British PM says he has already discussed Ukraine with world leaders

On his first full day as British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has said he has already discussed the war in Ukraine with world leaders. He also announced plans to attend a NATO summit in Washington next week 

“I’ve already had a number of international calls, as you will know, and as you would have expected, to establish the relations across with other countries to have really important discussions about Ukraine and other pressing issues. And Washington will be an opportunity for me to have further discussions with some of the leaders I’ve already spoken to and some that I’m due to speak to,” said the newly elected head of government.

Karmer also said Saturday that he is scrapping a controversial Conservative policy to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda as he vowed to get change in motion, though he warned it will take time.

“The Rwanda scheme was dead and buried before it started,” Starmer said in his first news conference. “It’s never acted as a deterrent. Almost the opposite.”

The announcement was widely expected because Starmer said he would ditch the plan that has cost hundreds of millions of dollars but never taken flight.

The news conference followed his first Cabinet meeting as the new government takes on the massive challenge of fixing a heap of domestic woes and winning over a public weary from years of austerity, political chaos and a battered economy.

Starmer welcomed the new ministers around the table at 10 Downing St., saying it had been the honour of his life to be asked by King Charles III to form a government in a ceremony that officially elevated him to prime minister.

“We have a huge amount of work to do, so now we get on with our work,” he said.

Starmer’s Labour Party delivered the biggest blow to the Conservatives in their two-century history Friday in a landslide victory on a platform of change.

A raft of problems

Among a raft of problems they face are boosting a sluggish economy, fixing a broken health care system, and restoring trust in government.

“Just because Labour won a big landslide doesn’t mean all the problems that the Conservative government has faced has gone away,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London.

In his first remarks as prime minister Friday after the “kissing of hands” ceremony with Charles at Buckingham Palace, Starmer said he would get to work immediately, though he cautioned it would take some time to show results.,

“Changing a country is not like flicking a switch,” he said as enthusiastic supporters cheered him outside his new official residence at 10 Downing. “This will take a while. But have no doubt that the work of change begins — immediately.”

He will have a busy schedule following the six-week campaign crossing the four nations of the UK.

He will travel to Washington next week for a NATO meeting and will host the European Political Community summit July 18, the day after the state opening of Parliament and the King’s Speech, which sets out the new government’s agenda.

Starmer singled out several of the big items Friday, such as fixing the revered but hobbled National Health Service and securing its borders, a reference a larger global problem across Europe and the US of absorbing an influx of migrants fleeing war, poverty as well as drought, heat waves and floods attributed to climate change.

Conservatives struggled to stem the flow of migrants arriving across the English Channel, failing to live up to ex-Prime Minister’s Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats” that led to the controversial plan to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting said he would open new negotiations next week with NHS doctors at the start of their career who have staged a series of multi-day strikes. The pay dispute has exacerbated the long wait for appointments that have become a hallmark of the NHS’s problems.