The Government has said its agreement with the European Union over defence and security is an “ambitious” deal that will improve both the UK and EU’s defence capabilities.
Defence Secretary John Healey said the agreement was the “first step” towards further cooperation between the two parties, and would provide new opportunities to work together.
The partnership on defence and security, announced on Monday, will allow UK arms firms to bid for work under the EU’s new £150 billion security action for Europe (Safe) defence fund.
MPs were told the amount the UK will have to pay to access the fund was yet to be agreed.
Speaking in the Commons, Mr Healey told MPs: “This is a Government delivering for defence today. The Government has agreed a new bespoke and ambitious Security and Defence Partnership (SDP) between the United Kingdom and the European Union.
“The SDP will strengthen Nato, the cornerstone of the UK’s defence, and it will grow the economy.
“It allows us to step up more effectively together on European security against growing Russian aggression and against the increasing threats that we face.”
Conservative shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge argued the Government had “surrendered” fishing grounds in exchange for the deal.
Mr Cartlidge said: “I previously raised at oral questions my deep concern that the Government would give away our fishing rights in order to access the EU rearmament fund. In fact Mr Speaker, it’s far worse than that.
“Isn’t this the truth? We’ve surrendered our fishing grounds for at least 12 years, and we will become a passive rule taker, and in exchange, all we have is a glorified talking shop and not a penny of guaranteed defence funding.”
In response Mr Healey said: “He’s right that last time in this House he talked about not excluding from the Safe (defence) fund that will include EU states, so I would have thought he would have welcomed this afternoon’s agreement because this is the open door to those arrangements.”
Defence Minister Maria Eagle said the bill the UK will face to access the scheme was still subject to “further discussions”.
In response to a question from Conservative MP Sir Bernard Jenkin (Harwich and North Essex), she said: “Any financial commitment that has to be made will be subject to the further discussions that I have just set out, because the agreement today enables us to then discuss bilaterally what arrangements we can make in order to have access to these programmes.”
Labour MP Alex Ballinger (Halesowen), who served in the Royal Marines in Afghanistan, asked how the UK and EU could strengthen their cooperation for security.
Mr Healey said: “The step today will mean that we’ll be able to upgrade our cooperation with the European Union on the mobility of military material and personnel, on maritime and space security, on irregular migration and on protecting our critical infrastructure.
“It opens the door for closer defence industrial collaboration, including the potential participation in the EU’s 150 billion euro Safe arrangements.”
Liberal Democrat MPs John Milne (Horsham) and Alison Bennett (Mid Sussex) welcomed the agreement.
Ms Bennett asked what level of access to the Europe Defence Fund had been agreed.
Mr Healey replied: “This is a big step today, a broad and bespoke agreement between the European Union and the UK on security and defence, but it is a first step.
So settling the details and the terms of access for European programmes including the Safe funding programme is exactly the task beyond today.”
