The EU has sparked fury this evening after foreign ministers urged the UK to allocate British troops towards Brussels-led peacekeeping missions.
In the latest demand amid Sir Keir Starmer’s renegotiations, several EU ministers used a meeting with Foreign Secretary David Lammy to call on Britain to participate in the EU’s Common Security and Defence Policy missions (CSDP).
The EU currently has 24 active CSDP missions, involving 3,500 military personnel and 1,300 officials.
One cocky attendee of the meeting seemed to believe the Prime Minister and the Government will relent on this request, telling the Financial Times that while Britain will not announce participation immediately, it “will do” at some point.
Unlike requests to rejoin the Single Market or Customs Union, Sir Keir has refused to rule out other major concessions as part of his renegotiations.
David Lammy has been told to slap down the EU’s request (Image: Getty)
Similarly, Mr Lammy has not rejected the request from the EU, taking away the proposal to consider.
Reform UK blasted the plan, demanding that the Government slap down the EU and “put their Euro fantasies to bed”.
Deputy leader Richard Tice told the Express: “It’s becoming clearer by the day that this so called ‘reset’ is nothing more than a ploy to drag us closer to the European Union.
“Labour is still filled with Europhiles who would love nothing more than to see us back in the European Union.
“Keir Starmer and David Lammy need to respect the decision taken by the country in 2016 and finally put their Euro fantasies to bed.
“Peacekeeping is done by the UN and defence is secured with NATO. The EU has no role except meddling.”
Richard Tice says the EU is trying to drag Britain back in to the bloc (Image: Getty)
In a joint article today, Mr Lammy and the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said the UK and EU are “heavily engaged in responding to conflicts and crises”.
They went on to say: “But we are always stronger when we work together to tackle these challenges … Yet there is still more for us to do to strengthen UK-EU cooperation in defence and security.”
Sir Keir previously sparked allegations he was preparing to use his EU negotiations to sell out Britain’s fishermen after he refused to rule out allowing foreign trawlers to catch in UK waters.
In a press conference after meeting Ursula von der Leyen, the EU Commission President, the PM ruled out a return to freedom of movement, the Single Market and the Customs Union.
But he dodged other questions about what he was willing to give away to the European Union in order to facilitate his desired closer relationship.
Sir Keir was questioned twice about whether he might do a deal that could grant EU fishing vessels access to the UK’s marine protection areas, or lift the ban on fishing in the North Sea.
In a notable dodging of the question, the Prime Minister replied: “I’m not suggesting these things at some stage won’t need to be addressed, of course they will.”
