Donald Trump greets Keir Starmer for talks at White Home – observe reside | Politics

Andrew Roth is the Guardian’s international affairs correspondent, based mostly in Washington.

Donald Trump greeted Keir Starmer amicably because the UK prime minister arrived on the White Home in a Black Escalade shortly after noon.

The 2 smiled, exchanged handshakes and clapped one another on the again earlier than turning to reporters.

“President Trump, are you able to get a peace deal finished in Ukraine?” one reporter yelled.

“Sure, we will, we’ll,” Trump responded, flashing a thumbs up as Starmer stood at his facet.

Starmer didn’t reply to a query as as to whether he would get a “backstop”, which means safety ensures from the US for European peacekeepers in Ukraine within the occasion of a ceasefire.

A reporter asks the president if he can get a peace deal finished for Ukraine.

Donald Trump replies: “Sure.”

A reporter asks Keir Starmer if he’ll get a “backstop” – the time period getting used for a safety assure from America, so that it’ll present backup help (together with airpower and logistics) to a European pressure on the bottom offering ‘tripwire” safety for Ukraine.

Starmer chooses to not reply that one.

On Monday president Macron corrected president Trump at one level when Trump wrongly stated that the Europeans had been going to be repaid the cash they’ve donated to Ukraine.

At a press gallery lunch as we speak, Steve Reed, the surroundings secretary, stated he didn’t assume Keir Starmer ought to undertake this strategy throughout his assembly with the president. Requested if Starmer ought to appropriate Trump in actual time, Reed replied:

The query on Donald Trump, I don’t assume it’s for the prime minister on any go to to be factchecking, as you set it, his host … It’s for the British prime minister to advocate for the curiosity of the UK in a method that’s almost definitely to safe the outcomes that we wish.

So that’s the strategy the prime minister might be taking.

It’s not performative. It’s extraordinarily severe about getting the outcomes that we want, whether or not that may be on commerce, on safety, or some other subject I’m positive that may come up throughout these sorts of conferences.

Lib Dems urge Starmer to inform Trump Andrew Tate and his brother shouldn’t be allowed to evade justice

Andrew Sparrow

I’m Andrew Sparrow, choosing up the weblog from Jane Clinton.

Keir Starmer shouldn’t be the one distinguished Briton within the US who could be assembly President Trump. In response to Sky Information, Andrew Tate and his brother Tristan, who’ve simply arrived in Florida regardless of dealing with prices in Romania for rape, folks trafficking and cash laundering (which they deny), hope that sooner or later they could get a gathering with the president. Andrew Tate, a “misogynist influencer” with an enormous on-line following, has been a vocal Trump supporter.

The Liberal Democrats are urging Starmer to lift this case with Trump and urge him to make sure the brothers don’t evade justice. Lisa Good, the Lib Dem dwelling affairs spokesperson, stated:

Andrew Tate is accused of rape and trafficking kids within the UK. Permitting the Tate brothers to cover from justice in Florida could be ignoring the rule of legislation and our extradition treaties.

An try by Trump to face in the best way of Britain’s justice system could be deeply incorrect. The prime minister ought to increase this as a precedence, and clarify that any interference on this method could be unacceptable.

Right here is our story concerning the Tates being allowed to depart Romania.

Almost 935,000 visas had been issued in 2024 to folks coming to the UK for work, research or household causes, or by one of many authorities’s settlement schemes, based on new House Workplace knowledge.

The determine, which covers major candidates and dependants, is down by a 3rd (33%) from just below 1.4 million in 2023.

The autumn has been pushed by a steep drop within the variety of folks issued with work-related visas, which was down 40% from 613,627 in 2023 to 369,419 final yr.

The variety of research visas fell year-on-year by 31% from 604,253 to 419,312. In contrast, there was a small rise in household visas, up 7% from 80,083 to 86,049.

Among the many resettlement classes, 19,346 visas had been issued underneath the Ukraine schemes (down 52% year-on-year), 19,273 had been granted to British Nationwide Abroad standing holders from Hong Kong (down 32%), and 13,869 had been underneath the EU Settlement Scheme (down 20%), PA Medis stories.

As well as, 3,864 had been for dependants becoming a member of or accompanying others and three,426 had been underneath different settlement schemes.

The overall variety of visas issued throughout all these classes final yr, 934,558, is down sharply from 1,393,079 in 2023.

Additionally it is the bottom complete for any 12-month interval for the reason that yr to December 2021, when the determine stood at 858,766.

The drop is more likely to mirror adjustments in authorized migration guidelines launched since January 2024 by the earlier Conservative authorities, together with a ban on abroad care staff and college students bringing household dependants, and a steep rise within the wage threshold for expert staff to £38,700.