Hold a UK referendum before joining any defence and security pact with the EU.

The UK Government is seeking a UK-EU security pact. We are concerned that such a decision could affect UK sovereignty and should be subject to a vote of the whole country before it can be implemented.

Such a pact could require UK participation in: • European Defence Fund • PESCO • European Defence Agency • All binding legal commitments these structures require • Security of Information Agreement on the ‘timely’ delivery of intelligence products between the UK’s intelligence agencies and the EU Intelligence Directorate.

The Government would like to thank the members of the public that have engaged with this issue at this once-in-a-generation moment for the collective security of our country and continent. Global instability, Russian aggression, climate change and rapid technological disruption are all contributing to a more challenging security landscape that requires all of Europe to work cooperatively to safeguard our security.

NATO is, and will remain, the cornerstone of Europe’s collective defence. But the European Union (EU) has an important role to play. As the Government set out it in its Manifesto, it is committed to strengthening the UK’s security and defence relationship with the European Union, as part of the wider EU ‘Reset’. As a first step in strengthening our security and defence relationship, the UK and the EU agreed a Security and Defence Partnership (SDP) at the UK-EU Summit on 19 May in London.

The SDP sets the framework for a new era of cooperation between the UK and the EU across a broad range of issues that were not covered by the UK-EU Trade and Cooperation Agreement. The Government looks forward to working closely with EU partners to implement the SDP in ways that strengthen our long-term security and prosperity. The SDP has been designed to complement our core bilateral security partnerships and to support the Government’s NATO First policy, recognising that NATO remains the cornerstone of Euro-Atlantic Security. A renewed defence and security relationship between the UK and the EU makes Europe safer and ensures the interests of the British people and British industry continue to be represented at the highest level across our continent, through increased regular engagement with EU leaders.

While the SDP is ambitious and creates a strong basis for strengthening UK-EU cooperation, the UK retains full sovereign control over where and how it engages with EU initiatives and how it brings the EU into our national activities. The EU, similarly, has full control over its decision-making. All future cooperation enabled by the SDP will be in-line with our respective decision-making processes whilst strengthening the security of our shared continent at this generational moment for our collective security. The Government does not currently plan to hold a referendum on its Security and Defence partnership with the EU.

We thank you for engaging on this issue.

Ministry of Defence

This is a revised response. The Petitions Committee requested a response which more directly addressed the request of the petition. You can find the original response towards the bottom of the petition page (https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/717489)