The EU has called off its summit with Britain, fixed for 22 July, after Keir Starmer’s resignation left Westminster choosing a new prime minister, and Brussels now wants to know who it will be dealing with before it sets another date.
European Council President António Costa put it plainly: “For sure we need to postpone it, but we are reassessing the opportunity to hold this new summit.” He added that he hoped the next prime minister “will give continuity on this path to reset our relationship with the UK.”
The date had been agreed just a week earlier at the G7 gathering in France, and London was irritated that Brussels shelved it without asking. Starmer’s team had hoped to close out agreements there, including a significant cut in tuition fees charged to EU students at British universities.
The agenda now waits. It included a veterinary deal to soften border checks on farm goods, a plan for connecting the two sides’ carbon markets, and a youth-mobility scheme for young people to live and work on either side of the Channel. All of it builds on the May 2025 summit, the first since Brexit, which produced a Strategic Partnership plus a separate Security and Defence Partnership.
Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s farewell was warmer than the diplomacy: “it can take many leaders years to grow into the statesman you became in just two years,” she wrote, praising Starmer’s part in thawing a relationship frozen since the June 2016 referendum. The postponement lands almost exactly on that vote’s 10th anniversary.
The favourite to succeed him, Andy Burnham, took his seat as MP for Makerfield on June 22 and at once collected heavyweight backing. Wes Streeting stepped aside for him, and Cabinet minister Nick Thomas-Symonds said he has the “track record” and is “best placed to beat Reform at the next general election”. Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones and former armed forces minister Al Carns are weighing runs to stop a coronation; candidates need 81 nominations, and more than 200 MPs are already behind Burnham.
Reform UK’s Nigel Farage demanded an early general election, arguing a prime minister Burnham would have no “mandate”; Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch branded Starmer a “terrible prime minister” and said Labour had “held him hostage”; Liberal Democrat Ed Davey said Britons were “tired of the endless prime ministerial merry‑go‑round.” Burnham, pro-European, once said he hoped to see Britain back in the EU “in my lifetime”, but has promised not to reopen Brexit arguments in this parliament.
Sources
- Brussels Postpones Its UK Summit as Starmer Falls
- London Irritated, Brussels Waits: EU Postpones Brexit Summit After Starmer’s Resignation | Realist English
