It is the same story on energy. The Germans were badly burnt by their dependence on Russian gas and their short-sighted exit from nuclear power. While still committed to net zero, a more pragmatic approach has replaced the ideological one promoted by Scholz’s Green coalition partners.
Yet the British Government is still under the spell of Ed Miliband, seemingly indifferent to the damage done by high and rising energy costs. Once again, Starmer appears to be doubling down on failed German policies.
Where Anglo-German co-operation could pay dividends is in science and technology, especially in artificial intelligence (AI), where the UK is ahead of our European neighbours. A combination of British innovation and German investment would be beneficial for both countries.
Unfortunately, Rachel Reeves has just cancelled Rishi Sunak’s plan to invest £1.3bn in advanced AI technology, including the “exascale” computer at Edinburgh University.
This monster, capable of making a billion calculations a second, is “critical to unlocking advances”, says Dame Ottoline Leyser, the brilliant head of UK Research and Innovation – and, incidentally, the daughter of a German-Jewish refugee from the Nazis, the Oxford medieval historian Karl Leyser.
Hence the most important decision so far by the Starmer administration has already blighted one of the most fruitful fields for Anglo-German joint ventures.
On defence collaboration too there seems a notable lack of focus on the war in Ukraine, which should be front and centre in these negotiations. Faced with the threat posed by Putin’s Russia, the urgent need for both countries to build up their arms industries seems obvious. Yet Starmer and Scholz are doing too little, too late to address that threat.
We are a long way from the pre-pandemic years when Remainers raved about “why the Germans do it better”. Both countries have complementary strengths and weaknesses. There may be a deal to be done with the Germans, but Sir Keir Starmer is the wrong man to do it.