Abstract
Since the UK’s departure from the European Union, ample opportunities to tie the two sides into mutually beneficial defence and security relationships have been left dormant, recently resurrected by the new Labour administration. The Security and Defence partnership in May 2025 was a welcome addition to the agreements that have bound the UK and EU into closer relationships, and represents a new critical framework for cooperation. The accompanying political dialogue and avenues for new industrial and technological cooperation are welcome, yet there remains a lack of ambition in pursuing activity down these avenues that this report seeks to examine further.Through the report, we analyse the current state of EU-UK Defence and security cooperation six months on from the agreement, and examine the strategic drivers and industrial imperatives that remain. The resumption of ongoing dialogue between the EU and UK on security and defence allows Westminster and Brussels the new opportunity to set the agenda on this partnership. And it is in this vein that we lay out a number of different areas of potential heightened cooperation that can turn what are currently a few initial agreements into a fully strategic partnership.