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The prime minister has dismissed calls from the SNP to scrap an unprecedented second state visit for Donald Trump following a showdown with Ukraine’s President Zelensky.
Trump accused Zelensky of “gambling with World War Three” at the White House on Friday, in a fiery exchange described as “deeply troubling” by Scotland’s first minister.
John Swinney told the BBC he did not see how a state visit for the US president – offered by the King on Thursday – could go ahead unless he was “absolutely full-square with us” in protecting Ukraine.
However Starmer, who is hosting a summit of European leaders including Zelensky later, accused the SNP of using rhetoric and said he would not be distracted.
It followed a number of SNP MPs criticising the prime minister’s relationship with Trump on social media, including the party’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn who said Starmer “better get back up off his knees and revoke that offer of a state visit”.
Prior to Zelensky’s warm welcome at Downing Street on Saturday, the SNP’s foreign affairs spokesperson Stephen Gethins accused the prime minister of being silent on the matter which he said was “disappointing”.
Starmer used his US visit to present Trump with a letter from the King, offering an initial meeting in Scotland – where Trump owns two golf courses – to discuss the logistics of a second state visit.
Speaking to the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Starmer said: “I’ve seen people ramping up the rhetoric and taking to Twitter and saying what they would do – good for them, I’m not that interested in that. I’m interested in what are the practical steps, what are the bridge-building that I can do, what are the relationships that I can mend and take forward to take us to lasting peace in Europe.”
I won’t be diverted by the SNP or others trying to ramp up the rhetoric without really appreciating what is the single most important thing at stake here – we’re talking about peace in Europe.
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