SPEAKING at a poorly attended Scottish Labour Party conference yesterday Sir Keir Starmer said the United States ‘is right’ about the UK and Europe needing to take more responsibility for defence and security.
Starmer added that he is clear Britain ‘will take a leading responsibility’ in protecting the continent, claiming: ‘Instability in Europe always washes up on our shores.’
He added: ‘We can’t cling to the comforts of the past,’ and claimed that it is ‘time to take responsibility for our security’.
Donald Trump sparked an emergency meeting of European leaders last week after he said European NATO members should spend more on defence and Starmer has rallied to the cause, saying he will set out a path for the UK to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence for starters, up from the current 2.3%, with hints at the prospect of raising it to 5% and beyond.
Starmer added: ‘There can be no discussion about Ukraine without Ukraine, and the people of Ukraine must have long-term security.’
Last week, saw US officials meet their Russian counterparts in Saudi Arabia to discuss Ukraine – which was met with indignation by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as none of his team were invited.
No Europeans were invited either, sparking fears the US sees Vladimir Putin as an ally.
Labour leader Starmer, who has his eyes on the mineral riches of the Ukraine, has promised Zelensky he will make the case for safeguarding Ukraine’s sovereignty when he meets with Trump, who has called the Ukrainian president a dictator.
In a phone call to Zelensky, Starmer reiterated the UK’s ‘ironclad support’ for Ukraine and said he would discuss safeguarding Kiev’s sovereignty with the US president.
Starmer will meet Trump on Thursday, for what will be a critical moment in the fragile relations between America and Europe, after the US leader launched his verbal attack on Zelensky, whom he labelled a dictator, adding that prime minister Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron ‘haven’t done anything’ to end the war.
Since Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine began in 2022, the UK, France and other allies have been providing Kiev with weapons and aid.
Trump has also suggested that Ukraine ‘started’ the war.
Starmer called for Britain step up its military confrontation with Russia at the Scottish Labour Party conference yesterday, saying: ‘It’s not just moral urgency that demands this, it’s also in our national interest. Russia already menaces our waters, our online spaces, even at times our streets.
‘And the economic insecurity that the conflict has caused, the rising bills, the cost of living crisis, that will only continue unless we have a resolution that is fair and stable for Ukraine.’
He added: ‘I’ve been saying for some time that we Europeans, including the United Kingdom, have to do more for our defence and security.
‘The US is right about that. In this new era, we can’t cling on to the comfort of the past. It’s time to take responsibility for our security, our continent.
‘And I’m clear that Britain will take a leading responsibility. We have to be ready to play our role to defend Ukraine once a peace agreement is reached.
‘And we have to be ready to reshape our economy with industrial policy to stand up for Ukraine, to stand up for Europe, but most of all to stand up for our security, because Ukraine is vital to us.’
With capitalism nose-diving into its greatest crisis ever, the issue of the hour is not deciding whether to support either the remnants of the Stalinist bureaucracy or the new bourgeoisie struggling to emerge in Eastern Europe.
In the developing world crisis, the international working class has a huge role to play in preventing a return to 1930s style capitalist slump.
It must defend Russia and China against imperialism and complete the job that the Bolsheviks began in 1917, by organising socialist revolutions in the UK, the US and the EU and political revolutions to bring in rule through Workers Soviets in Russia and China, completing the world socialist revolution.
World capitalism is in its death agony. It must be replaced by worldwide socialism, putting an end to profiteering capitalism and bringing in a worldwide socialist planned economy where production is planned to satisfy peoples needs.
