Keir Starmer’s European reset so far is style over substance

Europe barely featured at either party conference. It certainly was not a major theme in Keir Starmer’s first speech as prime minister, nor was it a big theme in the pitches of any of the Conservative hopefuls. But just as they were making their pitch to take over from Starmer in five years’ time, Starmer was off to Brussels for his first formal meeting with Commission President Ursula von der Leyen – also at the start of her new mandate. Two days before, Nick Thomas-Symonds, now leading EU relations from the Cabinet Office, had been in Brussels to lay the groundwork with Maros Sefcovic, the EU trade commissioner, who looks set to be leading on the UK relations again.  

The communique marked progress – commitments to deeper cooperation on a number of predictable areas emphasising defence and security; to introduce formal summits, with the first one taking place earlyish next year. ⁷ www.gov.uk/government/news/joint-statement-by-the-president-of-the-european-commission-and-the-prime-minister-of-the-united-kingdom-on-enhancing-stra…  This is all to be expected and is a further stage in the normalisation of the relationship, but there were also reminders of the importance the EU attaches to the UK fulfilling existing commitments – not least on the Windsor Framework and citizen rights. UK citizens in EU countries will be hoping that Keir Starmer made clear that those obligations cut both ways.

We have few clues yet on how fast and how far a real reset may go 

More high-level political interaction is a start and a complement to the plethora of official committees set up under the Trade and Cooperation Agreement. But briefings from the EU before the meeting suggested that the EU wanted to hear more concrete proposals from the UK on the substance of its plans for improving “Boris Johnson’s botched Brexit deal” – and also to learn whether the UK was prepared to engage with key EU demands, most notably on loosening restrictions on youth mobility and potentially on the renegotiation of fishing rights due in June 2026.   

At some point the handshakes and smiles will have to end and turn into serious discussions about the substance at stake. But that may be some way off. The task now for Nick Thomas-Symonds and his team, working with the UK Mission in Brussels and their diplomatic colleagues across Europe, is to work up some detailed UK negotiating objectives, get them agreed internally and work out where they are prepared to meet the EU on its concerns (even if that means taking on the Home Office). As well as the what, they need to be thinking about the how of the negotiations: are they aiming at sequencing to focus first on defence and security and only then turn to harder questions, or do they want to spell out a much more comprehensive vision for where the relationship should go from the start?

Labour needs to be well prepared for negotiations to come 

To do this the Labour government would do well to draw on the expertise of those who spent long years in the corridors of Brussels – to stress test their approach, work out the relative achievability of their priorities and think through where they are prepared to move to secure agreement. They may even want to call back in people with track records of seeing other countries negotiate with the EU. They need to take proper account of the pressures in other member states too with elections next year in Germany and the French presidency up for grabs again in 2027.   

They also need to be prepared for frustration. It is easy having chummier relations with the EU than a mission Brexit Conservative government – and most EU governments will welcome the lightened atmosphere. But the truth is that most EU countries think that Boris Johnson and David Frost delivered a deal that works pretty well from their point of view and will need to see clear advantages to them from allowing a UK government to try to undo elements it does not like.  

As a German newspaper recently asked: "What, apart from nice pictures with important people in Brussels and a better tone, does Keir Starmer really want from the EU?". ⁸ www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/eu-grossbritannien-keir-starmer-von-der-leyen-brexit-neustart-lux.MrEekmy37LU6ZesLnCbQij  The UK needs to be getting ready to give concrete answers.