Joint UK-Germany Statement - Berlin, 8 October 2026

8 Oct 2026 03:14 PM

Joint UK-Germany Statement – Berlin, 8 October 2026.

At the occasion of the meeting of Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin on 8 October 2026, the following milestones and way forward have been agreed: 

• Kensington Treaty ratification - Federal Chancellor Merz and Prime Minister Burnham finalised the ratification of the Kensington Treaty through the official exchange of documents. The Kensington Treaty, signed in July 2025 in London, spans the breadth of the bilateral relationship, enhancing cooperation in the face of global challenges, and delivering tangible benefits for UK and German citizens. 
• Industrial Tech Corridor – To connect AI and critical technology scale-ups with industrial demand, this initiative supports the progression of UK & German Tech to developed scaled industrial use cases. The focus will be initially on AI and high-value industrial applications. A first dedicated Tech Corridor roundtable convening CEOs of selected primes, AI scale-ups, and senior officials will be held later in the autumn. 
• Counter Hybrid threat partnership - The UK and Germany will deepen cooperation in order to prepare for and respond to growing Hybrid threats. Through this partnership we will work together to build democratic and societal resilience, better protect critical national infrastructure, and improve our ability to monitor, mitigate and counter Hybrid threats. 
• Space cooperation – The UK and Germany intend to deepen their strategic cooperation in space, spanning civil, commercial, security and defence interests. To this end, we will work towards a Memorandum of Understanding to be signed at the upcoming UK-GER government consultations in early 2027. In the immediate, we will deepen cooperation on launch and assured access to space, including SaxaVord Spaceport to support a more resilient and responsive European access to space. On the space security and defence side, Germany and the UK will strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation. 
• Quantum Technology Cooperation - Financial backing for research and development of quantum technology will be increased to a total of 19.5 Mio EUR. The additional grants will support a further 5 selected research projects across Germany and the UK, making use of the existing bilateral quantum cooperation and increasing the total amount of funded projects to 10. 
• Regional Growth Forum - To further deepen UK-Germany economic cooperation, the two Leaders convened senior business leaders for a Regional Growth Forum. The Forum focused on fostering business-government collaboration, regional growth and innovation. They agreed to develop a deeper Regional Dialogue to be held in 2027, involving local and regional stakeholders.