US won’t be ‘caretakers’ of West’s ‘managed decline’, Rubio warns in Munich speech - latest

The prime minister received a round of applause after telling the room that the Britain is not the UK of the Brexit years any more.

He says that there is no strong Europe without Britain and no strong Britain without Europe.

The prime minister’s speech has begun, slightly later than expected.

Europe must relinquish its over-dependence on the United States, Sir Keir is to tell a summit grappling with antagonism from Donald Trump.

He told the conference: “The euphoria of this triumph led us to a dangerous delusion that we had entered, quote, The End of History, that every nation would now be a liberal democracy, that the ties formed by trade and by commerce alone would now replace nationhood, that the rules-based global order – an overused term – would now replace the national interest, and that we would now live in a world without borders, where everyone became a citizen of the world.”

In his speech, Rubio insisted the fate of the United States and Europe “will always be intertwined”, as he said that Donald Trump “demands seriousness and reciprocity from our friends here in Europe” because “we care deeply about your future and ours”.

He also, however, hit out at the United Nations, and warned that the “rules-based global order” which grew out of the end of the Cold War had been a “dangerous delusion”.

Rubio said he does not think it is possible for Russia to achieve what its initial objectives were at the start of the war.

On the effort to end the conflict, he said: “It’s an obligation that we won’t walk away from.”

Analysis by Sam Kiley in Kyiv:

Marco Rubio gave a rallying cry for western unity and an alliance to resist “civilisational erasure” as Europe pivots away from American leadership at the Munich Security Conference.

He drew a standing ovation after insisting that the shared colours and heritage of the old and new worlds were intrinsic to the future security of the western hemisphere. But there was a string sense image the applause he got was for not being JD Vance, the US vice president.

Donald Trump’s Secretary of State gave a more respectful and nuanced apparently pro-European speech compared to the vulgarity and disrespect shown by Vance in the same forum last year.

But the motifs remained the same. America can do this alone, it doesn’t want to but it can and will - if necessary. Colonialism has a bad rap. The West must stand together to fight off waves of immigration to will wipe it out. Climate change is a cult and the UN is useless.

None of these views is shared by any government in Europe, save Hungary, share these views which are, however, high on the agenda of the region’s far right populist parties.

Immigration is an urgent threat to the fabric of our societies and survival of our civilisation itself, he said.

Signing up to more of a future led my America quills mean accepting Trump’s view of the world in which international law was subordinated to national agendas and he warned “we are prepared to do this alone”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has finished his address. Tony Blair is also speaking at the conference this morning.

He will be followed by Sir Keir Starmer and Ursula von der Leyen. Sir Keir is expected to speak after 9am.

In his speech to the summit, the Prime Minister will call for a more European defence alliance and greater autonomy for the continent.

Sir Keir will say that this should be underpinned by stronger ties between Britain and the EU.

He is expected to say: “We are not the Britain of the Brexit years anymore.

“Because we know that, in dangerous times, we would not take control by turning inward – we would surrender it. And I won’t let that happen.

“There is no British security without Europe, and no European security without Britain. That is the lesson of history – and it is today’s reality too.”

Volodymyr Zelensky and Mark Rutte are expected to speak at 11:45am.

Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:

Rubio has used his speech in Munich to issue a warning to European leaders on defence, welfare, climate change and a host other issues.

As he told them America had no interest in being caretakers of the West’s managed decline, he also hit out at what he said was a “malaise of hopelessness and complacency”.

He criticised countries he said had not spent enough on defence, had spent too much on welfare, had appeased a climate 'cult' to their own economic detriment, had allowed too much immigration and had not defended their history.

He also warned that decline was a “choice” that previous Western leaders had refused to make.

Last year US vice-president JD Vance stunned delegates in Munich by warning Europe the greatest peril facing the continent was not Russia or China but “the threat from within”.

Rubio’s message may have been draped in more diplomatic language, but it was equally designed to make Europe sit up and take notice.

Europe must relinquish its overdependence on the United States, Sir Keir Starmer is to tell the summit grappling with antagonism from President Donald Trump.

The Prime Minister will also argue for the UK to move closer to the European Union, saying turning inwards such as in the Brexit years would amount to a “surrender” of control in a perilous era for geopolitics.

He will address the room at 9am.

“We want Europe to be strong”, Mr Rubio told the conference.

“We believe that Europe must survive because the two great wars of the last century serve for us as history’s constant reminder that, ultimately, our destiny is and will always be intertwined with yours.

“Because we know that the fate of Europe will never be irrelevant to our own.”