Starmer Uses Summit To Reset Relationship With EU

Sir Keir Starmer declared that Britain is "back on the international stage" as he sought to put the UK at the centre of European cooperation and build closer ties with the continent.

- KATE DEVLIN, TOM WATLING

Just 13 days into his premiership, he scored his first major success as European leaders hailed his plan for a new era in post Brexit relations.

Hosting the summit of the European Political Community (EPC) at a Unesco world heritage site in Oxfordshire, Sir Keir suggested he was open to dealing with the small boats crisis by processing migrants offshore, saying that he is a “pragmatist”. “Where cases can be processed closer to [their] origin, then that is something which, of course, ought to be looked at,” he said.

Earlier Sir Keir had fired the starting gun on what he hopes will be Britain’s new relationship with the EU, as he opened the fourth meeting of the EPC at Blenheim Palace. Ahead of the summit, Sir Keir promised to fix Britain’s damaged relations with the bloc for the benefit of “generations to come”.

Opening the event, he said that under his leadership Britain would be “a friend and a partner” to the EU – and, significantly, pledged never to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights. The move draws a line under the premiership of his predecessor Rishi Sunak, whose threat to pull out of the international agreement – if legal challenges grounded his controversial deportation flights to Rwanda – led to tensions with other European nations.

The Irish prime minister, Simon Harris, described the election of a new government as a potential “game-changer” for the bloc.