Sir Keir Starmer has insisted the Iran war shows Britain needs to be closer to the EU. The Prime Minister used the crisis to make a fresh push to undo Brexit at a Downing Street press conference this morning.
He said: « We will continue to stand up for the British national interest, and we will continue to do what we must to guide our country calmly through this storm. However, it is increasingly clear that as the world continues down this volatile path, our long-term national interest requires closer partnership with our allies in Europe and with the EU. »
He added: « As the Chancellor has rightly pointed out, Brexit did deep damage to our economy, and the opportunities to strengthen our security and cut the cost of living are simply too big to ignore. »
Sir Keir continued: « In the coming weeks, we will announce a new summit with our EU partners, and I can tell you that at that summit, the UK will not just ratify existing commitments made at last year’s summit.
« We want to be more ambitious. Closer economic co-operation, closer security co-operation, a partnership that recognises our shared values, our shared interest and our shared future.
« A partnership for the dangerous world that we must navigate together, a world where this Government will be guided at all times by the interests of the British people. »
Sir Keir also defended the Nato military alliance after US President Donald Trump threatened to pull out.
He siad: « Firstly, Nato is the single most effective military alliance the world has ever seen, and it has kept us safe for many decades, and we are fully committed to Nato.
« Secondly, that whatever the pressure on me and others, whatever the noise, I’m going to act in the British national interest in all the decisions that I make.
« And that’s why I’ve been absolutely clear that this is not our war and we’re not going to get dragged into it.
« But I’m equally clear that, when it comes to defence and security and our economic future, we have to have closer ties with Europe. That’s why we had the summit last year.
« This year, as I’ve just announced, there’ll be a further summit. There, we will make good on equipment that we put in place last year, but we will also go further in relation to the alignment. »
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