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A summit between the EU and UK due to be held on July 22 is looking increasingly doubtful after UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer set out a timetable for his departure from 10 Downing Street earlier on Monday, with Brussels confirming that the plans are being re-assessed.
“We are re-assessing with (European Council) President Costa and the UK the opportunity of still holding the summit as had been announced last week and we will take it from here,” the European Commission’s chief spokesperson Paula Pinho said in response to a question by Euronews on Monday.
Starmer’s government had made restoring strained post-Brexit ties with a European bloc a priority of his mandate, and was closing in on a series of deals to bolster trade ties, integrate electricity markets and boost youth mobility in time for the July 22 summit, the second of its kind.
The date for the summit was confirmed just last week during a meeting between Starmer and the Presidents of the European Commission and Council, Ursula von der Leyen and António Costa at the G7 summit in France.
But Starmer’s decision to step down in response to mounting pressure within his Labour party on Monday has thrown the plans into disarray, with one EU official — speaking on condition of anonymity — suggesting that the summit would likely be postponed.
Another EU source was cautious not to pre-empt events, saying it’s “too early” to speculate on the next steps, which would depend on UK “domestic developments”.
Speaking from a podium in front of 10 Downing Street on Monday, Starmer laid out a timetable for his departure that would see a new Prime Minister installed by September at the latest.
But it is now looking increasingly likely that Andy Burnham, the former mayor of Greater Manchester who’s considered the favourite to succeed Starmer, could step into the role in mid-July uncontended.
Wes Streeting, the former health minister who stepped down in May and was widely expected to join the race from the premiership, announced on Monday he would back Burnham for Prime Minister, making a one-horse race highly probable.
It means Burnham, a figure mostly unknown to EU officials and diplomats, is looking likely to be in the post as early as the 17th of July, five days before the scheduled summit.
Reset in doubt
Starmer was swept to a landslide victory in the July 2024 UK General Election on a manifesto which promised to turn the page on years of acrimony and restore strained ties with the EU.
Yet his government laid out clear red lines of refusing to join the EU Single Market or Customs Union, meaning the frictional trading relationship would have to be mended by a series of sectorial deals.
Speaking to Euronews last Tuesday, the UK’s Minister for EU relations Nick Thomas-Symonds, who has been leading negotiations on behalf of London, expressed confidence that both sides would be able to close a series of new pacts in time for the July 22 summit.
But the fortunes of Starmer shifted dramatically after Andy Burnham secured a convincing victory in a by-election in the constituency of Makerfield last Thursday, securing him a seat in the House of Commons and paving the way for him to challenge Starmer’s leadership.
While Burnham has recently promised not to “re-run” Brexit arguments, he also said last September that he would like to see the UK re-join the EU by the end of his lifetime.
While Burnham’s intentions for the EU-UK relationship remain unclear, he is widely expected to continue Starmer’s legacy of seeking closer ties will not rowing back on the decision the UK population took in the Brexit referendum exactly ten years ago.