Starmer urges Europe to build common security framework as US role shifts

Starmer has said Europe must build a common security framework as the US stops "bankrolling" its defence.

• Starmer, speaking at a business dinner in Dublin, said the change in the US–Europe defence relationship is permanent, not "an aberration of the Trump presidency."
• He urged European nations to build "a common security framework as much as a common market," with the UK at its centre.
• He said Europe had been "caught asleep" twice — by Russia's invasion of Ukraine and by the US decision to stop "bankrolling" European security.
• Starmer also said Brexit had done "deep damage" to the UK economy, calling for closer economic cooperation with Europe.