THE US has laid down the law to the Tory government that the UK must stay in the EU and keep its Trident nuclear weapons system if the ‘special relationship’ with the US is to continue.
Otherwise the UK will be on its own is the message. US secretary of state John Kerry said the US has a profound interest in a ‘strong UK staying in a strong European Union’. US defence secretary Ash Carter told the BBC that Trident was an ‘important part of the deterrent structure of NATO’.
He said that Trident bolstered the UK’s ‘special relationship’ with the US and helped it ‘continue to play that outsized role on the global stage that it does because of its moral standing and its historical standing’.
Carter stressed: ‘It’s important that the military power matches that standing and so we’re very supportive of it.’ Speaking about the EU while at a security conference in Munich, Kerry said Europe was facing a number of challenges including the UK’s potential exit.
He said President Obama was confident that: ‘Europe is going to emerge stronger than ever, provided it stays united and builds common responses to these challenges.’ Kerry added: ‘Now obviously, the United States has a profound interest in your success as we do in a very strong United Kingdom staying in a strong EU.’
His comments come ahead of Thursday’s Brussels summit, where Prime Minister Cameron is hoping to secure a deal on a reformed EU. A spokesman for Vote Leave, one of two groups vying to be the official Out campaign in the EU referendum, commented: ‘The State Department has long thought the UK is better off in for US interests.’
Meanwhile, a large number of Tory MPs including cabinet ministers are reportedly preparing to back the Out campaign to leave the EU. This is despite a warning from Downing Street that any ministers must wait until after a special cabinet meeting to get permission to openly oppose the government’s pro-EU stance.
