UK should ‘only’ host Trump visit if he ‘delivers’ on Ukraine says Sir Ed Davey
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The UK should only host a state visit with Donald Trump if he “delivers” on support for Ukraine, Sir Ed Davey has said. The Liberal Democrat leader described the idea of a state visit as “leverage” the UK would have over the president-elect when he returns to office next week, in an address in central London.
There have been concerns over what Mr Trump’s return to the White House will mean for US support for Kyiv. He had previously laid out a desire to bring an end to the conflict in his first days in office. In the same speech, Sir Ed called on the Government to “negotiate this year a brand new deal with the EU” that would have “at its heart, a new UK EU customs union”.
In his speech on Thursday morning, Sir Ed said the UK “must try and influence the Trump administration to do the right thing”, but said that there is “no choice but to deal with the Donald” when it comes to defence. He said the UK has “leverage” as the president-elect “craves” a visit, but it should only be granted following a sit-down summit that would examine financial support for Kyiv.
Sir Ed said: “We have something Trump desperately wants: a state visit. “The pageantry at Buckingham Palace. A banquet with the King. People know he craves it, so I say we give it to him, but only if he delivers what we need first for Britain and Europe’s defence and security.”.
He said Mr Trump should “sit down with President Zelensky and other European leaders in a summit convened by the UK to agree how we collectively use the hundreds of billions of dollars, pounds and euros of frozen Russian assets to pay for the weapons Ukraine needs to win the war and beat Putin.”.
