Nick Thomas-Symonds holds the venerable position of His Majesty’s Paymaster General, which, ironically as we shall see, was once in charge of the finances of the armed forces. His main responsibility in government, however, is as minister for the constitution and European Union relations, and it was that hat he wore this week to visit the European Commission in Brussels.

Thomas-Symonds is the man doing the hard yards to advance the government’s ‘reset’ of UK-EU relations and turn the warm rhetoric of the ‘Common Understanding’ agreed in May into tangible results. The parties have already concluded a Security and Defence Partnership, but the Common Understanding had an important proviso:

The truth is that the EU is just not that into us

The United Kingdom and the European Commission should swiftly explore any possibilities for mutually beneficial enhanced cooperation created by the Safe instrument, once adopted, in accordance with their respective legal frameworks.

Safe, or Security Action for Europe, is a financial instrument offering loans of up to €150 billion (£130 billion) to EU member states to invest in defence capabilities. When it was announced in March, the eligibility criteria were very carefully drawn up: the loans could be accessed by, and used for companies based in, EU member states, Norway and........

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