Labour ‘tests waters’ on defence and security EU treaty
Labour has been “testing the waters” in private discussions with nations such as Germany over a future defence and security treaty with the EU, Labour’s shadow defence secretary has said.
John Healey said it was a mistake for Theresa May to have taken defence and security off the table in Brexit negotiations and that a future Labour government could move to strengthen cooperation with the EU.
“It’s not being back in the club but it’s recognising there are relationships there to be rebuilt,” he said stressing no decisions had been taken.
“We’re a stronger force for good when we collaborate with others. The work we’ve done as a country to help Ukraine with others rather than acting alone is the most immediate proof of that.
“We have to rebuild alliances with certain key European allies – Germany, France, in particular. I think it was damaging for Britain in the Brexit negotiations to take defence and security off the table.
“From the discussions that David Lammy and I have had there is an appetite from other countries to see defence and security as an area where Britain has a great deal to contribute and a good deal to gain.”
Mr Healey added that he and the shadow foreign secretary “tested the waters’’ on future formal collaboration deals on a recent visit to Berlin. One idea is a European Security Council that would co-ordinate action between the UK and EU.
Mr Healey is calling for the UK Government to rewrite its defence policies to concentrate on Europe and the Arctic in the light of Ukraine.
He is sharply critical of moves such as sending HMS Queen Elizabeth to the South China Sea.
“It’s fine to send a new aircraft carrier on a gap-year tour of the Pacific. But its real job has got to be in the Atlantic and in the Med. It’s marginal to any balance of power in the Indo Pacific. In the Atlantic, in the Arctic, as far as the Northern European security is concerned it’s pivotal.”
He also called on Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, to make an immediate decision on whether to scrap the Ajax armouredfightingvehicleprogramme which has cost £3bn but is years late and dogged by design flaws.