The European Union is demanding Britain send troops to its peacekeeping operations as the price for a closer post-Brexit relationship under the Labor government.
Foreign Ministers took advantage of David Lammy’s presence at a meeting in Luxembourg to press for the United Kingdom to be included in its Common Security and Defense Policy mission.
The bloc currently has 3,500 soldiers and 1,3000 civilians involved in 24 missions around the world, including Norway, which is not a member of the European Union.
A source present at yesterday’s meeting said the UK was not expected to get involved immediately “but it will”. The Financial Times reported.
However, such a move would be highly controversial. Brexiteers used fears that the EU was building its own army, which could see British troops under continental control, as an argument for leaving.
Foreign Ministers took advantage of David Lammy’s presence at a meeting in Luxembourg to press for the United Kingdom to be included in its Common Security and Defense Policy mission.
It came as Labor rolled out the red carpet to the EU yesterday, with Sir Keir Starmer saying he wanted to show the UK a reliable partner after the Brexit “circus”.
However, no such organization has existed for seven years.
Last night, Mr Lammy and EU High Representative Josep Borrell said they had “reaffirmed the importance of the EU-UK relationship for European security and defense and agreed to progress work towards a partnership to address common threats and challenges.
It came as Labor rolled out the red carpet to the EU yesterday, with Sir Keir Starmer saying he wanted to show the UK a reliable partner after the Brexit “circus”.
And London Mayor Sadiq Khan again called for the UK to rejoin the single market, although it was later rejected by Chancellor Rachel Reeves.
Khan acknowledged there was no short-term hope of rejoining the single market, which would give the bloc greater trade access but return freedom of movement.
He said, however, that trade barriers with the UK’s closest neighbors should be reduced and that the single market was “something we should not be afraid to talk about”.
The prime minister has made restoring ties with the European Union a priority, although it is unclear how much can be achieved within his red lines, which include ruling out a return to the single market or customs union.
He also said that he has no plans to sign up for the youth mobility plan proposed by Brussels.
But Khan backed the idea of a plan for young Britons to live and work in the EU and vice versa.
Speaking at the government’s International Investment Conference, he told the PA news agency: ‘I am absolutely clear that all successful countries trade more with their closest neighbours, that is one of the signs of success.
‘We have at our doors, not only friends, colleagues and family, we have a market of more than 500 million people.
“The good news is that the Prime Minister has spent a lot of time with friends in Europe over the last three months, whether it is the President of France, the Prime Minister of Italy, the Chancellor of Germany or the European Union, in fact, in Brussels .
‘We will bring the current Brexit deal up for review next year. I hope that, like last time, there will be closer alignment rather than divergence.
‘We should look at a number of issues and talk about them, whether it’s a youth mobility plan or what we can do to bring people together.
‘I think the reality is that, in the short term, we will probably not be members of the single market again. But it’s something we shouldn’t be afraid to talk about.”
But the chancellor later told reporters at the summit: “This is a government that plans to stick to the manifesto on which we were elected.” We won a large majority in that election to implement what we have in our manifesto, not to rewrite history and now say we have a mandate to do something else.
‘So our red lines are around bringing back the single market, the customs union and free movement, and we will stick to that manifesto.
‘But we also made it clear in our manifesto that we want to restore relations and improve our trading relationships with our closest neighbors and trading partners.
‘At the moment, especially for small businesses which are the lifeblood of any economy, being able to import and export from countries close to us is unnecessarily burdensome and as a result many small businesses no longer export.
‘Well, to grow as a company you have to expand into new markets. That’s why we want to make it easier for small businesses to trade with other countries, including the European Union.’
