Starmer won’t be derailed from Ukraine plan, Rayner says, amid claims Trump’s aid decision ‘humiliated’ PM

Good morning. Yesterday Keir Starmer had a comfortable two hours in the Commons during which MPs from all sides praised him, lavishly and sincerely, for the leadership he has shown on Ukraine, trying to hold the US and Europe together, while mobilising European efforts to build up support for Ukraine.

There were probably only two moments when Starmer lashed out; first at Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, whom he accused of fawning over Vladimir Putin; and then at Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminser, whom he accused of being a keyboard warrior (in response to a question from a Labour MP who was even more critical). The attack on Flynn came about half an hour after Flynn asked a perfectly reasonable question.

Unfortunately, it has been reported this afternoon that President Trump is set to meet American aides to discuss withdrawing military aid to Ukraine. Are those reports something that the prime minister recognises, and, if so, what impact will that have on the timetable to which he and President Macron are currently working?

Before going on to have a go at the SNP’s policy on nuclear disarmament, Starmer replied:

I have not seen reports of the United States withdrawing support for Ukraine, and, as I understand it, that is not its position.

Now it turns out that Flynn was right, and Starmer was wrong, because a few hours after Starmer’s statement to the Commons the White House suspended all military aid to Ukraine. Andrew Roth has the story.

The news has shocked supporters of Ukraine around the world, and we are covering the international elements of this story on our Ukraine live blog.

In the UK the news has emboldened politicians who believe that trying to act as a bridge between Washington and Europe is a hopeless cause and who want the government to be more critical of Trump. Yesterday Ed Davey, the Lib Dem leader, told Starmer that he thought Trump was not a reliable ally on matters relating to Russia. This morning he has posted a message on social media suggesting Starmer (who said Davey was wrong) has been humiliated.

By suspending all military aid to Ukraine, Donald Trump has humiliated the people who pretended he was a reliable ally only in search of peace.

The UK and Europe must seize frozen Russian assets to resist Putin’s unjust and savage war.

Graham Stuart, a Conservative MP, has gone even further, posting a message on social media saying it is time to consider whether Trump is actually a Russian asset.

We have to consider the possibility that President Trump is a Russian asset.

If so, Trump’s acquisition is the crowning achievement of Putin’s FSB career – and Europe is on its own.

Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, has been giving interviews this morning. In line with the approach the government has consistently adopted with Trump, she declined to say anything critical in public about his latest decision. Instead, she told the Today programme that Keir Starmer was just focused on his peace diplomacy strategy. She explained:

He’s laser-focused on getting peace. He won’t be derailed by announcements. He will continue that dialogue with our oldest and strongest ally, the US, and with European partners and with Ukraine.

I will post more comments from Rayner’s interviews on the Today programme and ITV’s Good Morning Britain soon.

Here is the agenda for the day.

9.30am: Keir Starmer chairs cabinet.

10am: Tim Davies, director general of the BBC, and Samir Shah, its chair, give evidence to the Commons culture committee.

11am: Farmer opposed to the government plan to subject farms to inheritance tax hold another rally in Whitehall.

11.30am: Downing Street holds a lobby briefing.

11.30am: Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, takes questions in the Commons.

2.15pm: Reeves speaks at a MakeUK conference.

And at some point today the government is expected to publish its latest amendments to the employment rights bill.

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Updated at 04.25 EST

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Conservative party says it does not agree with Tory MP who suggested Trump might be ‘Russian asset’

The Conservative party has said that it does not agree with the Tory MP Graham Stuart who has said President Trump might be a “Russian asset”. (See 9.12am.) A party spokesperson said:

Personal views of individual MPs are not official Conservative party positions.

It is imperative that the UK remains close to America, and engages with them, if we are going to get a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.

The SNP has criticised President Trump’s decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine. This is from Stephen Gethins, the party’s foreign affairs spokesperson.

Ukraine is fighting a war for its very existence and the survival of its citizens. Ukrainians know that any Russian advantages in the battlefield will result in devastating consequences for innocent Ukrainians.

That is why it is right to give Ukraine the means of defending itself against Russia’s aggression. This suspension is wrong and highlights once again the need for the UK government and Europe’s democracies to work even more closely together on Ukraine and our mutual security.

Vance should apologise for his apparent jibe about British troops, Lib Dems say

The Liberal Democrats are saying JD Vance must apologise for his comment about the value of a European-led peacekeeeping force in Ukraine, which is being interpreted as a slur against the British army. (See 10.36am.) This is from Helen Maguire, the Lib Dems’ defence spokesperson and a former captain in the Royal Military Police who served in Iraq.

JD Vance is erasing from history the hundreds of British troops who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan.

I saw firsthand how American and British soldiers fought bravely together shoulder to shoulder. Six of my own regiment, the Royal Military Police, didn’t return home from Iraq. This is a sinister attempt to deny that reality.

As the UK’s representative to the US, Peter Mandelson should call on Vance to apologise for these comments.

UK ban on zero-hours contracts ‘to include agency workers’

Agency workers will reportedly be included in a ban on “exploitative” zero-hours contracts as part of changes to the UK government’s employment bill, Julia Kollewe reports.

Lisa O’Carroll

Michelle O’Neill, Northern Ireland’s first minister, has described a decision to build thousands of lightweight missiles for Ukraine in a Belfast factory as “incredulous”.

The Sinn Féin leader in Northern Ireland, who is also boycotting the St Patrick’s Day celebrations in the White House, said the money should be invested in infrastructure and peace.

She said:

I find it really incredulous that at a time when public services are being cut left, right and centre.

At a time when we have endured 14 years of austerity … I think at a time like that, rather than buying weapons of war, I would rather see the money invested in public services.

Keir Starmer said on Sunday that 5,000 air defence missiles would be made at the Thales plant in Belfast, creating 200 jobs. Ukraine will get £1.6bn in export finance to fund the deal.

DUP leader Gavin Robinson said the Thales contract was “hugely significant”.

Vance questions value of Europe-led peacekeeping force for Ukraine, with jibe at ‘random country’ with limited war record

JD Vance, the US vice president, has made another intervention in the Ukraine debate likely to make him even more unpopular in the UK. In an interview with Fox News broadcast last night, he said a minerals deal with the US, giving America an economic stake in Ukraine, would provide “a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that has not fought a war in 30 or 40 years”.

He could have been referring to either Britain or France, the two European countries that have been most explicit about being willing to contribute troops to a force to protect Ukraine. Britain fought in both Gulf wars, and last fought a war on its own in the Falklands, just over 40 years ago.

Even if he was not referring explicitly to Britain, he was clearly questioning the value of the European-led force that would keep the peace on the ground in Ukraine under plans championed by Emmanuel Macron and Keir Starmer.

The Italian journalist Antonello Guerrara has posted the clip on social media.

Bad news for Starmer and Macron. Vance confirms the only US security guarantee in Ukraine will be the mineral deal. He also plays down British & French peacekeeping troops as “20k troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years”.pic.twitter.com/6bujpsjygX

— Antonello Guerrera (@antoguerrera) March 4, 2025

And here is our story on the interview by Coral Murphy Marcos.

Updated at 05.39 EST

Cabinet is meeting this morning. Here are pictures of some of the ministers arriving.

David Lammy, the foreign secretary. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

John Healey, the defence secretary. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Ed Miliband, the energy secretary. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Jenny Chapman, who has replaced Anneliese Dodds as development minister and who attends cabinet without being a full member. Photograph: Dan Kitwood/Getty Images

Angela Rayner was also asked on Good Morning Britain about her relationship with JD Vance, the US vice-president. Given that she is deputy PM, Vance is her opposite number in the Trump administration, and after the election she spoke to him and later posted on social media about working together.

Vance has now emerged as arguably the most anti-European, and anti-Ukrainian figure at the top of the administration. He is on record as saying he does not really care what happens to Ukraine, in a recent speech to the Munich Security Conference he argued that the European liberal democratic model was essentially flawed, and in the White House shouting match on Friday, he was even more antagonistic and bullying towards President Zelenskyy than President Trump himself.

Asked by the presenter Ed Balls how her relationship with Vance was going, Rayner replied:

The one thing that me and JD Vance have in common is we want to see the working class of our great nations to have more money in their pockets. The cost of living crisis has really hit people hard in the UK and in the US.

Asked if she had spoken to him about his support for the far-right Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) in Germany, she said she would not discuss her contacts with the vice president. But she said she wanted a close relationship with the US.

In an interview with ITV’s Good Morning Britain, Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, declined to say whether Keir Starmer will be calling President Trump today to discuss his decision to halt military aid to Ukraine. She said she would not give a “running commentary” on what the PM does day by day.

Rayner defends Starmer’s decision to offer Trump unprecedented second state visit

In her interview on the Today programme this morning Angela Rayner, the deputy PM, repeatedly refused to criticise President Trump for his decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine, and she insisted that Keir Starmer would not be “derailed” by this latest development. Here are some more quotes from her interview with Emma Barnett.

Rayner defended Starmer’s visit to offer President Trump an unprecedented second state visit. When he was in the White House on Thursday last week, Starmer handed Trump a letter from King Charles containing the invitation, in a transparent appeal to the president’s vanity and self-importance. Asked if the government would regret offering this invitation in the light of what he is doing now, Rayner replied:

The prime minister yesterday was really clear on this. The US is our oldest ally. Our military capabilities, our support, our trading partners – we are the closest of allies. So our relationship with the US is incredibly important and will continue, and it will endure, despite who may be in office at the time. And I think President Trump is absolutely of the same view.

And the prime minister, I think, has done an excellent job … He won’t choose between the US and Europe. That is not in British interest.

My reaction is is that we have to get the peace, and we have to continue with that. We have to continue with our support for Ukraine and the dialogue.

At another point she described the decision as “a matter for the US”.

Angela Rayner arriving at No 10 for cabinet this morning. Photograph: Stefan Rousseau/PA

Jessica Elgot

Commenting on President Trump’s decision to halt military aid to Ukraine, a Number 10 source said the UK remained committed to “putting Ukraine in strongest possible position” including a £3bn a year commitment and the loan signed at the weekend backed by frozen Russian assets. “We continue to work intensively to bring US and Ukraine back together,” the source said.

The prime minister is expected to skip a European council meeting on Thursday – to which the UK had been invited – where leaders are locked in conflict over a new defence package to Ukraine.

Keir Starmer spoke to President Trump twice over the weekend as he urged him not to abandon Ukraine. Number 10 was tight-lipped this morning about whether there would be further contact.

The defence secretary John Healey is due to fly to Washington to meet his counterpart Pete Hegseth this week where he is expected to set out some of the options discussed by the UK and France.

Updated at 04.51 EST

Trump’s decision to halt military aid to Ukraine ‘profoundly worrying’, says Badenoch

The Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch has said President Trump’s decision to suspend military aid to Ukraine is “profoundly worrying”. In a post on social media this morning, she says:

The news overnight that America is halting military aid to Ukraine is profoundly worrying. It is clear that Britain and Europe must re-arm much faster if we want to provide Ukraine with more than just warm words of support. We must work to keep America in, and Russia out.

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