Sir Keir Starmer will act as a “bridge” between Donald Trump and Europe ahead of an emergency summit on an end to the Ukraine war on Monday, ministers have vowed. The Prime Minister will join European leaders at an emergency summit called by Emmanuel Macron on Monday, as they consider how to respond to Mr Trump's push for an end to the war in Ukraine. Trump has pledged talks with Vladimir Putin to end the war in Ukraine, with US officials on Sunday attending a meeting with Russian officials to discuss the war.
Kyiv has said it is not attending the talks as it was not invited - despite the US administration insisting it had been. Sir Keir will later this month visit Trump in Washington, where he is expected to set out European concerns about the White House’s plan. A further meeting of European leaders, including Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, is likely when Sir Keir returns from his US trip. The meeting on Monday will see Mr Macron and Sir Keir joined by leaders from Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, the Netherlands and Denmark along with the presidents of the European Council and European Commission and the secretary general of Nato.
The Prime Minister said: "This is a once-in-a-generation moment for our national security where we engage with the reality of the world today and the threat we face from Russia. "It's clear Europe must take on a greater role in Nato as we work with the United States to secure Ukraine's future and face down the threat we face from Russia. "The UK will work to ensure we keep the US and Europe together. We cannot allow any divisions in the alliance to distract from the external enemies we face.".
Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds said the UK was well placed to try to keep the Western allies together - but admitted it would not be easy. He told BBC's Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg: "There is definitely, from the US administration, a view towards Europe and there's a slightly different view towards ourselves in the UK. He added: I'm not saying it's going to be easy, there's a very assertive agenda from the US.".
Mr Reynolds also said the need for increased defence spending is widely recognised, including by Chancellor Rachel Reeves. The Sunday Times reported that Sir Keir held one-to-one meetings on Friday with the Chief of the Defence Staff Admiral Sir Tony Radakin amid calls for higher defence spending. Labour has pledged to increase spending from its current 2.3% of gross domestic product to 2.5%, although no timetable has been set out for that increase.
The Chancellor will set out the multi-year plan for public spending on June 11, which is expected to set out how the UK will increase the share spent on defence to 2.5%. Shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge said the Munich Security Conference underlined that the US was more focused on China and Europe would have to do "more of that heavy lifting" in respect of Russia. He told GB News: "What we've had in Munich is basically a wake-up call, which is that we do need to do more as European Nato members, we do need to spend more on defence, and that's true in the United Kingdom.".
