US election: Badenoch calls on Starmer to reopen US-UK trade talks
Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has urged Keir Starmer to reopen trade talks with the US after Donald Trump swept to victory over Democrat rival Kamala Harris.
The two party leaders faced each other across the despatch box for the first time in the wake of an historic election result, with Trump set to return to the White House in January.
Badenoch, who was elected Conservative leader, beating rival Robert Jenrick on Saturday, urged Starmer to “look after” the UK’s special relationship with the United States.
She said: “It doesn’t sound like he wants to invite President-elect Trump to Parliament. He needs to look after the special relationship, the US is our single biggest trade partner.
“Given the risk of increased tariffs on UK exports, which threaten our manufacturing sector, will the Prime Minister commit now to continue the negotiations on our free trade agreement (FTA) with the US, which the Biden administration cancelled when they came into office?”
In response, Starmer pledged: “Of course we will discuss issues of our economy with the president-elect, as we already have done.
“Economy, security, and global conflicts are issues of real significance that ought to unite this House. When it comes to the economy, what we’ve done with our Budget is to fix the foundations after 14 years.”
In a nod to a shift in global security in the wake of the US election, Badenoch also asserted: “President Trump is also right to argue that Europe needs to increase its defence spending.
“The last Conservative government committed to raising defence spending to 2.5 per cent by 2030. Will the Prime Minister finally match this commitment?”
Starmer replied: “There is no more important duty than keeping the people of this country safe. It was the Labour government that signed the NATO treaty in the first place and we are strong supporters.”
He added: “We have a strategic defence review and we are committed to 2.5 per cent – the last time 2.5 per cent was met was under the last Labour government. 14 years and they never did it once.”
He cited a £17bn “black hole” identified in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) budget by the National Audit Office (NAO) added: “The former defence secretary said the previous government hollowed out the armed forces. The plan they put forward at the election was pure fantasy.”
The exchange also saw Badenoch urge Starmer to apologise for prior comments on Trump by foreign secretary David Lammy, calling them “derogatory and scatological references”.
Citing the remarks, she said: “And I quote, ‘Trump is not only a woman-hating Neo-Nazi sympathising sociopath, he is also a profound threat to the international order’. If he did not apologise, will the Prime Minister do so now on his behalf?”
Starmer replied: “There will be many issues on which the leader of the opposition and I disagree, but there will be issues that do unite this House on national security and Ukraine.”
He added: “The foreign secretary and I did meet President-elect Trump just a few weeks ago for dinner for about a couple of hours, and we discussed a number of issues of global significance. It was a very constructive exercise.”