[Source: Reuters]

Britain and Germany’s leaders agreed in Berlin on Wednesday to work on an ambitious treaty covering issues from defence to trade that would be part of a reset of British relations with the European Union.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s trip to the EU’s top powers, Germany and France, aims to help Britain move beyond the previous Conservative government’s fractious relations with European allies. Starmer, who took office last month, has put improved ties at the heart of his efforts to boost Britain’s economic growth.

He billed the new cooperation treaty as a “once-in-a-generation chance to deliver for working people in Britain and in Germany” as it would deepen collaboration in science, technology, business and culture while increasing trade.

Starmer, addressing a press conference alongside German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, said a reset would not mean reversing Britain’s 2020 exit from the EU under the Conservatives, or re-entering the bloc’s single market or customs union.

Scholz said Germany wanted to take this outstretched hand.

In a joint declaration, Britain and Germany said they hoped to sign the cooperation treaty at government consultations “by early next year”. Defence ministers were also working on a new defence agreement, they said, which would follow the signing of a joint defence declaration in July.

Stephen Hunsaker, a trade researcher at the UK in a Changing Europe think tank, said however that any efforts to properly improve trade would risk encroaching on EU rules and could only happen at the periphery.