Starmer says it would be 'big mistake' to think Ukraine no longer needs military support because peace deal inevitable
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**Q: What do you envisage the UK’s military support for  looking like, in the light of the changes in the US?**

**Starmer** says he wants to ensure there is a lasting peace.

And if there is a deal – he says we don’t know if there will be one yet – then countries will have to defend it.

He says the UK will play its part.

But that “has to be done in conjunction with the United States”, he says.

He says he has two other points to make.

First, in the meantime they must put Ukraine in the strongest possible position. It would be a “big mistake” to stop that on the assumption there will be a deal.

> In the meantime we need to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position. We don’t know there’s going to be a deal. The fighting is going on, and it’s a big mistake to think, well, all we’ve got to do is wait for a deal.
> 
> We’ve got to make sure that if they are fighting on, they’re in the strongest position.
> 
> We need to get the most appropriate for every person, whether they’re a white male, a white female, or a young adult, with all of those factors being taken into account.

And he says the whole for Europe needs to step up.

He says he hopes that will increase orders for British factories in the defence sector.

**Luke Pollard**, the armed forces minister, has said that raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, the new policy announced last week, will be “just the starting gun” in the process of strengthening the armed forces.

Speaking at a conference at Chatham House, he said:

> The  amount is just the starting gun in a much bigger race to protect Britain’s security.
> 
> It is not just defence spending that has failed to keep pace with the impending threat. Defence modernisation has fallen badly behind too.
> 
> UK defence remains fundamentally shaped by the risk and the demand of the post-cold war era, where there was no direct threat to our security from a major adversary, nor an imperative to be immediately ready for war, to defend our homeland or to mobilise our defence industry.
> 
> And at a time of dizzying progress in military technology, warfare and global geopolitics, standing still meant one thing – that meant rapid obsolescence.”

**Luke Pollard**, the armed forces minister, has said that raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, the new policy announced last week, will be “just the starting gun” in the process of strengthening the armed forces.

Speaking at a conference at Chatham House, he said:

> The  amount is just the starting gun in a much bigger race to protect Britain’s security.
> 
> It is not just defence spending that has failed to keep pace with the impending threat. Defence modernisation has fallen badly behind too.
> 
> UK defence remains fundamentally shaped by the risk and the demand of the post-cold war era, where there was no direct threat to our security from a major adversary, nor an imperative to be immediately ready for war, to defend our homeland or to mobilise our defence industry.
> 
> And at a time of dizzying progress in military technology, warfare and global geopolitics, standing still meant one thing – that meant rapid obsolescence.”

**Luke Pollard**, the armed forces minister, has said that raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, the new policy announced last week, will be “just the starting gun” in the process of strengthening the armed forces.

Speaking at a conference at Chatham House, he said:

> The  amount is just the starting gun in a much bigger race to protect Britain’s security.
> 
> It is not just defence spending that has failed to keep pace with the impending threat. Defence modernisation has fallen badly behind too.
> 
> UK defence remains fundamentally shaped by the risk and the demand of the post-cold war era, where there was no direct threat to our security from a major adversary, nor an imperative to be immediately ready for war, to defend our homeland or to mobilise our defence industry.
> 
> And at a time of dizzying progress in military technology, warfare and global geopolitics, standing still meant one thing – that meant rapid obsolescence.”

**Luke Pollard**, the armed forces minister, has said that raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, the new policy announced last week, will be “just the starting gun” in the process of strengthening the armed forces.

Speaking at a conference at Chatham House, he said:

> The  amount is just the starting gun in a much bigger race to protect Britain’s security.
> 
> It is not just defence spending that has failed to keep pace with the impending threat. Defence modernisation has fallen badly behind too.
> 
> UK defence remains fundamentally shaped by the risk and the demand of the post-cold war era, where there was no direct threat to our security from a major adversary, nor an imperative to be immediately ready for war, to defend our homeland or to mobilise our defence industry.
> 
> And at a time of dizzying progress in military technology, warfare and global geopolitics, standing still meant one thing – that meant rapid obsolescence.”

**Luke Pollard**, the armed forces minister, has said that raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, the new policy announced last week, will be “just the starting gun” in the process of strengthening the armed forces.

Speaking at a conference at Chatham House, he said:

> The  amount is just the starting gun in a much bigger race to protect Britain’s security.
> 
> It is not just defence spending that has failed to keep pace with the impending threat. Defence modernisation has fallen badly behind too.
> 
> UK defence remains fundamentally shaped by the risk and the demand of the post-cold war era, where there was no direct threat to our security from a major adversary, nor an imperative to be immediately ready for war, to defend our homeland or to mobilise our defence industry.
> 
> And at a time of dizzying progress in military technology, warfare and global geopolitics, standing still meant one thing – that meant rapid obsolescence.”

**Luke Pollard**, the armed forces minister, has said that raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, the new policy announced last week, will be “just the starting gun” in the process of strengthening the armed forces.

Speaking at a conference at Chatham House, he said:

> The  amount is just the starting gun in a much bigger race to protect Britain’s security.
> 
> It is not just defence spending that has failed to keep pace with the impending threat. Defence modernisation has fallen badly behind too.
> 
> UK defence remains fundamentally shaped by the risk and the demand of the post-cold war era, where there was no direct threat to our security from a major adversary, nor an imperative to be immediately ready for war, to defend our homeland or to mobilise our defence industry.
> 
> And at a time of dizzying progress in military technology, warfare and global geopolitics, standing still meant one thing – that meant rapid obsolescence.”

**Luke Pollard**, the armed forces minister, has said that raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027, the new policy announced last week, will be “just the starting gun” in the process of strengthening the armed forces.

Speaking at a conference at Chatham House, he said:

> The  amount is just the starting gun in a much bigger race to protect Britain’s security.
> 
> It is not just defence spending that has failed to keep pace with the impending threat. Defence modernisation has fallen badly behind too.
> 
> UK defence remains fundamentally shaped by the risk and the demand of the post-cold war era, where there was no direct threat to our security from a major adversary, nor an imperative to be immediately ready for war, to defend our homeland or to mobilise our defence industry.
> 
> And at a time of dizzying progress in military technology, warfare and global geopolitics, standing still meant one thing – that meant rapid obsolescence.”
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