Sir Keir Starmer mentioned he “will not yield” in his stance over Greenland as he vowed to stand up to Donald Trump over his threats to annex the Danish territory.
In his most hostile language yet, the prime minister also accused the US President of criticising his government’s plans for the Chagos Islands expressly to pressure him over Greenland.
At Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, Sir Keir said: “I have made my position clear on our principles and values.
“The first of those is that the future of Greenland is for the people of Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark alone.
“The second is that threats of tariffs to pressurise allies are completely wrong.”
He said the Danish prime minister is coming to the UK on Thursday, adding: “I will not yield, Britain will not yield on our principles and values about the future of Greenland under threats of tariffs, and that is my clear position.”
US president Mr Trump has threatened to hit Britain and other European allies with 10 per cent tariffs from 1 February unless they agree to his purchase of Greenland, and he has refused to rule out using military force to seize the island.
In his strongest words yet against President Trump, he also said the US President’s “express purpose” together with his criticism over the Chagos Islands was to strain him over Greenland.
On Tuesday Trump launched a blistering assault on Britain, calling Sir Keir’s plan to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius an act of “great stupidity”.
Writing on his Truth Social platform, the US president mentioned the deal was “another in a very long line of national security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired”.
In his first public comments since the row blindsided the UK government, the PM said: “President Trump deployed phrases on Chagos yesterday that had been totally different to his earlier phrases of welcome and help after I met him within the White House.
“He deployed those words yesterday for the express purpose of putting pressure on me and Britain in relation to my values and principles on the future of Greenland”.
The PM repeated: “He wants me to yield on my position, and I’m not going to do so.”
Lashing out in a web-based rant, the US president wrote: “Shockingly, our “brilliant” NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is presently planning to offer away the Island of Diego Garcia, the location of an important U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to take action FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.”
But the UK identified that the deal had already been publicly welcomed by the US.
Trump appeared to point his help for the deal final 12 months, telling Sir Keir throughout his go to to the White House in February that he was “inclined to go with your country” and that he had “a feeling it’s going to work out very well”.
The Tories welcomed welcomed Trump’s intervention, with Conservative shadow overseas secretary Priti Patel saying he had “said what we’ve said all along”.
This is a breaking information story, extra follows…
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/trump-greenland-keir-starmer-pmqs-b2904681.html