Sir Keir Starmer will be invited to meet EU leaders to discuss European security as Brussels seeks closer ties with the UK, in a significant post-Brexit move.
The British prime minister will be asked to dine with the leaders of the 27 member states at an informal retreat in Belgium on February 3 by António Costa, incoming president of the European Council, two EU officials said.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, the UK minister in charge of negotiations for a post-Brexit “reset” of relations with the EU, met Costa this week in Brussels.
No British prime minister has attended such a gathering since the country left the bloc in 2020. The invitation is a milestone as Starmer attempts to “reset” Britain’s relations with the EU after years of strained ties.
Starmer wants a security pact with Brussels, covering defence, energy and irregular migration, as a key element of his attempt to improve on the post-Brexit framework agreed by former Conservative prime minister Boris Johnson.
“We are determined to reset the relationship and we have already begun that,” Starmer told MPs on Wednesday. He said work was already under way on “trading, security and other co-operation”.
A spokesperson for Costa declined to comment on the February meeting, as did Downing Street. But Starmer would be unlikely to spurn the invitation, given his determination to put defence at the heart of the remodelled UK-EU relationship.
Like his Tory predecessors Liz Truss and Rishi Sunak, Starmer has met EU leaders as part of the wider European Political Community. Britain hosted a meeting of the group, which includes more than 40 countries, in July.
Starmer’s invitation to discuss defence with the EU27 is a reflection of the fact that the UK has one of the most advanced military and intelligence capabilities in Europe.
The February meeting also comes as European capitals come to terms with a potential change to the continent’s security framework, with the return of Donald Trump to the White House in January.
The two EU officials stressed that the meeting, which will be held at a venue outside Brussels, was an informal gathering without written conclusions. “It’s about brainstorming ideas,” said one.
Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte will attend lunch, with officials hoping that his acceptance would reassure Starmer. A spokesperson for the security alliance declined to comment.
Brussels would like to collaborate more closely with the UK on defence spending and deployments but has no desire to replicate the US-dominated military alliance, EU officials have previously said.
Mujtaba Rahman, managing director for Europe at the Eurasia Group consultancy, said: “Costa is keen to engage the European Council in more strategically oriented discussions, and Rutte is going to be a key messenger of EU policies and ideas to Trump.”
He added: “The UK also has a key role to play given the focus on security and defence, but Number 10 will be keen to avoid creating the perception of a binary choice between the US and EU.”
Andrius Kubilius, incoming EU defence commissioner, has said the UK is important to plans to increase arms manufacturing. “We consider Britain as part of Europe,” he told the Financial Times in September. “Democratic Europeans should be as united as possible.”
Kubilius told the European parliament this month that Russia could attack an EU member within the next five years.
David Lammy, UK foreign secretary, has said he wants to negotiate a wide-ranging security pact covering defence, cyber security and energy co-operation as the foundation of a new post-Brexit relationship after the turmoil of recent years.
The UK and EU are also working on plans for a summit in the first half of next year.
