BRUSSELS — The EU and U.K. must overcome historic gripes and “reset” their relationship to be able to work together in an increasingly uncertain world, the bloc’s top parliamentarian said. European Parliament President Roberta Metsola used an address to the Spanish senate on Tuesday to call for closer ties with the U.K. as London steps up efforts to secure smoother access to European markets and funding projects, after the country voted to leave the bloc in 2016. “Ten years on from Brexit … and in a world that has changed so profoundly, Europe and the U.K. need a new way of working together on trade, customs, research, mobility and on security and defense,” Metsola said. “Today it is time to exorcize the ghosts of the past.” Metsola called for a “reset” in the partnership between Britain and the EU as part of a policy of “realistic pragmatism anchored in values that will see all of us move forward together.” Her speech comes after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said he intended to try and ensure his country’s defense industries can benefit from the EU’s flagship SAFE scheme — a €150 billion funding program designed to boost procurement of military hardware. That push has been far from smooth, with a meeting of EU governments on Monday night failing to sign off U.K. access to SAFE, despite France — which has consistently opposed non-EU countries taking part — supporting the British inclusion. Starmer has also signaled in recent days that he is seeking closer integration with the EU’s single market. Brussels has so far been reluctant to reopen the terms of the U.K.’s relations with the bloc just six years after it exited. While those decisions lie with the remaining 27 EU member countries, rather than the Parliament, Metsola’s intervention marks a shift in tone that could bolster the British case for closer relations. In the context of increasingly tense relations with the U.S., capitals are depending on cooperation with British intelligence and military capabilities and in key industries. Europe must take “the next steps towards a stronger European defense, boosting our capabilities and cooperation, and working closely with our NATO allies so that Europe can better protect its people,” Metsola said.

LONDON — Britons must accept the trade-offs of a closer relationship with the European Union, the U.K. prime minister said Monday. At a speech in central London, Keir Starmer said Brexit had “significantly hurt our economy,” warning “frictions” with the bloc must be reduced to enable “economic renewal” in the U.K. It comes days after talks between London and Brussels to allow Britain to participate in the EU’s €150 billion Security Action for Europe loans-for-weapons program broke down, amid a disagreement over how much the U.K. would have to pay to participate. In his Monday morning speech, Starmer gave a staunch defense of last week’s budget, insisting he does have a long-term economic plan for the U.K. “The most important things that we can do for growth and business is first, drive inflation down and second, to retain market confidence that allows for recall economic stability,” he said. But the U.K. must “confront the reality” that the deal struck with Brussels post-Brexit “significantly hurt our economy, he said. “For economic renewal we have to keep reducing frictions. We have to keep moving towards a closer relationship with the EU, and we have to be grown-up about that, to accept that that will require trade-offs.” He later cited a proposed SPS deal, which aims to remove the need for border checks on plant and animal products, and talks on an emission trading scheme as examples of where the U.K. is making progress. Starmer’s speech came as the embattled British prime minister tried to defend last week’s tax-hiking government budget. He insisted the choices made the tax-and-spend statement had been “fair, necessary and fundamentally good for growth,” but acknowledged publicly for the first time that ministers had considered — and then backed away from — a manifesto-busting rise in the headline rate of income tax.