We share an article by Pavel Wierroth of the Communist Party (Germany) @kommunistischepartei.de on the Kensington Agreement, signed on 17 July 2025 by the German and British governments.
Years of growing contradictions between the various factions of capital in Germany and Britain reached their provisional climax in 2020 with Britain’s withdrawal from the joint imperialist alliance, the EU.
Against the backdrop of intensifying crises, the rise of China as an imperialist world power, the protectionist retreat of the USA, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and steadily declining growth prospects, the political leadership of both states, represented by Friedrich Merz and Keir Starmer, met in London to develop strategies for a reorientation through a “British-German Friendship Agreement.”
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Years of growing contradictions between the various factions of capital in Germany and Britain reached their provisional climax in 2020 with Britain’s exit from the joint imperialist alliance, the EU.
Against the backdrop of intensifying crises, the rise of China as an imperialist world power, the protectionist retreat of the USA, the ongoing war in Ukraine, and steadily declining growth prospects, the political leadership of both states, represented by Friedrich Merz and Keir Starmer, now met in London to develop strategies for a reorientation under the guise of a “British-German Friendship Agreement.”
The main content of the agreement, referred to as the “Kensington Agreement” after the location of its signing, is the closer military cooperation in the context of the war with Russia. Half a million British workers are to be integrated into arms production and drive forward the further expansion of the war economy. Coherently, the subsequent press conference was held at the Stevenage plant of the monopoly corporation Airbus, whose production of space infrastructure for the German-British war efforts earned special praise from Merz.
Starmer further emphasised that the far-right clique in Kyiv would not be abandoned as a loyal ally in the war against the rival Russia. For this reason, “the best equipment possible” must be delivered to Ukraine “as quickly as possible” in order to sustain the war, and thereby the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Russian and Ukrainian workers.
He calls this largest rearmament campaign since the Second World War “peace through strength”, with which he intends to force the rival Russia into ceasefire negotiations without preconditions. Merz and Starmer remain unmoved by the fact that Kyiv’s declared goal is the re-conquest of Crimea and the punishment of Russian families and Ukrainian collaborators living there, a plan to be enforced against a nuclear power.
This endeavour, to position themselves at the forefront of NATO and “Europe” as pioneers of the general war course against Russia, is, inevitably, associated with high costs. To this end, the “national economies” are to be “stimulated”, defence spending increased, and its efficiency improved.
This could also be financed by raising the corporate tax rate, which had only recently been further reduced, as one journalist objected during the subsequent press conference. Merz, as a representative of German capital, of course had to sharply reject this, insisting that an unspecified portion of the rearmament would have to be made possible through further borrowing.
What exactly the gaping hole in their financing plans entails was left unanswered by both Merz and Starmer; it is therefore inevitable that these expenditures, too, will be offset by cuts to the welfare state, reductions in public services, and further burdens placed on the working class.
Another central point of the Kensington Agreement is the fight against so-called “smuggling gangs” and “illegal immigrants” into Germany and Britain. Who is meant by these definitions becomes logically evident in the context of this prioritisation of capital interests in migration policy: People who are pre-emptively denied escape to European core states like Germany and Britain, due to their age, physical or mental health – in short, due to their insufficient exploitability as wage labourers in the service of European capitalists.
The emphasis on “intervening at every stage of a refugee’s journey” also includes the boarding of boats, the locking up of families in internment camps, or abandonment in the desert, practices which have long been standard procedure on the part of the EU.
This agreement thus continues the rationalisation of the mass global movements of forced migration, set in motion in the first place by imperialist wars, blackmail, and climate destruction – at the expense of migrants – and, through their marginalisation on the labour market, ultimately of all workers.
The final key point of the London–Berlin Axis agreement is the general strengthening of “the economy”, that is, of national capital. In addition to further forms of cooperation aimed at bolstering industrial capital, which is stagnating in both countries, a “new German-British Economic Forum for Increased Investment” is to be created, generously endowed with £200 million.
In order to implement the targeted goals as swiftly as possible, German and British working-class children are, in future, to be placed even more quickly and efficiently between the two labour markets according to the needs of capitalists. In concrete terms, this means simplified travel for young people, from which Merz expects an increase in apprenticeship numbers in German and British companies.
That the focus lies on capital interests and not, for instance, on improving the quality of life for young workers, was something he admitted during the press conference as though it were self-evident. The Kensington Agreement must be understood in the context of the ongoing crisis of German and British monopoly capital. The ruling classes in Berlin and London are under pressure to defend their position on the world market.
In concrete terms, this means: the conquest of new markets abroad; the construction of a war economy to suppress competition and secure profits through global rearmament; the rationalisation of the resulting movements of displacement according to exploitability; and the mobilisation of additional funds to ensure the survival of national corporations and banks.
The full price of these reactionary undertakings, of which the Kensington Agreement forms a part, is to be borne by the working class – through the dismantling of social welfare, the weakening of its position vis-à-vis capital, and ultimately through mass death in the coming great war against Russia.
The “German-British Friendship Agreement” is thus not an agreement between the working classes of the two states, but a united front between their exploiters, and as such, constitutes a frontal assault on the working people of Germany, Britain, and indeed of all countries.
The only position communists can take is to expose the true character of this agreement and to mobilise the working class for united resistance against the imperialist course, which leads to war, repression, and impoverishment.