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The UK and the EU are exploring the prospect of new talks on closer defence cooperation, as Keir Starmer stressed on Friday that he wanted to “go further” in the UK’s relationship with Brussels.
Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade commissioner, is due in London for talks next week, with trade, energy and fisheries on the agenda. But diplomatic sources said the UK is keen to discuss restarting negotiations on defence as soon as it can.
Talks for the UK to join the EU’s €150bn (£130bn) Security Action for Europe (Safe) defence fund collapsed in November 2025 amid claims that the EU had set too high a price on entry to the programme.
France has denied it was responsible for the breakdown in talks, but diplomatic sources say tension remains between Paris and other member states, particularly Germany, where sources have said they want the UK to be involved in Safe “as soon as possible”.
One European source said that France wanted to make the UK’s involvement in Safe conditional on London participating in a second defence programme agreed in December by EU leaders, who are providing a €90bn loan to Ukraine securitised against Russian frozen assets held in Belgium. Germany does not want any preconditions.
Sources in Brussels have admitted that the failure to agree terms in November was “an embarrassment” given the EU and both sides had already declared the prospect of “enhanced cooperation” through Safe at the summit hosted by Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen in May last year.
However, there is understood to be greater appetite for a deal on the UK to join a future round of Safe on all sides, especially since Donald Trump’s threats to take over Greenland and criticism of Nato.
Speaking in Beijing on Friday, Starmer did not mention defence, but stressed that the UK wants to see a closer relationship in areas that go beyond what has already been agreed on trade.
Possible areas for future extra deals are chemicals and cars, which will be hit with tariffs from next year for non-electric vehicles. The UK is also negotiating the details of a youth mobility scheme, with Starmer seeking a cap on numbers and fixed duration for free travel.
“I think we should not just follow through on what we’ve already agreed. I think the relationship with the EU and every summit should be iterative,” he said.
“We should be seeking to go further. And I think there are other areas in the single market where we should look to see whether we can’t make more progress. That will depend on our discussions and what we think is in our national interest.
“But what I’m indicating here is – I do think we can go further. And the place to look is the single market, rather than the customs union, which doesn’t now serve our purpose very well.”
Starmer is facing pressure from within his own party for closer ties with the EU, especially since relations with the US have been chequered under Trump.
Stella Creasy, Labour MP and chair of the Labour Movement for Europe, said: “There’s now a growing recognition our future lies with restoring a strong working relationship not just on defence but on national and economic security. That means everything should be on the table in talks with EU countries.”
Šefčovič will meet Nick Thomas-Symonds on Monday for the annual meeting of the EU-UK Partnership Council, the body created to oversee the EU-UK post-Brexit agreement. Defence is not currently on the agenda, with the UK understood to be prioritising progress on food and drink.
Šefčovič and EU economy commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis are also due to meet Rachel Reeves to discuss geoeconomics, and he will also have meetings with Peter Kyle, the business secretary.
There may be further opportunities for the EU and UK to discuss defence at a political summit, convened by Marco Rubio to discuss critical minerals, in Washington on Wednesday, with the Foreign Office sending a minister.
On the prospect of further cooperation on defence, one source close to the government said: “The UK government was prepared to pay a certain amount, but there was a huge gap between the parties.
“Europe needs the UK, so they thought this could all be revisited and fixed. And there was a political obstacle.
“The UK government is open to a second go but clearly if the EU came back with the same kind of proposition, it would be the same answer. It was very much the French who were seen as pushing this unreasonable position.”
It is understood that the EU had demanded that the UK contribute around €2bn to the fund, but that the British felt a contribution “in the hundreds of millions” was more appropriate.
The fund is made up of money the European Commission raises on a credit markets, which is then lent to member states over 45 years, who can buy everything from ammunition to drones and missiles.
The money is then offered via low-cost loans to help member states procure military equipment from within the EU and outside the EU including the UK and other countries, such as Canada.
The aim of the fund was to enable the EU to quickly build up a defence capability, something given an extra urgency by the lack of support from Trump.
The UK is not eligible to apply for a Safe loan, but if it joined the programme under third country rules, UK companies could tender for procurement contracts to provide arms to the EU, boosting the British defence industry.
