Starmer says he ‘will not yield’ to Trump pressure over Greenland
Sir Keir Starmer vowed to stand up to Donald Trump over his threats to annex Danish territory, while saying he would be “unyielding” on his stance on Greenland.
In his most hostile language yet, the Prime Minister also accused the US President of openly criticizing his government’s plans for the Chagos Islands to pressure him over Greenland.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir said: “I have made clear my position on our principles and values.
“The first of these is that Greenland’s future is only for the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark.
“The second is that threatening tariffs to put pressure on allies is completely wrong.”
Highlighting that the Danish prime minister is coming to the UK on Thursday, he added: “I will not yield, Britain will not yield on our principles and values about the future of Greenland under threats of tariffs, and that is my clear position.”
President Trump has threatened to hit Britain and other European allies with 10 percent tariffs from February 1 unless they agree to buy Greenland, and has also ruled out using military force to seize the island.
In his strongest ever words against President Trump, Sir Keir said the US President’s criticism of the Chagos Islands deal was made with the “clear purpose” of putting pressure on Greenland.
On Tuesday, Trump launched a scathing attack on Britain, saying Sir Keir’s plan to hand over the islands to Mauritius was “a great deal of stupidity”.
Writing on the Truth Social platform, the US president said the deal was “another in a long line of national security reasons that require the purchase of Greenland.”
In his first public comments since the controversy caught the UK government by surprise, the Prime Minister said: “President Trump used different words about Chagos yesterday than the previous words of welcome and support he said when I met him at the White House.
“Yesterday he used these words to pressure me and Britain about my values and principles for the future of Greenland.”
The Prime Minister repeated: “He wants me to give up my position and I will not do that.”
Meanwhile, the Trump administration has increased its criticism of the plan to transfer the islands, including the British-US Diego Garcia military base, to Mauritius.
US treasury secretary Scott Bessent accused Britain of “letting us down”.
At a press conference in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders were attending the World Economic Forum, he said: “President Trump has made clear that we will not cede our national security or our hemispheric security to any other country.
“Our partner, England, is disappointing us with the Diego Garcia base that we have shared for many years, and they want to transfer it to Mauritius.”
On Tuesday, in an online attack, the US president wrote: “Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is planning to give Diego Garcia Island, now a vital US Military Base, to Mauritius, and is doing so WITHOUT ANY REASON.”
However, Britain stated that the agreement was publicly welcomed by the United States.
President Trump also appeared to indicate his support for the deal last year, telling Sir Keir during a visit to the White House in February that he was “on the same page as your country” and “had a feeling it would work out very well”.
The Conservative Party welcomed Trump’s intervention, with Conservative shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel saying he was “saying what we’ve been saying all along”.
This is breaking news, more to come…
