{"id":180526,"date":"2025-06-13T07:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-06-13T07:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/180526\/"},"modified":"2025-06-13T07:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-06-13T07:39:10","slug":"keir-starmers-brexit-reset-scuppered-by-france-as-emmanuel-macron-blocks-britain-from-key-programme","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/180526\/","title":{"rendered":"Keir Starmer’s ‘Brexit reset’ scuppered by France as Emmanuel Macron BLOCKS Britain from key programme"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sir Keir Starmer’s “Brexit reset” deal with the EU could risk being undercut by France following reports that Paris could block Britain from getting in on a European defence programme.<\/p>\n

France is said to be shutting out competitive British firms from accessing the European Defence Industry Programme (Edip) – effectively barring the UK from a multi-billion-pound market.<\/p>\n

French diplomats have insisted the programme should only include EU, Norwegian and Ukrainian firms, while President Emmanual Macron has long pushed for EU-only defence spending.<\/p>\n

“Not even a month ago, we solemnly declared the turning of pages and opening of new chapters in our relationship with the UK,” an EU diplomat told The Telegraph.<\/p>\n

“Yet, at the first occasion to turn those words into action, we have slammed the book shut.”<\/p>\n

In the past, Starmer has pushed for Britain to be treated like an EU member on defence – but a Brussels diplomat said back in March: “While Macron is playing nice with Starmer in front of the cameras, he’s actively working to shut the UK out of the EU’s defence spending plans.”<\/p>\n

Back then, a Government spokesman said: “We live in challenging times – global geopolitical instability and war in Europe means enhancing our defence capability is important. <\/p>\n

“This includes closer cooperation with the EU, with Nato remaining the cornerstone of our security.”<\/p>\n

FOLLOW BELOW FOR LIVE UPDATES THROUGHOUT THE DAY\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

David Lammy’s US trip CANCELLED after Middle East chaos<\/p>\n

David Lammy has cancelled a planned trip to the US on Friday for talks with his counterpart Marco Rubio over Russia following tonight’s chaos in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Britain will NOT protect Israel from Iranian drone barrage – reports<\/p>\n

Britain will not be moving to protect Israel from a barrage of Iranian drones following last night’s strikes, The Times reports.<\/p>\n

UK defence sources have told the newspaper there are no plans to help defend the Jewish state as Iran hits back following last night’s strikes.<\/p>\n

But at the same time, staunch British ally Jordan has been intercepting Tehran’s missiles and drones which entered its own airspace on Friday morning.<\/p>\n

This is a developing story – and we’ll bring you all the key UK developments on this live blog as we get them…<\/strong><\/p>\n

Liz Truss thanks Israel for devastating overnight attacks on Iran<\/p>\n

Former Prime Minister Liz Truss has thanked Israel for its devastating series of overnight strikes against Iran.<\/p>\n

The strikes, which have taken out IRGC chief Hossein Salami and neutralised a string of Iranian nuclear targets<\/a>, have seen Keir Starmer call for calm and the US distance itself from its close ally Israel.<\/p>\n

But Truss, responding to a late-night address by Benjamin Netanyahu, issued a three-word message of support to the Jewish state: “Thank you Israel.”<\/p>\n

Richard Tice turns up heat on Conservative-Reform ‘Doge’ war – ‘Cover-up scandal!’<\/p>\n

Richard Tice has turned up the heat on an escalating feud between Reform UK and the Conservatives over the former’s “Doge” efficiency unit.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, the Tories wrote to the information watchdog demanding an investigation into the Reform waste-cutting drive<\/a> – sparking accusations that they were covering up the “corruption and waste of their now-deposed local government regimes”.<\/p>\n

Now, Tice has rammed home the “cover-up” accusations.<\/p>\n

He said: “Tory cover-up scandal… We won huge landslides to Doge these former Tory councils, to identify massive wasteful spending and incompetence. <\/p>\n

“Looks like Tories trying to hide up the evidence and bury any transparency. Not a great look.”<\/p>\n

Keir Starmer and David Lammy issue statements as chaos breaks out in the Middle East<\/p>\n

\"\\u200bSir<\/p>\n

Sir Keir Starmer and Foreign Secretary David Lammy have both spoken out following the overnight chaos<\/p>\n

PA<\/p>\n

The Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary have both issued statements following a night of chaos in the Middle East.<\/p>\n

Israeli strikes have killed the head of the Iranian military – while hundreds of drones are heading from Iran to Israel right now.<\/a><\/p>\n

David Lammy said he was “concerned” to learn of Israeli strikes, writing this morning: “Stability in the Middle East is vital for global security.<\/p>\n

“I’m concerned to see reports of strikes overnight. Further escalation is a serious threat to peace and stability in the region and in no one’s interest.<\/p>\n

“This is a dangerous moment and I urge all parties to show restraint.”<\/p>\n

While Sir Keir Starmer said: “The reports of these strikes are concerning and we urge all parties to step back and reduce tensions urgently. Escalation serves no one in the region.<\/p>\n

“Stability in the Middle East must be the priority and we are engaging partners to de-escalate. Now is the time for restraint, calm and a return to diplomacy.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sir Keir Starmer’s “Brexit reset” deal with the EU could risk being undercut by France following reports that…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5226],"tags":[802,748,2000,299,5187,1699,4884,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-180526","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-brexit","8":"tag-brexit","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-eu","11":"tag-europe","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-european-union","14":"tag-great-britain","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114674923225310860","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/180526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=180526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=180526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}