UK politics latest: Starmer to join Macron for Armistice Day ahead of talks on Trump and Nato

This week Rachel Reeves will use her Mansion House speech in the City of London to “promote free and open trade between nations”. The word is that the chancellor is “expected to be clear that she will take the fight to Washington in defence of free trade”.

With Donald Trump having just seen one female progressive politician off so recently, Reeves is displaying considerable pluck in squaring up to the nascent Maga administration.

Perhaps, some such as Kemi Badenoch argue, Reeves should instead take the opportunity to seize the most valuable of Brexit opportunities, and press president-elect Trump for the free trade deal with the United States we’ve been yearning for ever since that fateful referendum eight and a half years ago.

Read the full article from Sean O’Grady here:

Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have greeted members of the defence community and military officials in Paris, as they observed a minute’s silence.

The event marks the 106th anniversary of Armistice Day, which brought the First World War to an end.

A possible trade war with the US will not be as bad as feared, a former political appointee in the last Trump administration has said – claiming the president-elect will target the European Union more significantly than Britain as he wants to see a “successful Brexit”.

Peggy Grande, who was a political appointee for Donald Trump, told The Independent he is likely to give a “preferential trade deal to the UK” and she thinks tariffs will “more greatly affect the EU than the UK”.

It comes amid fears of a global trade war, after the Republican politician pledged to impose levies of 10 per cent on all goods imports from US trading partners, and up to 60 per cent and 100 per cent for China and Mexico.

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Defence secretary John Healey has rejected reported comments by Ukrainian officials suggesting Kyiv is unhappy with the Labour Government’s level of support.

He said it is “simply not correct” to say the situation is not the same as it was under Rishi Sunak and has worsened under the new administration.

It comes after the Guardian reported officials in Kyiv as having said relations have deteriorated since Labour took office and voiced frustration over Britain’s failure to provide additional long-range weapons.

Asked about the reported remarks, Mr Healey told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “That is simply not correct.

“We’ve stepped up with more military support. We’ve speeded up deliveries. We’re now spending more on military aid for Ukraine than ever before as a UK Government, and I spoke at length to the defence minister in Ukraine yesterday.

“He certainly doesn’t see the UK support weakening, and he said the Ukrainians are confident in Britain’s continuing and steadfast support for their country.”

Following their bilateral meeting, Sir Keir Starmer is due to attend the annual Armistice Day commemorations in Paris, marking the first time a British prime minister has done so since the Second World War.

Alongside Emmanuel Macron, he will travel to the Champs Elysées to lay a wreath in front of the statue of Georges Clemenceau and the statue of Winston Churchill.

They will also then travel to the Place de l’Etoile to review the troops around the Arc de Triomphe, and lay a wreath in front of the tomb of the unknown soldier.

Read the full article from Archie Mitchell here:

John Healey said it is “Ukraine that gets to call when the talking starts” after a Trump ally appeared to suggest that the war could end if Kyiv was open to ceding land to Russia.

The Defence Secretary told BBC Breakfast: “Because of the strength of bipartisan support in the US and a recognition that it’s in no one’s interest to let an aggressor like (Vladimir) Putin redraw international boundaries by force, I expect the US to remain steadfast alongside countries like the UK.

“We can do more to support Ukraine. We’re doing that at the moment, and that will be part of the discussion that Prime Minister Starmer has with President (Emmanuel) Macron this morning in Paris.”

Asked what the UK’s reaction to the suggestion that the war could come to a conclusion if there was support within Ukraine to give away land to Russia, he said: “It’s Ukraine that gets to call when the talking starts. Our job is to support Ukraine, stand by them when they fight, stand by them if they decide to talk.

“This could be ended today if Putin withdrew following his illegal invasion… that’s the way this conflict could be ended, and the importance for us for Europe and for the United States is that Putin in the long run does not prevail, because if he does prevail, he will not stop at Ukraine, and the cost to us all will be much greater in the future.”

The prime minister is being urged to bolster the UK’s relationship with the European Union following Donald Trump’s re-election, as a senior EU official argues there is a “big opportunity” for closer ties.

Sandro Gozi, the new chair of the European delegation to the EU-UK Parliamentary Partnership Assembly, told The Independent the bloc is looking to put academic cooperation, a youth free-movement deal and conversations about artificial intelligence on the table.

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