What the UK can rely on
France & the EU
Defence cooperation with France rests on the Lancaster House treaties and is the most durable part of the picture. The EU Security and Defence Partnership signed in May 2025 gave the relationship a framework, but talks on joining the EU's €150bn defence-procurement instrument collapsed in November 2025 over value for money, which is where the reset has most clearly not delivered.
The Franco-British treaty framework
75/100 · 25% weight
Defence cooperation with France runs on the 2010 Lancaster House treaties, the most structural part of the bilateral relationship, since modernised in a follow-on agreement. Treaty-based and durable across changes of government on both sides.
The EU Security and Defence Partnership
60/100 · 25% weight
The UK and EU signed a Security and Defence Partnership at the first EU-UK summit on 19 May 2025, providing for regular cooperation on maritime, space and cyber security among other areas. A framework for talking, newly established and not yet long-tested.
Defence-industrial integration
35/100 · 20% weight
Talks on UK participation in the EU's €150bn SAFE defence-procurement instrument collapsed in November 2025, with the UK citing value for money, and the UK is not joining the EU's new defence fund. This is where the reset has most clearly not delivered, and it is the weakest part of the picture.
Practical cooperation
60/100 · 15% weight
Cooperation on maritime security, undersea infrastructure and support to Ukraine continues at working level and is where most of the day-to-day value sits.
Trajectory
55/100 · 15% weight
A further EU-UK summit was scheduled for spring 2026 to take stock of the reset, including the areas where progress had not been made. Direction of travel is toward closer cooperation; the pace is disputed.