Harris and Starmer set terms for annual summit on trade and co-operation
The leaders of Ireland and the UK will hold annual summits on trade and security, the Prime Minister has said.
Sir Keir Starmer said it is a “moment for reset” of relations between the UK and Ireland as he met Irish premier Simon Harris during his first official visit to Dublin.
Sir Keir said they had been able to agree the themes and structures of a summit in March 2025, to be held every year thereafter.
The meetings will focus on four key areas: security, justice and global issues; climate, energy technology and innovation; growth, trade and investment; and culture, education and people-to-people connections.
In a joint statement, the leaders said this includes a shared interest in areas such as cybersecurity and maritime security, as well as connections through sport and joint cultural projects.
On Saturday afternoon, the leaders shook hands at the doorway of Farmleigh House before moving inside where Sir Keir signed the visitors’ book.
After greeting the Prime Minister at the Irish Government’s formal reception house for state visits, the Taoiseach wished Sir Keir “a hundred thousand welcomes” to Ireland.
Commerce across the Irish Sea, a trade relationship worth 120 billion euros (£100 billion) a year which supports thousands of jobs, was at the top of the agenda.
The Prime Minister said there was a need to be “ambitious and bold” when examining reform of regulation and trade barriers.
Mr Harris, who described Sir Keir as his friend, said: “It’s a really great honour to host you here today on your first official visit to Ireland as Prime Minister.”
Speaking at Farmleigh House, he added: “We both said we wish to really place British-Irish relations on a new path and I really appreciate the time that you’ve given to us since taking office, and I’ve tried to respond in kind.”
Sir Keir said: “It’s a pleasure to be here, to have this opportunity that we will take to renew the friendship between our two countries.
“That reset, I think, can be meaningful, it can be deep.”
Mr Harris said a reset in relations had to be embedded in “peace and prosperity, mutual respect and friendship”.
He said their “most solemn duty” as leaders of the UK and Irish governments was as co-guarantors of the peace process in Northern Ireland.
Sir Keir responded by saying he takes that responsibility “very seriously”.
The Prime Minister said pressing international issues including Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East was also on the agenda for the meeting.
A rally against UK arms exports to Israel was staged in Dublin city centre to coincide with the visit.
The Irish-Palestine Solidarity Campaign said the UK was “complicit in the ongoing genocide and illegal occupation of Palestine”.
Mr Harris was the first international leader hosted by Sir Keir in the UK following the July election, in a bid to foster the close relationship.
Sir Keir said meeting Mr Harris twice within his first nine weeks in office as Prime Minister shows a “real intention” to reset relationships to the “great benefit” of both the UK and Ireland.
The Prime Minister said he was also seeking a “wider EU reset” with the leaders of countries that make up the bloc.
He visited Berlin and Paris last week as a means of building trust with German and French leaders.
Following a meeting with business chiefs, the two leaders attended the Republic of Ireland vs England Nations League football match.
TUV leader Jim Allister accused Sir Keir of only being interested in the “nationalist-favouring parts” of the 1998 Belfast Agreement.
In a statement on Saturday night, the North Antrim MP said: “It is gross hypocrisy for the prime ministers of the UK and the Republic to jointly declare of the Belfast Agreement, ‘Upholding the agreement is a deep, personal priority for us both’.
“Cross-community decision-making was proclaimed as the cornerstone of the agreement, yet in a few weeks we will see that pledge shredded before our eyes as Stormont is denied the right to make a cross-community decision on the future of the Union-dismantling protocol, but instead, because it suits nationalist interests, majoritarianism will return for this and this alone!
“Egged on by the Republic’s government, the UK government deliberately jettisoned cross-community voting on whether or not NI should be ruled by EU laws we don’t make and can’t change. Tragically, the lead party of unionism gave up the fight against such betrayal of unionist interests when they returned with their tail between their legs to Stormont to operate EU colonial rule.
“So, away with the pretence by Sir Keir Starmer that he is committed to upholding the Belfast Agreement in all its parts - he is only interested in its nationalist-favouring parts.”