UK proposes defence partnership with EU should remain after Brexit

British government ministers committed to working closely with Europe on military matters

As we leave the EU, the UK and our European allies will ensure a close partnership that meets these challenges head on SIR MICHAEL FALLON UK defence secretary

Europe can continue to act as one security bloc after Britain leaves the EU, according to London’s latest offer of a close European defence partnership.

The UK is pushing for an “indivisible link” with the European security in talks with Brussels over Brexit.

The proposed partnership goes far beyond anti-terrorism co-operation and mutual defence pacts, to envisage joint military missions overseas and foreign policy alignment.

“With the largest defence budget in Europe, the largest navy, British troops and planes deployed across land, air and sea in Europe, our role in the continent’s defence has never been more vital,” defence secretary Sir Michael Fallon said.

“As we leave the EU, the UK and our European allies will ensure a close partnership that meets these shared challenges head-on.”

Boris Johnson, the foreign secretary, outlined British thinking about how Europe could remain in partnership with its former member.

“Our fundamental calculation is the same,” Mr Johnson said.

“Britain has global interests and a global foreign policy but our security is indivisibly linked with that of Europe.

“That is why we support a future partnership with the EU of depth and breadth, taking in diplomacy, defence and security.”

The position paper strikes a markedly different tone from that chosen by the government when it filed its letter to leave the EU, and when Downing Street was criticised for an apparent readiness to barter over future security co-operation agreements.

It had warned Brussels that “our co-operation in the fight against crime and terrorism would be weakened” by any failure to agree to terms on Brexit.

London is now offering important technical concessions, including the possibility of “classified information exchange”.

The British could also “consider options and models” for taking part in the European Commission’s defence fund.

There is also the possibility that the international aid budget could continue to be filtered into the bloc’s programme.

A reminder of the stakes involved in resetting the European security landscape is playing out in eastern Europe, where Russia’s Zapad military exercises have begun in Belarus.

The exercise involves 13,000 troops, and while Russia claims the drills are “purely of a defensive nature”, Mr Fallon said the Kremlin was testing western European solidarity. Non-Nato nations have mobilised in response to the Russian military manoeuvres.

Sweden started its largest military exercise in more than 20 years, with nearly 20,000 troops drilling on air, land and sea, including a contingent of about 1,000 American soldiers.

The three-week Aurora 17 drill will primarily take place around the Baltic Sea island of Gotland and the regions surrounding Stockholm and Goteborg.

The increase in military activity throughout the region is also leading to new Nato deployments in Estonia, Lithuania and Latvia, and war games in Ukraine.

Brexit negotiations between Brussels and London are due to resume on September 25 under a cloud.

The EU complained that the last round had brought “no decisive progress”.