Downing Street said Prime Minister Andy Burnham will meet Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin and that the two countries will share information to monitor, deter and disrupt hybrid threats. The 2025 Kensington Treaty is being ratified.
Britain and Germany said on Thursday they are launching a partnership to identify and disrupt sabotage, cyber attacks and other hybrid activity. The UK government said Prime Minister Andy Burnham will travel to Berlin for talks with Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
The partnership is meant to share information and coordinate action against threats to infrastructure, businesses and democratic institutions. Downing Street named Russia in particular. The leaders are also due to discuss Ukraine, instability in the Middle East and disruption on routes including the Strait of Hormuz.
The visit includes formal ratification of the 2025 Kensington Treaty, which commits the two countries to deeper cooperation on science, technology, defence, security and growth. They will also convene a regional growth forum with British and German chief executives. BBC News said this is Burnham's first official visit to Germany.
Burnham said attacks on infrastructure, businesses and democracies reach into homes and workplaces, and that Britain and Germany were joining forces to find, expose and disrupt that activity. The government said he has asked security chiefs to set up a National Centre for Information Defence to detect and attribute hostile state information operations.
Thursday's release is a political commitment and a treaty ratification, not a new sanctions list. No joint operation was announced.
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- Burnham said attacks reach into homes and workplaces and that Britain and Germany were joining forces to find, expose and disrupt them.