EU could halt weapons exports to Britain if war breaks out with Russia

Mr Breton said: “The European Defence Investment Programme has prioritisation measures in it.

“EDIP contains a fully fledged security of supply pillar that is in it for crisis situations.

“Once this stage is declared, specific measures can be applied, including priority-rated orders on civilian products or defence products depending on the situation.”

Around 40 per cent of the weapons and ammunition currently produced in the bloc are shipped overseas, Josep Borrell, the EU’s top foreign diplomat, said while outlining the scope of the potential export blockade.

“We have a powerful industry of defence because we export a lot,” he added. “Certainly when there is a big push on demand, which might happen with a war, we have to ask for extra input.”

Member states would have to vote on the crisis situation, which include security or more general shortages in weapons, before the export ban could be applied.

The measure resembles the export controls introduced by the EU on vaccine shipments at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, which sparked a jabs war with Britain.

While the EU promised to “team up with strategic, like-minded and international partners”, the UK is excluded from any of its new schemes to boost defence production.

Ukraine will be treated as a “quasi member state” as Brussels seeks to make up for its recent failure to give Kyiv a promised one million artillery shells.

The scheme will also limit EU countries from purchasing weapons from UK-based firms, such as BAE Systems, if they want to benefit from financial incentives paid out of the bloc’s budget.