Trump visit live: Starmer to push US president to resume role in Gaza ceasefire talks – UK Times

Cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds could not say whether the RAF would be directly involved in plans to airdrop aid into Gaza, but warned that the delivery “cannot wait”.

Speaking to Sky News ahead of talks between Donald Trump and Sir Keir Starmer on Monday – in which the two leaders are expected to discuss the situation in the Middle East – the business secretary said: “We know the only way to get sufficient quantities of aid into Gaza is for that blockade to end, for those vehicles to get on the ground.

“The point about the air drops is that we cannot wait. We’ve got to do something. It’s an unconscionable situation. We can all see the lapse in humanity on display, and we’ve got to do things to do that.”

He added: “I don’t know about the operational implementation, but on the air drops, as a country, we’re always standing by.”

The US has enough leverage to turn the dial on the conflict in Gaza, the business secretary suggested, ahead of crunch talks between Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump on Monday.

The UK prime minister is expected to raise the prospect of reviving ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas during today’s meeting, amid mounting concern over humanitarian conditions in the region.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Jonathan Reynolds said: “Of course, Gaza will be on the agenda today… The intolerable scenes that we’re seeing, the world is seeing, are the backdrop to that.

“And of course, the US has itself secured on two occasions ceasefires in the conflict, so they have been actively engaged in it, working with Egypt, the Qataris, and other key partners in the region.

“The US is the country I think we’d all recognise with the leverage here to really make a difference on both sides. So their role is fundamentally important.”

There is “no doubt” that the UK’s trade terms with the United States are a “benefit of Brexit”, the business secretary said.

Jonathan Reynolds was speaking ahead of Sir Keir Starmer’s meeting with Donald Trump today, where the two leaders are expected to discuss trade as well as the situation in the middle east.

Asked whether the UK’s 10 per cent tariff rate as part of the trade deal with the US – compared to the EU’s 15 per cent rate – is a benefit of Brexit, Mr Reynolds told Sky News: “I’ve said in Parliament many times, this is a benefit of being out of the European Union, having our independent trade policy.

“There is absolutely no doubt about that. What I’m also driven by is the hard economic data, and you’re right, there have been costs as well.”

John Swinney was asked whether his previous claim that Donald Trump’s call for the displacement of the Gazan people out of the region amounted to “ethnic cleansing” would have an impact on his meeting with the US president.

The First Minister replied: “I think what’s important is that we focus on the solutions that are required now, and the absolutely immediate situation is a necessity for a ceasefire and for humanitarian aid to need to flow into Gaza so that the people of Gaza can be saved from the starvation that they face. And that is the blunt human reality of the situation that we face, and there must be an intensification of pressure on Israel.

“And I think President Trump is ideally positioned. In fact, he’s perhaps uniquely positioned to apply that pressure to Israel to ensure that there is safe passage for humanitarian aid to support the people of Gaza, who face an absolutely unbearable set of circumstances as a consequence of the conflict.

“And a key part of that must be the application of a durable ceasefire, the flow of humanitarian aid and the progress towards a two state solution in the Middle East.”

Sir Keir Starmer will plead with Donald Trump to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza and end the suffering of thousands of Palestinians when he meets with the US president in Scotland on Monday.

The growing crisis in the Middle East will top the agenda when the two hold their bilateral meeting at President Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Ayrshire, with the prime minister under immense political pressure to change the UK’s policy on recognising Palestine as a state.

It was put to Mr Trump that Sir Keir would ask him about a Middle East ceasefire, but he replied: “We’re meeting about a lot of things. We have our trade deal and it’s been a great deal.

“It’s good for us. It’s good for them and good for us. I think the UK is very happy, they’ve been trying for 12 years to get it and they got it, and it’s a great trade deal for both, works out very well.

“We’ll be discussing that. I think we’re going to be discussing a lot about Israel. They’re very much involved in terms of wanting something to happen. [Starmer] is doing a very good job, by the way.”