Amid tensions between Starmer and Trump
An influential committee of peers and MPs has warned that the UK and its NATO allies in Europe must prepare for a “worst case scenario” of the US not defending them in a crisis.
The reliability of critical pillars of UK national security could also get compromised due to the tensions between Donald Trump’s administration and Keir Starmer’s government, the committee said in a report.
These pillars include the maintenance of Trident missiles used in the navy’s nuclear deterrent submarines, intelligence sharing and access to programmes such as the F-35 jet.
London was urged by the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy to “plan to move away from a bilateral relationship with the United States that is so dependent on the latter for nuclear and intelligence operations, and conventional defence”.
The UK, Europe and Canada should develop a plan “for a transition towards greater European leadership of NATO”, it said.
The report said: “There are demonstrable areas of tension in the UK-US relationship that may compromise the reliability of these dependencies in the near future”, referring to Britain’s reliance on the US in various defence and security domains.
The warnings came as Trump again lambasted his allies, particularly the UK, for choosing not to join his war against Iran.
Trump, who dismissed Starmer as not being like Winston Churchill, also mocked the Royal Navy’s two aircraft carriers as “toys”, while accused fellow NATO countries of having “done absolutely nothing” to help against Iran.
“The USA needs nothing from NATO, but ‘never forget’ this very important point in time”, the US president added, posting on social media.
Under Article 5 of its founding treaty on collective defence, an attack on one ally is deemed to be an attack on all.
However, Trump’s comments are a further signal that America’s support to the transatlantic alliance cannot be guaranteed.
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