Britain and Germany have signed what they said was their most comprehensive defence co-operation agreement in decades, pledging to urgently reintegrate the UK’s defence industry into European supply chains after Brexit. 

Speaking in Berlin on Wednesday afternoon, new UK defence secretary John Healey criticised his Conservative predecessors for presiding over “seven years?.?.?.?in which Britain’s essential relationships with many European allies have been strained at best,” with a promise to “reset” the country’s strategic position on the continent. 

“European security will be this government’s first foreign and defence priority,” Healey said, unveiling a raft of commitments with Germany, the continent’s single biggest defence spender, which would be the “first step” in a “commitment to greater industrial collaboration” on defence.