As we mark the second anniversary of Putin’s brutal invasion of Ukraine, there has never been a timelier moment to consider the future of Britain’s place in the world and crucially, our relationship with our European neighbours on defence and security.
As prosperity across the continent of Europe has grown over recent decades, there has been a complacent tendency to view ‘Europe’ as a purely economic project without confronting the reality that strong economies depend on effective security and stability. With Donald Trump to our west and Putin to our east, this neglect may come to seem reckless – in particular if Trump’s front-runner status for this year’s US Presidential election becomes reality. Right-wing Republicans are already blocking vital US military support to Ukraine, just as the current stalemate risks tipping in Russia’s favour owing to Ukraine’s lack of supplies and ammunition. Trump threatens to pull the rug entirely, and in a deranged outburst has encouraged Russia to do ‘whatever the hell they want’ to European nations that haven’t spent 2% of GDP on defence.
Europeans closest to Russia’s borders – in the Baltics, Scandinavia, Romania and Poland are watching on in horror. Victory for Putin’s imperialist army in Ukraine will only embolden him to go further. We could end up in a confrontation lasting decades.
Any European country would struggle to face Russia alone: a nuclear power with a population of 145 million. However, the EU’s population is far greater and its total GDP around 10 times higher than Russia’s. NATO and the EU must therefore face the urgency of the situation, by boosting co-operation and bind forces, capabilities and structures. Together we can certainly prevail against Russia – if we find the will, we can find the way.
This is where Britain must come in: our defence, though diminished, remains strong in European terms. We have to acknowledge that our longstanding role as America’s number two is obsolete if the US has lost the will to be number one. In accepting that we are no longer a global power and focusing on galvanising defence in Europe, we can make a real difference. Britain, with a nuclear deterrent, sophisticated capabilities and a better-spent £50 billion defence budget, could be the lynchpin of European security.
The EU-UK relationship on defence has of course changed significantly in recent times, thanks to the devastating Brexit decision which was compounded by inept British handling of the process. While Theresa May prudently proposed an EU-UK Defence Treaty as part of the separation, Boris Johnson and Lord Frost foolishly discarded the idea (pettily, having disappeared into an ideological funk about the European Court of Justice).
So, it was very welcome indeed to hear David Lammy tell the Munich Security Conference last week that an incoming Labour Government will seek a security deal with the EU because of the war in Ukraine, calling it ‘absolutely fundamental that the United Kingdom and Europe have the closest of relationships,’ adding that ‘the Brexit era is over.’
Undeniably, there is a hole at the heart of Europe where Britain must reclaim our place at the European table. For 75 years, the European Movement – in Britain and throughout Europe – has fought for European values of freedom, democracy, rule of law, human rights, welfare and security. Alliances between democracies work: because they are based on values. That is our strength.
In the aftermath of World War 2, Churchill and other European leaders coalesced around a vision that such destruction must never happen again. They inspired the strides Europe has taken from a place of conflict to one of collaboration and unity.
That vision, of the generation whose lives were destroyed by war, is as relevant today as ever: that we are stronger together, that collaboration is more powerful than isolation, and that pushing for friendship and cooperation across borders is the best way to secure peace for generations to come.
Related: Cars set to be sent to Ukraine under Ulez scheme, Sadiq Khan says