Britain's defence industry is urging the EU and UK to strike a security pact as early as next month and not to make it conditional on a wider reset, so it can access a new €150 billion European instrument to ramp up defence spending.
In a letter addressed to British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and European Council chief Antonio Costa, the heads of the UK's main aerospace, industry and tech associations say a security pact "must be a central deliverable of the upcoming UK-EU summit" to be held in London on 19 May.
