‘Lamps would go out across Europe’ under Greens or Reform, Starmer to claim

The “lamps would go out across Europe once again” should Reform UK or the Green Party win power, Sir Keir Starmer will claim.

The Prime Minister will suggest the two parties would pose a risk to Britain’s national security and wider European security, as he makes a speech at the Munich Security Conference on Saturday.

During the address, Sir Keir will urge Europe to relinquish its reliance on the US for defence matters, and insist the UK must get closer to the EU.

But he is also expected to take aim at the two political parties currently hoping to win over voters from Labour.

He will describe both Reform and the Greens as “the peddlers of easy answers on the extreme left and the extreme right”.

Sir Keir will add: “It’s striking that the different ends of the spectrum share so much. Soft on Russia and weak on Nato – if not outright opposed.

“And determined to sacrifice the longstanding relationships that we want and need to build, on the altar of their ideology.

“The future they offer is one of division and then capitulation. The lamps would go out across Europe once again. But we will not let that happen.”

Responding to the planned remarks, a Reform spokesman said: “This is a speech from a weak Prime Minister on the verge of being hounded out of office by his own party.

“This is a man that refuses to find the money to increase defence spending and is making our country weaker and less secure.

“Reform UK believes our priority should be rebuilding our armed forces, properly funding defence to at least 3.5% of GDP, standing up to China and Russia, and strengthening our bilateral relationships.”

A Green Party source told The Times newspaper: “This is a caretaker Prime Minister running scared, losing what’s left of his authority by going abroad to a summit on our future security and making cheap smears against the Green Party, because he knows Labour have blown it in Gorton and Denton.”

The February 26 Gorton and Denton by-election is set to be a test of the public mood as Sir Keir finds himself deeply unpopular in opinion polls, and as his Government is mired in scandal over former US ambassador Lord Peter Mandelson’s links to the paedophile Jeffrey Epstein.

Both the Greens and Reform are vying to take the Greater Manchester seat from Labour, which won it at the 2024 general election with a 13,000-plus majority.