The Prime Minister will say that Ukraine must be put in the “strongest possible position for negotiations” with Russia, addressing the possibility of a negotiated settlement for the first time.
Speaking at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet, Sir Keir Starmer will tell attendees at the white tie Guildhall dinner that the eastern European nation must be supported to “secure a just and lasting peace on their own terms” after Russia’s invasion.
Addressing the annual City of London event, he will say: “We must continue to back Ukraine and do what it takes to support their self-defence for as long as it takes.
“To put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for negotiations so they can secure a just and lasting peace on their terms that guarantees their security, independence – and right to choose their own future.”
It comes after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy suggested a ceasefire deal could be agreed if Ukrainian-controlled territory could come under the “NATO umbrella”, amid uncertainty over President-elect Donald Trump’s return to the White House and his plans to end the Ukraine conflict.
Giving the traditionally foreign affairs focused address, Starmer will also state that he “utterly rejects” the idea of choosing between America and Europe, and that the UK’s “national interest” demands his government work with partners on both sides of the Atlantic.
Starmer on UK-US
He will say: “The idea that we must choose between our allies… that somehow we’re with either America or Europe is plain wrong. I reject it utterly. Attlee did not choose between allies. Churchill did not choose. The national interest demands that we work with both.”
The PM will describe the UK-US relationship as the “cornerstone of our security and our prosperity for over a century”, and add: “We will never turn away from that.”
He will stress that “our two nations working together” is “about hard-headed realism”, and argue that both countries’ prosperity has been “woven together”, from technology and artificial intelligence (AI), to security, military and intelligence “at every level”.
Starmer will add: “That’s why, when President Trump graciously hosted me for dinner in Trump Tower, I told him that we will invest more deeply than ever in this transatlantic bond with our American friends in the years to come.”
But he will also vow that his Labour government “will rebuild our ties with Europe too”, including regular bilateral summits and a new security pact on foreign affairs and defence.
However, the Prime Minister will say “there will be no return to freedom of movement, no return to the customs union and no return to the single market” and that Britain will continue to work with European partners in “agile” new ways.
Global ‘goodwill’?
He will cite the UK’s “landmark” Trinity House defence agreement with Germany; the deepening of the relationship with France via the Lancaster House Treaties; the Joint Expeditionary Force with Baltic and Nordic allies “as the tip of the NATO spear” and the UK’s “AUKUS alliance with the US and Australia to support stability in the Pacific”.
The UK, he will stress, benefits from “a huge amount of goodwill around the world” with countries who “want to work with us”.
Starmer will say: “We’ve already made real progress towards renewing Britain’s standing on the international stage. And we have been welcomed back with open arms.”
He said while “partners are pleased to see us reconnecting… [and] committed to longstanding values like stability, international law, the UN Charter and ready to lead”, the UK must also “strengthen our security as the bedrock on which the economy rests – and the ultimate guarantor of everything we hold dear”.
A “clear pathway”, he said, would be set out to increase defence spending from 2.3 per cent of GDP today to 2.5 per cent, but he did not give a timeline – despite defence secretary John Healey saying earlier today that the UK must innovate at a wartime pace.
The Prime Minister called the UK’s armed forces “the finest there is” and highlighted the “almost £3bn of additional resources for our defence” allocated in the October Budget, which he said was “cementing our position as a leading NATO ally”.