Starmer says UK opening talks with EU on joining €90bn loan scheme for Ukraine – UK politics live | Politics
Starmer said Britain has started talks with the EU about joining the 90 billion euro loan plan for Ukraine
Good morning. Many MPs in the UK will spend their bank holiday campaigning for Thursday’s election, but Keir Starmer In Armenia, he announced that Britain wanted it to join the EU’s €90bn (£78bn) loan to Ukraine.
Starmer is attending the European Political Community summit in Yerevan. The EPC is a group that was founded four years ago and includes all EU countries as well as almost all non-EU European countries. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney agrees (possibly on the grounds that Canadians are now considered honorary Europeans in light of the geopolitical turmoil caused by Donald Trump).
The 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine has been talked about for a long time, but this became possible only after the dismissal last month of pro-Russian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who vetoed the loan. The advantage of the UK joining (besides increasing military support to Ukraine) is that it would allow British firms to access the contracts that the loan would finance.
Speaking to the media upon his arrival at the summit, Starmer said:
In terms of the EU loan that we are discussing joining, this is very good for Ukraine because it will provide Ukraine with the capability it sorely needs in the fifth year of this conflict.
This is very good for the UK because of the talent that creates jobs in the UK.
It’s also very good for UK-EU relations, which are very important as we continue to have various discussions.
Like Downing Street This initiative is not a one-off, he says in the newsletter; This is part of Starmer’s aim to improve and deepen Britain’s post-Brexit relations with the EU.
Extra funding for Ukraine could open up the opportunity for British businesses to meet Ukraine’s urgent talent needs as part of the initiative and enable the British defense industry to access major contracts.
The move is a significant step towards an ambitious new relationship between the UK and the EU, building on the prime minister’s calls at the Munich Security Conference in February to deepen defense and security cooperation against the rapidly evolving threats facing both sides. The meeting also comes ahead of a UK-EU summit expected to be held this summer, where both sides will discuss greater economic and security cooperation.
In the Times this morning Bouncing Open a story Starmer says if Britain wants to have closer access to the EU single market it will need to start making annual payments of around £1bn a year to Brussels for the first time since Brexit. In response, the government said it did not recognize this figure but would not comment on ongoing negotiations.
Here is the agenda of the day.
Morning: Starmer is in Yerevan, Armenia, for the EPC meeting and will also hold various bilateral meetings. He is expected to speak to the media in the early afternoon (UK time).
10am: Scottish Labor Party leader Anas Sarwar has a campaign event. Scottish Conservative Party leader Russell Findlay is also campaigning in Edinburgh.
Afternoon: Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is campaigning in Essex.
Comments are unlikely to be open today, so if you want to flag something urgently it’s best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has stopped posting from their official account on
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important events
Conservatives accuse PM of ‘hitting taxpayers’ after report says EU will pay UK for better single market access
In Sky News Mel StepThe shadow chancellor has just said his party welcomes in principle Keir Starmer’s announcement to join the EU’s €90bn loan to Ukraine. (See 8:40 a.m.) But he’d like to see the details, Stride said.
But his colleague Priti PatelThe shadow foreign secretary was less than happy with a Times report suggesting Britain could pay the EU up to £1bn a year for better access to the single market.
in it Times report, Oliver Wright says:
European negotiators have made clear that the payment of the cash, expected to amount to around £1 billion a year, is a condition of greater access to the EU’s single market.
They want Starmer to make concessions in principle at a summit between the prime minister and European leaders this summer, before detailed talks on further integration.
“If the UK wants greater integration it must ‘pay to play’,” said one European diplomat. “This is not unusual.”
The government did not deny the story but claimed it did not recognize the £1bn figure.
Commenting on the report Patel in question:
Starmer is rolling back Brexit and planning another undemocratic coup against British taxpayers by signing us up to a £1 billion annual payment to the EU.
This weak prime minister once again goes to the negotiating table, returns home empty-handed, deceiving taxpayers with his terrible judgments.
Britain is preparing to announce further sanctions on Russian companies involved in military supply chains, No 10 says
Britain is preparing to announce additional sanctions against Russian companies involved in military supply chains. Downing Street he says. In the newsletter he says:
Move to support financial support to Kiev [see 8.40am] This is expected to be followed later this week by another round of tough UK sanctions on Russian companies to disrupt military supply chains and further weaken Russia’s military capabilities.
In recent weeks and months, Ukraine has successfully outmaneuvered Russian forces and imposed strategic costs on Russia as it continues to regain territory, including the 200 square kilometers around Kherson. Losses on the battlefield now exceed Russia’s ability to mobilize reserves.
Here are some photos of Keir Starmer at the European Political Community summit in Armenia. Downing Street says Starmer is only the second British prime minister to visit the country; the first was Margaret Thatcher in 1990.
Norwegian prime minister Jonas Gahr Store (left) and Italian prime minister Giorgia Meloni at the EPC summit. Photo: Stefan Rousseau/PA
Starmer said Britain has started talks with the EU about joining the 90 billion euro loan plan for Ukraine
Good morning. Many MPs in the UK will spend their bank holiday campaigning for Thursday’s election, but Keir Starmer In Armenia, he announced that Britain wanted it to join the EU’s €90bn (£78bn) loan to Ukraine.
Starmer is attending the European Political Community summit in Yerevan. The EPC is a group that was founded four years ago and includes all EU countries as well as almost all non-EU European countries. Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney agrees (possibly on the grounds that Canadians are now considered honorary Europeans in light of the geopolitical turmoil caused by Donald Trump).
The 90 billion euro loan to Ukraine has been talked about for a long time, but this became possible only after the dismissal last month of pro-Russian Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who vetoed the loan. The advantage of the UK joining (besides increasing military support to Ukraine) is that it would allow British firms to access the contracts that the loan would finance.
Speaking to the media upon his arrival at the summit, Starmer said:
In terms of the EU loan that we are discussing joining, this is very good for Ukraine because it will provide Ukraine with the capability it sorely needs in the fifth year of this conflict.
This is very good for the UK because of the talent that creates jobs in the UK.
It’s also very good for UK-EU relations, which is very important as we continue to have various discussions.
Like Downing Street This initiative is not a one-off, he says in the newsletter; This is part of Starmer’s aim to improve and deepen Britain’s post-Brexit relations with the EU.
Extra funding for Ukraine could open up the opportunity for British businesses to meet Ukraine’s urgent talent needs as part of the initiative and enable the British defense industry to access major contracts.
The move is a significant step towards an ambitious new relationship between the UK and the EU, building on the prime minister’s calls at the Munich Security Conference in February to deepen defense and security cooperation against the rapidly evolving threats facing both sides. The meeting also comes ahead of a UK-EU summit expected to be held this summer, where both sides will discuss greater economic and security cooperation.
In the Times this morning Bouncing Open a story Starmer says if Britain wants to have closer access to the EU single market it will need to start making annual payments of around £1bn a year to Brussels for the first time since Brexit. In response, the government said it did not recognize this figure but would not comment on ongoing negotiations.
Here is the agenda of the day.
Morning: Starmer is in Yerevan, Armenia, for the EPC meeting and will also hold various bilateral meetings. He is expected to speak to the media in the early afternoon (UK time).
10am: Scottish Labor Party leader Anas Sarwar has a campaign event. Scottish Conservative Party leader Russell Findlay is also campaigning in Edinburgh.
Afternoon: Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is campaigning in Essex.
Comments are unlikely to be open today, so if you want to flag something urgently it’s best to use social media. You can reach me on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social. The Guardian has stopped posting from their official account on
I find it very helpful when readers point out errors, even minor typos. No mistake is too small to be corrected. I also find your questions very interesting. I can’t promise to answer them all, but I will try to answer as much as I can, either on BTL or sometimes on the blog.
