Defence Online

Prime Minister hails new era of Dutch-UK security cooperation post-Brexit

Maritime October 25, 2018

The Netherlands has become one of the first nations to announce their intention to sail alongside the Queen Elizabeth aircraft carrier in her first deployment in 2021.

A Dutch warship will participate in the Carrier Strike Group, which will be one of the cornerstones of NATO defence capability in the years ahead.

Welcoming the King and Queen of the Netherlands to Downing Street for the first time, the Prime Minister thanked the Dutch for their help in exposing the campaign of reckless cyber-attacks on political institutions perpetrated by the GRU.

This follows October Council, where she argued alongside Prime Minister Rutte of The Netherlands that we should accelerate the work on further measures, including sanctions, to respond to and deter cyber-attacks.

During the meeting at Downing Street, the Prime Minister acknowledged that the UK’s defence and security cooperation with The Netherlands both bilaterally and through NATO is going from strength to strength, as the UK continues to negotiate a deep security partnership with the EU post-Brexit.

The Prime Minister said: “The Netherlands is one of our closest allies, as our recent work tackling cyber security threats demonstrates.

“As we leave the European Union, we will continue to stand side by side to defend against threats to the global rules based system.

“As I welcome King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima today, I’m pleased to announce that the Dutch navy will be among the first nations to join the Carrier Strike Group as a sign of our ongoing cooperation.”

image © Crown Copyright

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Post written by: Matt Brown