first time this year, the forum is also attended by members of NATO and the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Council of Europe.

It is the fourth time the EPC forum has been held since it was devised in 2022 by French President Emmanuel Macron in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The forum’s stated aims are to foster political dialogue and cooperation, and strengthen the security, stability and prosperity of Europe. Sessions held Thursday include three roundtables on migration, energy and connectivity, and defending and securing democracy.

Discussions around a new post-Brexit U.K.-EU trade agreement will not be on the table, however, with U.K. Foreign Secretary David Lammy telling BBC Breakfast earlier on Thursday that the two sides were “nowhere near” such a pact.

The summit has faced criticism in the past from those who question the value of having yet another political grouping, particularly as the previous summit in Granada, Spain closed with few concrete takeaways.