The prime minister has vowed not to choose between allies of the UK in a speech on foreign policy. Attacking the Conservatives for having “turned their back on the world”, Sir Keir Starmer said his government would instead strengthen ties with both the US and the EU. Sir Keir also stressed the current “dangerous times”, saying stability was essential for growth, so the UK must continue to back Ukraine against Russia “as an erratic, increasingly desperate aggressor”.
Speaking at the Lord Mayor’s Banquet in London’s Guildhall, an annual event held by the City of London Corporation and where the PM traditionally speaks on international issues, Sir Keir set out how the UK would now “stand tall on the world stage”. “Against the backdrop of these dangerous times, the idea that we must choose between our allies, that somehow we’re with either America or Europe, is plain wrong,” he said.
“I reject it utterly. Attlee did not choose between allies. Churchill did not choose. The national interest demands that we work with both.”
Sir Keir said he told President-elect Donald Trump during their meeting in New York in September that the UK “will invest more deeply than ever in this transatlantic bond with our American friends in the years to come”. He also repeated his commitment to “rebuild our ties with Europe too”.
Sir Keir insisted it is “deeply in our self-interest” to support Ukraine against Russian president Vladimir Putin because “the future of freedom in Europe is being decided today”. The UK is now “determined to fight harder on the world stage for our national interests and ready to dig deeper to defend them”, he said, because a win for Putin would damage “our own security, stability and prosperity”.
Source link
