Keir Starmer is prepared to commit British troops to Ukraine (Image: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street)
European leaders were branded “ungrateful” and “obnoxious” after snubbing the UK from a ￡125bn defence rearmament fund.
In a victory for France, which has insisted that EU moves to rearm must incentivise governments to “buy European”, some 65 per cent of the cost of weapons must be spent in either the EU, Norway or Ukraine.
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The move has prompted fury as the UK looks set to commit thousands of troops to a peacekeeping force in Ukraine.
Critics argue this will be crucial to protecting the EU's eastern border.
Britain will be excluded unless Labour signs a security pact with Brussels.
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Keir Starmer has said Vladimir Putin fears Britain's nuclear deterrent (Image: Simon Dawson / No 10 Downing Street)
Stuart Coster, director of pro-Brexit campaign group the Democracy Movement, told the Express: “Ungrateful doesn't really cover it. Obnoxious is more the word. For the EU to snub the UK defence industry as thousands of British troops return from eastern Europe after leading a major NATO defence exercise looks more like the behaviour of a spoilt child than of a serious international institution.
"To witness the incredible British contribution of over 3,000 UK army personnel and vehicles to rehearse the rapid reaction defence of Europe and then decide to exclude the UK from participating in EU defence contracts is purely obnoxious. Arguably, the UK appears right now to be doing far more in practice to bolster the defence of Europe than EU institutions, who are merely arguing over who gets to spend another €150bn in joint debt to buy weapons. EU members should be ashamed and embarrassed at this decision.
"The EU claims that defence is top of its agenda, but it seems ever more the case that events only serve its institutions, not vice versa. While Britain puts troops on the NATO front line, the EU shuts the door to co-operation with UK firms that already have long-standing partnerships with defence suppliers across Europe.
"This latest EU snub to friendly British military support and assistance raises the question of whether it's worth pursuing a security and defence partnership with bad faith actors like the EU at all, or whether we're better off simply maintaining our longstanding defence co-operation through NATO.
"The government now at least has an opportunity in the context of this insulting decision to point out the huge contribution our military and defence apparatus is already making to European security, at no cost to the EU, and put Brussels on the back foot with respect to future negotiations. Will Keir Starmer take it?"
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US and Turkish defence firms are also not included in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) scheme. The fund will only be open to EU defence companies and those from third countries that have signed defence agreements with the bloc, according to a European Commission proposal proposed on Wednesday.
Defence minister Luke Pollard was left squirming as he denied the UK’s exclusion from a ￡125bn EU arms fund was a “pretty big blow”.
Sky News host Wilfred Frost said: “It sounds like the EU defence budget will exclude any spending outside of the EU. That’s a pretty big blow from what was expected over the last weeks and months isn’t it?”
Mr Pollard responded: “No, I think this is as expected, but it’s part of a broader conversation.
“The Prime Minister has been clear that we expect all of our European partners to step up on defence spending, more on defence being interoperable, committing more forces to our collective defence, something that the United Kingdom has done by increasing our own defence spending. The Europeans are doing exactly what we have asked them to do and we’ve asked them to step up, and they are.”
But Mr Frost continued: “That’s headline spending, and obviously those countries can spend it how they see fit. But you’re saying your expectation always was that not a penny of the 150 billion Euros of mooted EU defence spending would likely be spent on UK companies, and we’re fine with that?”
Mr Pollard conceded: “We appreciate at the moment, having left the European Union, that it will be for the European Union to make some decisions for its own members.
“But we also know that, as nearly every European Union member state is part of NATO, that a stepping up of defence spending, securing our collective defence via NATO, is also important. We know that our British defence companies have footprints and businesses right across the European Union.
“They benefit from increased defence spending, as indeed will the export partnerships that we’re already undertaking with many of our European Union friends.
The UK has been left out of an EU defence fund (Image: Getty)
“That’s a dialogue that is taking place between Britain and the EU to reset our relations, something again we committed to do in our manifesto, that’s already showing progress and I think we can see that from the way that UK leadership has been so welcomed over Ukraine.”
At least 65% of the cost of the products would need to be spent in the EU, Norway and Ukraine. The rest can be spent on products from third countries that have signed a security pact.
The EU is trying to increase its arms spending in the face of Russian aggression and warnings from Donald Trump over long-neglected defence budgets and US security guarantees for Europe. Military figures are set to gather in the UK on Thursday as planning for a peacekeeping force in Ukraine moves into an "operational phase".
It comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he believes a "lasting peace can be achieved this year" after a call with US President Donald Trump.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer will on Thursday meet with military chiefs to "put strong and robust plans in place to swing in behind a peace deal and guarantee Ukraine's future security".
Sir Keir suggested that the force could have to mobilise within months if US President Donald Trump succeeds in brokering a ceasefire and persuading Russia and Ukraine to stick to it.
“I am conscious of the fact that things could move quite quickly,” the PM said. “There are a lot of moving parts obviously, but we need to be in a position to answer the question: how are you going to defend the deal?
“We have to understand Putin's position, that he doesn't respect a deal that doesn't have security arrangements around it. We know that because he's breached them.”
He also signalled a move to an "operational phase" as he confirmed Thursday's meeting.
Addressing a press conference in Downing Street on Saturday, the Prime Minister did not elaborate on which nations had made concrete commitments to a peacekeeping force, but said that what action they could take would be a subject of discussion in the meeting.
"There are different capabilities from different countries, but those are the operational discussions that are going on in relation to what this coalition of the willing will be able to provide," he said.
Diplomatic efforts on securing a ceasefire had continued on Wednesday, with the call between the US and Ukrainian leaders on Wednesday coming a day after Mr Trump spoke to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In a post on X on Wednesday afternoon, Mr Zelensky said he had a "positive, very substantive and frank" conversation with Mr Trump, and said that Ukraine was "ready to implement" the ending of strikes on energy and other civilian infrastructure.
He thanked Mr Trump for the talks in Saudi Arabia last week, and added: "We agreed that Ukraine and the United States should continue working together to achieve a real end to the war and lasting peace.
"We believe that together with America, with President Trump, and under American leadership, lasting peace can be achieved this year."
In the same call, the US president suggested that America takes ownership of Ukrainian power plants to ensure their security.
Mr Trump told Mr Zelensky during their call that the US could be "very helpful in running those plants with its electricity and utility expertise", according to a White House statement from US secretary of state Marco Rubio and national security adviser Mike Waltz.
The US president added that "American ownership of those plants could be the best protection for that infrastructure". Number 10 welcomed the "progress" that Mr Trump has made "towards a ceasefire deal".
In a statement on Wednesday evening, a Downing Street spokesperson said: "We welcome the progress President Trump has made towards a ceasefire deal, and we will continue to work with international partners on putting Ukraine in the strongest possible position.
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"We now need to ensure the implementation of the ceasefire deal to see a just and lasting peace in Ukraine."
Meanwhile, Mr Zelensky is also expected to address European leaders on Thursday when he dials in to the European Council meeting via video link. Elsewhere on Thursday, the Prime Minister is also due to visit Barrow-in-Furness after hailing the town as a "blueprint" for how increasing defence spending can boost prosperity.
He will lay the keel of the first of the Dreadnought class of submarines, a fleet of four vessels that will make up the next generation of the UK's nuclear deterrent.