Sir Keir Starmer addressing MPs in the House of Commons, July 17, 2024. A U.K. parliamentary report urges the country to rethink its long-standing military and strategic reliance on the United States. (Courtesy of UK Parliament/AFP)
The United Kingdom needs to rethink its long-standing strategic reliance on the United States for defense, according to a new British parliamentary report.
It warns of potential implications for NATO allies, saying the trans-Atlantic partnership is entering a more uncertain and transactional era.
Britain must “banish the sentimental illusion” of a permanent “special relationship” with Washington and instead prepare for a future in which U.S. priorities may not align as closely with Europe, the report said.
In terms of defense, the relationship has resulted in “a dependency culture that has led to the atrophying of U.K. capabilities,” the International Relations and Defense Committee in the House of Lords, the upper chamber of Parliament, said in the report released Wednesday.
It comes nearly two months after the U.S. and Israel began airstrikes targeting Iran’s nuclear and military facilities, and as President Donald Trump has stepped up criticism of European allies, including the United Kingdom, for what he considers insufficient support for U.S. efforts in the Middle East.
The U.K. has allowed the U.S. to use British bases for “defensive operations” against Iran, but the Trump administration has suggested that London should do more.
An internal Pentagon email said the U.S. was considering options to punish NATO allies it views as unsupportive of the war, including seeking Spain’s suspension from the alliance and reviewing the American position on the U.K.’s claim to the Falkland Islands, Reuters reported Friday.
The release comes as King Charles III begins a visit to the United States on Monday, an effort British officials hope will help reinforce ties between the two allies even as tensions rise.
Against that backdrop, the committee warned that the nature of the U.S.-U.K relationship is already shifting.
“Political priorities in the U.S. will give rise to a relationship that, while still close, will be far more transactional and interest-based than previously,” the report said. “The U.K. must respond by strengthening alternative partnerships and rebuild its own capacity to act without U.S. support where feasible and in its interests.”
British lawmakers delayed the publication of the report to incorporate evidence from the early stages of the Iran war, assessing what developments through April 15 revealed about the state of U.S.-U.K. relations.
The lack of consultation ahead of the Iran strikes and “an unpredictable and, at times, antagonistic diplomatic style” are among several factors that have put the U.S.-U.K. relationship under its greatest strain since World War II, the report said.
“The U.K. must reframe its relationship with the U.S. and adopt a more balanced approach to hedge against a less dependable ally whose strategic priorities are shifting,” the report said.
In addition, it’s imperative for the U.K. to invest more in its own sovereign capabilities and work with European partners to develop the means required to collectively deter Russian aggression, the report authors said.
Calls to do that have echoed across Europe since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. The urgency has grown as the Trump administration increasingly shifts its focus to competition with China.
Britain “can no longer assume that the U.S. will continue to guarantee European security or uphold the rules-based international order,” according to the report.
At a NATO summit last year in the Dutch city of The Hague, NATO members pledged to increase defense spending to 5% of gross domestic product, more than double the previous alliance target of 2%.
The increase was prompted by Trump’s frequent haranguing of European allies that many of them weren’t paying their fair share.
Despite concerns, the report emphasized that the partnership with the United States remains “vital” even as it evolves.
There are currently more than 12,000 U.S. military personnel stationed in the U.K. operating from over a dozen bases.