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UK to start talks soon with EU about participating in Europe's defence loans scheme
Jennifer Rankin
Jennifer Rankin is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent.
Keir Starmer’s government is expected to soon begin talks with the EU to negotiate Britain’s entry into the EU’s €150bn (£130bn) defence loans scheme.
The negotiations can start because EU member states on Wednesday agreed a negotiating mandate for the European Commission, but must conclude quickly if British companies are to be involved.
The scheme, called Security Action for Europe (Safe), provides EU member states with cheap EU-backed loans to finance defence equipment, either for their armies or for Ukraine. The UK is not applying for a loan, but would like the biggest possible role for British companies in winning contacts.
The first loans are expected to be disbursed in early 2026, with member states due to submit spending plans to the commission by the end of November.
Europe minister Nick Thomas-Symonds made clear the deadline was on his mind when he spoke at a conference in Brussels on Wednesday. Asked by politics professor Anand Menon whether the UK could miss out on the first round, he said:
I profoundly hope not ... But my sense on this is that you’re absolutely right to emphasise the deadline.
The Guardian reported this week that France has called for a 50% ceiling on the value of UK components in projects financed by Safe. The final EU negotiating mandate leaves the point vague, giving EU negotiators flexibility.
The EU and UK must also negotiate a British entry fee to cover administrative costs. EU sources have suggested the fee will be linked to the level of British participation.
Asked about the French position, Thomas-Symonds said the UK and EU were in a live negotiation, without commenting on details. He said:
The bigger picture here is the real importance, when we have seen the return of war to our continent, that what we are doing is making sure we don’t fragment European defence production at this moment.
Anti-slavery watchdog says home secretary's claims about abuse of Modern Slavery Act put 'lives at risk'
Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary, has been accused of putting lives at risk by the anti-slavery watchdog.
Yesterday Mahmood said the use of modern slavery legislation to block deportations of migrants made a “mockery of our laws”. Rajeev Syal and Diane Taylor have the story.
Today the independent anti-slavery commissioner Eleanor Lyons condemned the Home Secretary’s comments. She told Radio 4 comment like this “have a real-life impact on victims of exploitation, who may now be more scared to come forward and talk about what’s happened to them”.
She went on:
The Home Office are the deciders in this country on whether someone is a victim of modern slavery. They have the final decision-making.
Both the House of Commons and the House of Lords select committees have looked at this issue in recent years, and they found there’s no misuse of the system.
It puts vulnerable lives at risk when the Home Secretary is claiming that is the case.
ABC barred from Trump’s UK press conference after his clash with Australian journalist John Lyons
The ABC has been barred from attending Donald Trump’s press conference near London this week after a clash between the broadcaster’s Americas editor, John Lyons, and the president in Washington DC over his business dealings, Amanda Meade reports.
Starmer and Trump to hold talks as PM warned UK faces ‘huge dilemma’ over relationship with US
Good morning. It’s day two of the state visit and, after the pomp, today we’re on to the policy. Donald Trump is leaving Windsor Castle and heading for Chequers where he will have private talks with Keir Starmer before the two leaders hold a press conference.
In his speech at the state banquet last night, Trump delivered used some uncharacteristically sophisticated and lovely metaphors to describe the US/UK relationship. He said:
We’re joined by history and faith, by love and language and by transcendent ties of culture, tradition, ancestry and destiny.
We’re like two notes in one chord or two verses of the same poem, each beautiful on its own, but really meant to be played together.
Starmer defends his use of flattery diplomacy with Trump on the grounds that it delivers for Britain and, with No 10 announcing US investments in the UK worth £150bn there is evidence to suggest it’s working.
But, to return to Trump’s analogy, there are others who suspect that, if anything is being “played” in all of this, it’s us.
On the Today programme this morning Nick Clegg came close to expressing this view. As a former Lib Dem deputy prime minister in the 2010-15 coalition government, and a former president of global affairs at Meta, he is very well placed to comment on the relationship. Clegg told Today that the AI investments being anounced for the UK were “crumbs from the Silicon Valley table”. He said he thought the UK had become over-dependent on American technology. And he went on:
Because of the very close partnership we’ve had with the United States, understandably so in the cold war period, I think we’ve been quite relaxed about this very heavy dependency … both in the public and the private sector, on American technology.
I just so happen to believe that is now changing because the rupture – notwithstanding the pomp and ceremony of the state visit by Donald Trump this week – the transatlantic rupture, in my view, is real.
I think the Americans – and we’ve been on notice for this for ages – are turning their attention to the Pacific. They have much less attachment to the transatlantic relationship.
So my view is, over time, British governments need to learn to ask themselves different questions to how we can roll out the red carpet to American investment, welcome as that is. We need to ask ourselves questions about how we can develop and grow … our own technology companies to the size the need to be.
Clegg said the UK faced “a huge dilemma”.
We’ve got to learn, technologically, as much as in so many other walks of life, to stand more on own two feet, rather than just cling on to Uncle Sam’s coattails.
While that served us well for a while, I think that’s no longer going to be the paradigm that works for us going forward.
Today I will be focusing mostly on the Trump visit, although I will cover some other UK politics too. Here is the agenda for the day.
10am: Donald Trump leaves Windsor Castle
Morning: Melania Trump and Queen Camilla visit Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House in Windsor and Frogmore Gardens
10.45am: Trump is due to arrive at Chequers, where he will hold bilateral talks with Keir Starmer. The two leaders are also speaking at an event for business leaders, and viewing items from the Winston Churchill archive at the mansion, the official country residence of the PM. And there will be a parachute display by the Red Devils.
Around 2.30pm: Starmer and Trump hold a press conference at Chequers.
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