Sir Keir Starmer told Europe it has to be ready to “fight” Russian aggression as he announced that the UK would deploy warships and fighter jets to the Arctic later this year.
The move, announced at the Munich Security Conference, will be seen as a bid to appease Donald Trump after he threatened to annex Greenland, citing security concerns in the region.
But even as the PM hailed what he said would be a demonstration of the transatlantic relationship, US secretary of state Marco Rubio warned the continent’s leaders over their ”malaise of hopelessness” and said that the US needed a partner with the “will to survive”.
It came as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky hit out at the United States, saying his country was being asked to make concessions to Russia “too often” in US-brokered peace talks and that Europe was being sidelined.
During an eventful day at the summit:
- Sir Keir rebuked President Trump, saying he should “be in no doubt – if called on, the UK would come to your aid today”
- The PM said the UK should align more closely with the EU on the economy as well as on defence, and received a round of applause as he said: “We are not the Britain of the Brexit years any more”
- He attacked Reform as “pro-Putin” as he said Nigel Farage’s party and the Greens were offering a future of “division and then capitulation” that would see the “the lamps go out across Europe once again”
- Sir Keir denied that he had “narrowly missed” being toppled and said he had ended this week “much stronger than I started it, and that’s a very good place to be”
Addressing the event on Saturday morning, Sir Keir said leaders must not dither, because “Russia has proved its appetite for aggression”. He warned that, even if there were a peace deal for Ukraine, Russia’s rearmament “would only accelerate”.
“We must answer this threat in full,” he said. “The road ahead is straight and it is clear. We must build our hard power, because that is the currency of the age. We must be able to deter aggression, and yes, if necessary, we must be ready to fight.”
Announcing the planned deployment of the warships, the prime minister said that the US, Canada and other Nato allies would join Britain in bolstering security across what is known as the Nigh North.
Mr Trump has claimed that Europe does not do enough to defend Greenland, which is strategically important to the US, amid threats from Russia and China.
During his address, Sir Keir also hit out at Mr Trump’s claims that he is unsure whether other Nato allies would come to the US’s defence.
One of the alliance’s founding principles, Article 5, is that an attack on one Nato member is regarded as an attack on all. It has only been invoked once, after the 9/11 terror attacks in New York.
“Be in no doubt, if called on, the UK would come to your aid today,” he told the US president.
As the world approaches the fourth anniversary of the Russian invasion of Ukraine later this month, Sir Keir said the UK recognised the “urgency” of the need to establish closer defence ties with the EU.
In a move that will infuriate Brexiteers at home, he also said that Britain should move towards “deeper economic integration” with the EU, aiming to “move closer to the single market” in various sectors. He insisted his cabinet was in full agreement as he attempted to brush off the Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar’s bid last week to oust him from office, saying he had “ended the week much stronger than I started it”.
His speech came less than an hour after an address by Mr Rubio, who warned Europe that the US did not want to be caretakers of Western “decline”. The US secretary of state criticised countries he said had spent not enough on defence and too much on welfare, had appeased a climate “cult” to their own economic detriment, had allowed too much immigration, and had not defended their history, as he hit out at what he said was a “malaise of hopelessness and complacency”.
But Mr Zelensky in turn attacked the US, saying: “The Americans often return to the topic of concessions, and too often those concessions are discussed only in the context of Ukraine, not Russia.”
Mr Zelensky said he hoped that the US would stay involved in the negotiations, and that there would be an opportunity for Europe to play a larger role.
“Europe is practically not present at the table. It’s a big mistake, to my mind,” he said.
