Keir Starmer Rejects Trump's Greenland Pressure at PMQs

New Reform MP Jenrick raises matter of 'exceptionally brave' prison officer Former shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick is up next. It is the first PMQs since he joined Reform UK last week. He uses his question to ask about the family of Lenny Scott, who he described as an "exceptionally brave" prison officer, who he says uncovered corruption in his prison and was "hunted down" and murdered years later. Because he died after leaving active service, Jenrick says, there was never any compensation paid to his children, and he asks where the prime minister would "correct" this and ensure his children have support. Starmer thanks him and says it will be looked into as a matter of urgency. South East Water outages 'totally unacceptable' says Starmer Kent MP Katie Lam asks the PM about the water crisis for her constituents, after some 30,000 properties had no water during almost a week of supply problems across Kent and Sussex. She asks whether supplier South East Water "should be ashamed to be schooled in crisis response" by emergency services volunteers, and if he has lost confidence in its chief executive. Starmer calls the situation "totally unacceptable" and says it needs to be fixed. He says the government welcomes the investigation from regulator Ofwat into the company. MP labels Trump 'thug in the White House' Labour MP Steve Witherden asks if the PM will commit to retaliatory tariffs, after Trump threatened tariffs on the UK and several other countries over their stance on Greenland. "The thug in the White House has shown he doesn't listen to grovelling," Witherden says. Starmer replies that he has made his position clear and he won't yield on his principles. But he says that the government will protect the national interest, and hurtling into a trade war will hurt working people, he says. Starmer strikes a steely tone on Greenland Chris Mason Political editor There was a steely tone to the prime minister’s remarks today on President Trump’s designs on Greenland. He sought to dismiss the reopening of the domestic political arguments over the Chagos Islands as a lever the president is using because of his frustrations over the UK’s stance on Greenland. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch - who backs the government on their Greenland position - strongly disagrees with ministers on Chagos. The government insists the Chagos deal is done. Recap: Badenoch presses PM on Chagos as Starmer defends Greenland position Badenoch has finished with her questions, but the PM is still facing backbench MPs. The Tory leader focused her questions on the Chagos Islands and Donald Trump's criticism of the UK's deal. She urged the PM to scrap the agreement and spend the money on defence instead. The PM said the US president has previously expressed support for the deal and that his more recent attack had been designed to force the UK to change its position on Greenland - something Starmer said he would not do. Badenoch accused Starmer of being too weak to stand up for the UK national interest, while the PM said she had failed to show solidarity on the Greenland issue. Relationship with the US matters, says Starmer Time for leader of the Liberal Democrats, Ed Davey. He says the Commons remembers when ex-prime minister Tony Blair "tied himself to an unpopular American president and a disastrous foreign policy" as close allies "looked on in horror". He asks if Starmer will "avoid Blair's historic mistake" and join Canadian Prime Minister Carney and French President Macron and "stand up strongly to President Trump". Starmer repeats how he "will not yield" in relation to Greenland, but says: "The relationship with the US matters". The PM says the UK has to work with its allies, including the US, to resolve Russia's war in Ukraine. He calls it "foolhardy" to think the UK should abandon its relationship with America. Starmer says he has spent last week working with Nato allies Badenoch says Starmer is too weak on what she calls the Chinese "spy hub" embassy, the Chagos islands, protecting veterans and funding for the armed forces. She asks whether he is too weak to stand up for the UK national interest. Starmer responds by saying that he spent the last week working with Nato allies to protect the national interest and working for unity in the alliance – while he claims that she has failed to rise to the occasion and show solidarity. She spent the last week trying to hold together what is left of the Tory party, he says. Front bench would be 'empty' if PM sacked MPs undermining Labour - Badenoch This is the first PMQs session since ex-shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick's defection to Reform UK last week. Badenoch says if the prime minister sacked everyone undermining Labour, his "front bench would be empty". She moves on to asking the PM whether he will vote in support of plans the Conservatives are putting forward, which she claims will protect veterans from unfair prosecutions. Starmer says the last government passed legislation which was "struck down" and left veterans "exposed", whereas he says his government is putting in measures to "protect them". Why does the UK have control of the Chagos Islands and why has it reached this deal? We've been hearing a lot about the Chagos Islands deal at PMQs today - here's a reminder of the details of that deal. Last year, the UK struck a deal to return sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius, after a UN court ruled in 2019 that the UK's administration of Chagos is wrong and should be given up. The islands were separated from Mauritius in 1965, when Mauritius was still a British colony. Britain purchased the islands for £3m but Mauritius has argued that it was illegally forced to give them away as part of a deal to gain independence. The UK reached an agreement that would see Britain retain control of a UK-US military base on Diego Garcia, the largest island in the territory and a key position in the Indian Ocean. A government spokesperson said on Tuesday that ministers had acted "because the base on Diego Garcia was under threat after court decisions undermined our position and would have prevented it operating as intended in future". Money for Chagos deal should go to the military - Badenoch Badenoch says the money spent by the government on Chagos should go towards the armed forces. She tells the Commons that the head of the Armed Forces has warned that the British military faces a £28bn shortfall. "Is he right?" she asks the PM. Starmer says this government is spending more on defence than any government since the last Labour government. Badenoch urges Starmer to scrap Chagos deal Badenoch repeats Trump's words calling the Chagos deal an "act of total stupidity". "We didn't need Trump to say that, we've been saying it for the past 12 months," she adds. "President Trump thought that we were doing this, that the prime minister is doing this, for money. "The prime minister is giving away territory we own and paying £35 billion for the privilege. Why doesn't he just scrap this terrible deal and put the money into our armed forces?" Starmer repeats that the purpose of Trump's words was to get him to "yield on his principle". He says Badenoch is backing arguments intended to undermine Britain's position Greenland. Badenoch asks about Chagos - Starmer says Trump is trying to apply pressure on him Badenoch moves on to ask the PM if he agrees that people from the Chagos Islands should get to decide their own future, as he believes the people of Greenland should do. Starmer says he made his position clear, and that Trump’s words on Chagos yesterday were different from the previous words of support when we met at the White House. Remember: Trump said on Tuesday that the UK's deal to hand sovereignty of the islands to Mauritius is "an act of GREAT STUPIDITY". Starmer says Trump's apparent change of heart were for "the express purpose of putting pressure on me and Britain in relation to my values and principles on the future of Greenland". Starmer says Trump "wants me to yield on my position and I'm not going to do so" and that he is surprised Badenoch has jumped on the bandwagon and chosen opportunism over the UK's national interest. 'Britain will not yield' on Greenland - PM Starmer reiterates his stance on the future of Greenland and says Trump's threats to impose tariffs on countries that oppose him are "completely wrong". "I will not yield. Britain will not yield on our principles and values about the future of Greenland under threats of tariffs," he says. He also says the prime minister of Denmark is coming to the UK tomorrow for bilateral talks.