Starmer visits Trump: North West experts talk what could happen

The Prime Minister is in the USA for crunch talks with Donald Trump following his announcement of a dramatic increase in the size of the UK's war chest, paid for by cutting the international aid budget.

The UK pledged to raise defence spending from its current 2.3% to 2.5% of the UK's economic output by 2027.

Sir Keir Starmer will follow French president Emmanuel Macron in visiting Mr Trump in Washington DC and Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky is expected to visit on Friday.

Kyiv has agreed to a minerals deal which had been pushed for by the new US administration, according to Ukrainian officials, which could be signed off when their president visits Washington.

Political experts from across the North West have shared their thoughts and predictions on how the visit between the two leaders will go.

"I think this is probably the most important diplomatic mission of Keir Starmer's career."

Dr. Paul Anderson, is a senior lecturer in politics at Liverpool John Moores University. He said:

"The main talking point, as we would imagine, is going to be Ukraine. I think Starmer's objectives here are going to be to try and get Trump onside, to try and deescalate some of the tensions and some of the rhetoric that Trump has recently been using.

"Specifically I think what Starmer's key mission here is going to be is to try and get guarantees over Ukraine's security and try and get Trump more on board with the European line, which at the moment, he is a bit out of step with.

"The approach will be cautious, but Starmer clearly has objectives here and Ukraine is going to be at the top of that so I think it will be firm but fair.

"We have already seen that the UK government have committed to increasing to 2.5% spending on defence by GDP by 2027, so bringing that a bit forward, instead of 2030.

"This, I think, has been seen so far as a gift to Trump well received by the US president, who has banged on that Europe should be paying more. I imagine Trump, in the press briefing, might say that he welcomes this but he still wants European countries to be spending more.

"The mood music seems to be fairly positive and clearly the UK government, and Keir Starmer specifically, are paving the way to try and establish better relations with America to try and turn the tide a bit on the rhetoric that seems to be a bit more pro-Russia than pro-Ukraine."

"The extent to which any Prime Minister would be able to persuade President Trump and his administration to do something differently, is up for debate."

Simon Green, is Professor of Politics at the University of Salford. He said:

"The United Kingdom has always talked about the special relationship with the United States, however, in this case I think this has is really now changing quite substantially. It is very clear that actually the current American administration isn't really all that fussed about existing long standing partnerships.

"The UK government's been very clear in criticising the statements that Donald Trump made about Zelensky being a dictator, so it is going to shift the realities in terms of who are our allies going to be in terms of our security and defence policy. It probably isn't going to the United States.

"The best thing that Zelensky can hope for, is if this galvanises a European response, and the Prime Ministers often taken that line, it's not about choosing between Europe and the United States, and now I actually think that's harder to maintain given what's happened over the past week."

"If Keir Starmer can be seen as an honest broker between Europe and the United States, he could be seen to be somebody who can play a useful role for Donald Trump."

Dr Matt Cole is a Political Teacher at The University of Lancaster. He said:

"President Trump, of course, leads the one of the world's largest economies with one of the world's most powerful military forces behind it, and therefore is much less likely to be influenced against his will by Keir Starmer than the other way around.

"That may not be a bad thing either. For the United States or for Britain."

"This could be a very difficult meeting, Donald Trump is keen to flex his muscles and create change."

Dr Phil Catney is a senior politics lecturer from Cheshire. He said:

"Starmer will be looking to try and get security guarantees from Donald Trump and to try and make some progress on that.

"What Donald Trump is trying to get out of it is unclear, but Donald Trump wants to have regular appearances in the media and a high profile government visit is one of those things.

"Whether the American's actually see the UK and Keir Starmer as a signficant player is another matter. The UK will have an ongoing role in Ukraine, whether the American's see value in that and see the value of the British Armed Forces as something they need to rely on, for security in Europe, is another issue."

Sir Keir insisted the increase in defence funding was "very much my decision" when questioned whether the US was now setting UK defence policy.

The UK will spent £13.4 billion more on defence every year from 2027, according to Sir Keir, something he acknowledged will require "extremely difficult and painful choices".

The Prime Minister defended his choice, telling reporters it was "necessary for the protection of our country".

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