The U.K. has moved on from Brexit.

The full summit begins on 19th May. But major discussions have started on Security and Defence in advance. This includes of course discussions on the Ukraine:

it also covers aspects of cooperation on international crime including irregular migration, defence spending, cyber security" a long-term UK-EU strategic partnership that will support economic growth, protect citizens, and support European collective security and defence. We dont have full access to all information sharing systems and its hoped to address this.

I’m pretty optimistic that we can begin to repair the damage caused by Brexit.

Starmer has done well these last few weeks I think.

I think Keir has been building bridges with Europe for a long time. Foreign leaders must find him a breath of fresh air to deal with after that last few PM’s we’ve had.

I disagree with your statement WWM2 about "the vast majority of people" - the results of the recent local and MP elections showed Labour voters turning to Reform in their thousands.

Brexit was cited by Trump as the reason why the UK was the first country to be dealt with over tariffs, and there'll be ongoing discussions on this. Negotiations with the EU are equally if not more important.

Starmer has done well on the international stage recently, but the damage he and his government are doing to UK citizens is unforgiveable. Many folk who voted Labour in the last election (to get rid of the Conservatives) are regretting their decision.

As a Conservative voter (and I voted to remain in the EU referendum), I am now in limbo as to where my next vote will go, but it certainly wont be to this awful Labour government.

As of January 2025, 55 percent of people in Great Britain thought that it was wrong to leave the European Union, compared with 30 percent who thought it was the right decision.

As Britain was the only country consistently paying the correct amount towards NATO's defence budget it would be more appropriate to say that the EU leaders are joining Britain.

But we all know that will never happen, which is why Starmer is attempting to weasel his way in , against the democratic vote to leave, by posing as a war leader.
He would do better to listen to his disenchanted MPs and explain the awful results in local elections. Those are the people who matter.

I disagree with your statement WWM2 about "the vast majority of people" - the results of the recent local and MP elections showed Labour voters turning to Reform in their thousands.

No it doesn’t. It showed Tory voters turning to Reform. Look at the results. Only one Labour-controlled council was lost. Most of Labour’s losses were LibDem and Greens gains.

Local elections were for just 23 English councils out of a total of 317.

The Runcorn by election went to Reform by just six votes. More of the electorate didn’t want Sarah Pochin than did. Under AV, it’s doubtful she would have won, which is ironic as Reform claim to want PR.

Few people like Reform other than defecting Tories, as indeed Pochin is.

Few ingrained Tories would ever switch to Labour irrespective of their decision over Leave; a vote, I might add, where the slim, predomonantly elderly majority was dead before the UK had left in 2020 - c/f pollster Peter Kellner’s analysis of the vote.

MayBee70

I think Keir has been building bridges with Europe for a long time. Foreign leaders must find him a breath of fresh air to deal with after that last few PM’s we’ve had.

I agree that KS has been working hard on this issue.
But don't go thinking France in particular is anywhere near giving advantages to the UK in areas of defence and fishing. The French newspapers report that Macron & Co will play hard ball on any issues involving this process. Starmer will have his work cut out, I wish him well in this, but I'm not sure it's a priority for other European leaders.

I really don't see why there are objections to better security arrangements with Europe and increased trade - it benefits us all.

Unless like some Reform voters people are so ideologically anti-EU they'd like to see negotiations fail. Completely counter productive?

I think people are quite able to distinguish between how they feel about Labour in terms of domestic policy and whats best for the UK internationally.

Reporting on BBC this morning that a poll shows almost 1/3 of Labour voters regret voting for them in the 2024 election.

I also think that we need to look at this as a process rather than a once and for all.

The U.K. will not in the near future become an EU member, (never say never though). Rather, it will work towards closer union, in order to facilitate greater and easier trade for our businesses.

The comments about France and the EUs lack of interest is self evident if you think about it. But, the U.K. will no doubt begin to once again play a bigger part in the EU than it has of recent years.

Whitewavemark2

I also think that we need to look at this as a process rather than a once and for all.

The U.K. will not in the near future become an EU member, (never say never though). Rather, it will work towards closer union, in order to facilitate greater and easier trade for our businesses.

The comments about France and the EUs lack of interest is self evident if you think about it. But, the U.K. will no doubt begin to once again play a bigger part in the EU than it has of recent years.

We can only hope!

I do not regret voting Labour, I think some have extremely short memories.

Am I satisfied and happy with all of their actions? Absolutely not ! Would I vote Labour again? Absolutely yes!

I’m waiting to see the results of their actions across the next 12 months.

I’ll never forgive Cameron or Farsge for the mess we call Brexit and I wouldn’t vote Reform if they were the only party available.

Well said Cossy 👏👏👏

twinnytwin

Reporting on BBC this morning that a poll shows almost 1/3 of Labour voters regret voting for them in the 2024 election.

Who's to say that any of that third voted to remain in the EU? They could be the same people who voted to leave.

Brexit has been "done"for better or for worse, what matters is going forward, as WWM says it's a process.

We have to engage better with Europe, anyone concerned with security/criminality of all kinds needs to acknowledge it especially with a USA no longer committed to NATO and committed to tariffs and protectionism, we cannot avoid the Ukraine issue, we have to maximise our trade with nearest neighbours.

Hopefully better trade will bring an upturn in growth and improve our domestic situation. Starmer should be given credit on the international front.

escaped

MayBee70

I think Keir has been building bridges with Europe for a long time. Foreign leaders must find him a breath of fresh air to deal with after that last few PM’s we’ve had.

I agree that KS has been working hard on this issue.
But don't go thinking France in particular is anywhere near giving advantages to the UK in areas of defence and fishing. The French newspapers report that Macron & Co will play hard ball on any issues involving this process. Starmer will have his work cut out, I wish him well in this, but I'm not sure it's a priority for other European leaders.

Good for Macron and France. That's how it should be.It shows that EU countries have always been able to put their own countries first, though.

Cossy

Whitewavemark2

I also think that we need to look at this as a process rather than a once and for all.

The U.K. will not in the near future become an EU member, (never say never though). Rather, it will work towards closer union, in order to facilitate greater and easier trade for our businesses.

The comments about France and the EUs lack of interest is self evident if you think about it. But, the U.K. will no doubt begin to once again play a bigger part in the EU than it has of recent years.

We can only hope!

I do not regret voting Labour, I think some have extremely short memories.

Am I satisfied and happy with all of their actions? Absolutely not ! Would I vote Labour again? Absolutely yes!

I’m waiting to see the results of their actions across the next 12 months.

I’ll never forgive Cameron or Farsge for the mess we call Brexit and I wouldn’t vote Reform if they were the only party available.

What Reform voters don't seem to realise [and I'm only saying this because I've now heard it backed up by someone else along with someone who worked with Farage] is that he has no ambition to be PM as he likes campaigning not the end result of it if he wins. They seem to think that their hero will become PM one day and lead us into the land of milk and honey.

Reporting on BBC this morning that a poll shows almost 1/3 of Labour voters regret voting for them in the 2024 election.

I can find no BBC source for that but GB News report a poll by Savanta of just * 2111 people* from the 28.8 million who voted. I assume the report comes from that.

Let’s be realistic here.

The electorate numbers 48.2 million people. Turnout in 2024 was 59.7% so 28.8 million people voted.

Labour had 34% of the vote and Reform 14.3%. This equates to Labour winning 9.8 million votes and Reform winning 4.1 million.

According to this very small survey, 64 per cent of Labour supporters feel confident in their vote, compared with 83 per cent of Conservative and Liberal Democrat voters, and 81 per cent of those who backed Reform UK.

So 6.7 million Labour voters are happy and 3.3 million Reform voters are happy with their decision.

Fair enough. Some Labour voters are unhappy with some of the decisions the Labour government has made. But at least they have something to point to that makes them dissatisfied.

I think the bigger questions, one which GB News ducked, and using the word the channel chose to use in it’s headline, why do 19% of people who voted for Reform in 2024 now regret their decision and why?

That’s almost 800,000 million people regretting their decision to vote for Reform. What is that based on? What has Reform done in the last nine months that makes these voters unhappy?

Remember the margin for Leave was only 1.7 million.

^I disagree with your statement WWM2 about "the vast majority of people" - the results of the recent local and MP elections showed Labour voters turning to Reform in their thousands.
^

I have got to the point that I am confused.

If I read posts purely on GN, I think I end up with a different viewpoint to what actually happened above.

To me Reform is more right of the conservatives.
I dont actually get how people voting Labour would then make the leap to voting for Reform. Unless it is pure immigration I suppose.

I am actually quite confused by Starmer as well.
As I often write, I am a floating voter,
I dont actually think Starmer has done too bad a job so far?
Better on the whole than I was expecting?
But going by GN, he is not that popular?

Perhaps GN is at odds with what voters are actually doing and thinking?

Personally, one of the things I find hard to deal with with the "closer ties with Europe" thing, is, who is Europe?
Their leaders seem to change more often than even ours.

Who is Germany now for instance?
I havent a clue.

Are they still the unofficial leaders of Europe?
Again, I havent a clue.

MayBee70

escaped

MayBee70

I think Keir has been building bridges with Europe for a long time. Foreign leaders must find him a breath of fresh air to deal with after that last few PM’s we’ve had.

I agree that KS has been working hard on this issue.
But don't go thinking France in particular is anywhere near giving advantages to the UK in areas of defence and fishing. The French newspapers report that Macron & Co will play hard ball on any issues involving this process. Starmer will have his work cut out, I wish him well in this, but I'm not sure it's a priority for other European leaders.

Good for Macron and France. That's how it should be.It shows that EU countries have always been able to put their own countries first, though.

Yet when people want to put British interests ahead of the EU, names are called. What hypocrisy.

For example?

Oh yes, they were called little Englanders come to mind. From many of you on here. Brexit was handled appallingly, we had leaders who did not want us to leave, and were shocked by the outcome. So they did very little to put Britain first. Yet here you are celebrating the fact the France etc put their country first. Shall we call them little Frenchies??