NATO, European Political Community to be new PM Starmer’s first foreign engagements

4 months ago 34

Newly installed UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Saturday (6 July) announced his first trip overseas in the job will be to the NATO Summit in Washington on Tuesday (9 July), in a speech otherwise dedicated to domestic politics.

Starmer reminded “It is for me to be absolutely clear that the first duty of my government is security and defence,” a topic which ranked highly on the Labour manifesto.

Of the summit, he called it an opportunity “to make clear our unshakeable support of NATO,” and “to reiterate our support towards Ukraine.”

Both have been topics of cross-party consensus with Labour and the Conservatives, pledging 2.5% of GDP to be spent on defence. Starmer has also spoken with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, on multiple occasions to reaffirm his support.

The new UK Foreign, Secretary David Lammy, has also accepted an invitation to visit Kyiv.

The week after, Starmer is scheduled to play host to European leaders at the European Political Community (EPC) summit that will take place at Blenheim Palace.

The meeting is expected to serve as a chance for countries to reaffirm continued support for Ukraine, with a closer look at other crises in Europe’s neighbourhood. It will also be an opportunity to see, how the new UK government approaches relations with European countries and the EU.

Labour’s focus, however, remains largely on domestic politics.

Most of his Saturday announcements referred to how his cabinet would work and the tone of his government, his intention to travel first to the ‘four nations’ of the UK, and the work to be done to prepare for ‘the King’s Speech’.

The King’s Speech is the ceremonial opening of the new session of the British Parliament at Westminster. It is where the monarch reads the policy agenda of the new government and will take place following the EPC, although it too will focus on domestic affairs, it is also expected to contain signs of how the UK will engage with Europe.

It is after the King’s Speech that concrete work on EU-UK relations can begin.

Nathalie Loiseau MEP (Renew) and Chair of the EU-UK Parliamentary Assembly told Euractiv she “looks forward to bringing her commitment and energy in this new context as soon as both sides have reset their parliamentary bodies.”

[Edited by Alexandra Brzozowski/ Rajnish Singh]