Campaigners have welcomed confirmation that a new UK-EU summit will be announced in the coming weeks, but stressed economic growth would only be sparked by deeper alignment across all sectors.
Speaking on Wednesday (April 1), at a Downing Street press conference on the cost of living crisis, Prime Minister Keir Starmer confirmed that the date of a new summit with the European Union is due to be announced shortly.
It will be the second following last year's inaugural meeting between the UK and the EU on May 19, 2025, and the PM stressed that the UK's "long-term national interest requires closer partnership with our allies in Europe".
He emphasised that at the next summit, "the UK will not just ratify existing commitments made at last year's summit" but be "more ambitious" on areas including "closer economic cooperation [and] closer security cooperation... a partnership for the dangerous world that we must navigate together, a world where this government will be guided at all times by the interests of the British people.”
Naomi Smith, Chief Executive of Best for Britain, which campaigns for closer UK-EU ties, said:
“With Trump’s devastating Iran War set to send our energy bills soaring, while tyrants the world over observe the unfolding chaos with glee, the Prime Minister is entirely right to seek far closer co-operation with our European allies and friends, on whom our joint economic resilience depends, and confirmation of a second UK-EU summit is welcome.
“But ministers should - and must - go even further and faster on rebuilding those crucial ties, as independent economic research shows that the economic growth the British people need is only sparked by deeper alignment across all industrial and service sectors.”