Armed Forces minister Luke Pollard was in the hot seat this morning (Image: Sky News)
A defence minister was left squirming as he denied the UK’s exclusion from a ￡125bn EU arms fund was a “pretty big blow”. Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard was challenged by Sky News host Wilfred Frost over the bloc’s new fund to boost European defence.
The UK will be excluded unless the Government signs a security pact with Brussels.
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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. The policy is a win for France and other countries that have demanded a “Buy European” approach to the continent’s defence investment push.
The EU has left the UK out of its new defence pact (Image: Getty)
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?”
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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.
“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".
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has been trying to assemble a coalition of nations that would be willing to help enforce any peace deal that could be reached between Kyiv and Moscow.
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The EU wants to spend an extra ￡125bn on defence (Image: Getty)
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.
Sir Keir is expected to meet with defence planners after he announced at the weekend that military chiefs would gather to "put strong and robust plans in place to swing in behind a peace deal and guarantee Ukraine's future security".
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.
"We now need to ensure the implementation of the ceasefire deal to see a just and lasting peace in Ukraine."
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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.