Keir Starmer: ‘I genuinely believe that Donald Trump wants lasting peace in Ukraine’
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The Prime Minister has told The News Agents why he has complete trust in Donald Trump to bring peace to Ukraine and to put pressure on Vladimir Putin, and why the UK needs to continue working closely with America.
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Read time: 6 mins
In brief…
- Keir Starmer tells The News Agents he believes achieving peace in Ukraine is Donald Trump’s ambition, and that involving Putin in talks is key to achieving this.
- He says Trump’s second invite for a state visit is due to the lasting relationship between the UK and US.
- It is his goal to have a smaller state, with fewer people working for the government, by the end of this parliament.
What’s the story?
Keir Starmer says he has absolute trust in Donald Trump to secure a peace deal for Ukraine, and believes the US president will put pressure on Russia to achieve it.
Speaking to The News Agents, the Prime Minister says the UK must continue to work alongside America and its global allies to end Russia's invasion.
It came on the same day the Kremlin announced it has no interest in a short-term ceasefire.
"Russia is the aggressor. Russia is the country where previous deals and agreements have not been honoured," Starmer says.
"We know that Putin has ambitions that are barely disguised. I'm not surprised that we've got to this point. What we need to do now is work with our allies, work with the US, work with Ukraine.
"It has to be a peace where the deal is defended, because we've had a deal before. This cannot be maintained, because Russia just breaches the line."
He calls for security guarantees to be part of any deal, saying they are essential in preventing Putin from breaching it once again.
"Obviously it's right that the US talked to the Russians, that President Trump speaks to Putin," the PM says.
"That has to happen, but we need to be clear about what the terms of this are, which is a lasting and secure peace with a sovereign Ukraine that can actually make its own decisions about its defence capability."
"I do think that's Trump's objective. He knows what's needed to get there, and it's in all of our interests to ensure that we do whatever we can to bring about that outcome."
He says achieving peace is important for the UK as much as it is for Ukraine, adding: "This is not a casual affair. It's not a casual issue. It is about the safety and security of our country."
There is no discussion of conscription for British citizens to join the British military to serve as peacekeepers in Ukraine, he insists.
Keir Starmer 'not surprised' the Kremlin rejected a 30 day ceasefire
Why Starmer trusts Trump
When asked whether the Prime Minister trusts Donald Trump, he answered with a clear “yes,” adding; “We work with the US on a daily basis. Our security, our defense, our intelligence sharing is closer than any other country in the world.
“This is not a hypothetical question. This is a daily operation.”
Starmer recently made his intentions towards peace in Ukraine clear, when he upped the UK’s defence spending in February 2025.
“I've spent quite a bit of time with President Trump face to face. I've spoken to him a lot on the phone recently. I genuinely believe that he wants that lasting peace.”
Starmer says the invite for Donald Trump to become the first sitting president to be invited for a second state visit is due to the important ties the UK holds with the US, regardless of Trump's personal history and actions since entering The White House for the second time.
"No two countries work as closely as our two countries. The special relationship isn't just a phrase that's sort of useful in history books and biographies," he says.
"It is the lived experience of how we keep our country safe."
Keir Starmer says the state is 'oversized and underpowered'
Starmer explains why NHS England is to be abolished
Starmer spoke with Jon Sopel and Lewis Goodall on the day he announced he would abolish NHS England, described by the Prime Minister as an "arms-length body", with the goal of bringing the NHS back into "democratic control".
"That will put the NHS back at the heart of government where it belongs, freeing it to focus on patients, less bureaucracy, with more money for nurses. An NHS refocused on cutting waiting times at your hospital," he said.
He accused NHS England of creating a huge amount of "duplication" within the NHS, at a time when the service was already struggling, outlining how departments such as communications and strategy existed within both NHS England and government.
"We're duplicating things that could be done once," Starmer added.
"If we strip that out, which is what we're doing today, that then allows us to free up that money, to put it where it needs to be, which is the front line."
Health secretary Wes Streeting welcomed the plans, describing the Conservative initiative as "disastrous".
"When money is so tight, we can’t justify such a complex bureaucracy with two organisations doing the same jobs," Streeting said.
It has been estimated this will result in the loss of up to 10,000 jobs.
Starmer tells The News Agents the state should be "smaller and more agile" by the end of this parliament, and that fewer people should be working for it.
"I believe in the state. I think it should be active. I think it should be sleeves rolled up. It should be on the pitch, making a difference," he says.
"But at the moment, what we've got is an oversized and underpowered state."
Why Keir Starmer 'completely trusts" Donald Trump
What’s The News Agents’ take?
Jon praised Starmer's "direct" answers to the questions posed by The News Agents, as well as a "degree of self confidence" he believes has been missing from the PM until the current global geopolitical crisis erupted.
Lewis agrees that the PM now appears "invigorated".
"The news from Moscow validates and vindicates precisely the arguments he has been making in public and in private that Vladimir Putin is not interested in peace," Lewis says.
"The Trump administration can give him whatever they want, but fundamentally, right now, because Russia feels it is winning and because they've been taking territory, they're not interested."
Jon adds that Trump has previously promised “hell, fire and brimstone” to get what he wants – but the big question now is whether he will see that through.
On Starmer’s plans for a smaller state, Lewis says there has been a “real change in emphasis and tone” from the Labour government on how it treats and thinks about the state.
“If you talk to Labour people, they have been surprised at the extent to which it is difficult to drive change. And obviously they've been out of government for a long time,” he says.
“Most of them didn't have experience of government.”
He believes the government is not laying blame at the feet of the civil servants, but instead the “rotten and antiquated” system they find themselves working in.
Jon says there will be comparisons with what Elon Musk has been doing in the Trump administration as head of the department of government efficiency, but he says Starmer has totally different ambitions.
“He believes in the power of government, but he thinks that the state is often getting in the way of delivery, and the people, the voters, have lost a lot of faith in the state's ability to deliver,” he says.
“It's one thing for Keir Starmer to set out the ambition of this new, streamlined, more efficient state that he wants to see. Everyone will say three cheers to that.
“Delivering a lot of it will be done by technology and AI, but delivering it is going to be an awesome task.”
Listen to the latest episode of The News Agents.
