DUBLIN — Europe should build a common security framework and can no longer rely on the United States to 'bankroll' its defence, former British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Friday evening, warning that the change in Europe's defence relationship with the US is permanent rather than 'an aberration of the Trump presidency'. He was speaking at a British Irish Chamber of Commerce (BICC) dinner at Dublin City Hall, where he was awarded an honorary life membership of the chamber, the BBC reported.
Source: BBC News
Sir Keir said a 'common security framework' for Europe was needed as much as a common market, with the UK at its centre. He warned that 'things will not go back to the way they were', adding that the US had made clear it will no longer 'bankroll' its European allies. 'I will say here what I have said to European leaders. This is about responding to a permanent change of affairs, not an aberration of the Trump presidency. Things will not go back to the way they were before,' he said.
Source: BritBrief (Starmer Dublin speech)
'Europe has twice been caught asleep'
'Europe has twice been caught asleep — failing to anticipate and prepare for predictable events,' Starmer said. 'First when Russia's attack on Ukraine exposed long-standing European weaknesses on defence and security; and second when President Trump made clear, once and for all, that the US will no longer bankroll our European security. We have to catch up.'
Source: BritBrief (Starmer Dublin speech)
He told the crowd in Dublin City Hall, as reported by the Press Association, that his comments did not mean 'the US relationship is no longer important', and that the UK-US military, security and intelligence alliance was 'far too strong for that'. But Europe must be enabled to 'take on far more responsibility for its own defence and security', he said. Increased defence spending was part of the picture, but the challenge 'goes far beyond that': 'We need to build up pan-European co-operation and co-ordination on defence and security — a common security framework as much as a common market.'
Source: BBC News
Why the intervention matters
BritBrief described the speech as Starmer's first major intervention since leaving Downing Street. His argument — that Europe's periphery is core to its defence and therefore the framework cannot be the EU alone — lands as European governments debate how to organise defence as US support shifts, and after European nations recently pledged to increase defence contributions. Whether governments act on the framework idea is the next test: Starmer offered a direction — a stronger Europe with the UK at its heart — not a signed plan.