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The United Kingdom will ensure a continuation in its foreign policy when a new Labour leader and Prime Minister is nominated, deputy Prime Minister David Lammy has told Europe Today, after outgoing Prime Minister Keir Starmer assured an “orderly transition” to a new Labour government.
“There’s absolutely no question of a change in our foreign policy,” Lammy said in an interview at the Ukraine Recovery Conference in Gdańsk, Poland, where the UK pledged an additional £290 million (€340 million) to support Ukraine’s recovery and energy security.
“We have remained committed to Ukraine through successive governments, and that will continue,” he added. “And we have been absolutely clear, reconnecting with the global community, a European reset, all of that continues.”
Keir Starmer set out a timetable for his resignation on Monday amid mounting calls for a change in leadership from within the Labour party as it loses support at the expense of Nigel Farage’s far-right Reform UK party, which is topping opinion polls.
Former Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, is currently tipped to run uncontested for the role and could be in post as early as 17 July. Starmer is understood to be allowing Burnham to receive government briefings in order to ensure a smooth transition.
Lammy, who served as the UK’s foreign minister until last September, was a Starmer loyalist but has said that Burnham would have his “full support”.
A Burnham government is widely expected to maintain Starmer’s key foreign policy principles, including on deepening trading and economic ties with the European Union in a bid to tear down the barriers to cooperation created by the Brexit referendum.
The EU-UK summit due to take place on 22 July — and where both sides where expected to seal deals on agri-food imports, emissions trading and youth mobility — has now been postponed in response to the political transition in London.
Time to ‘keep Ukraine in the fight’
Lammy told Europe Today that he expected “momentum” on Ukraine to be carried into the NATO summit taking place in Ankara on 7-8 July, following a rare moment of transatlantic unity on Ukraine during last week’s G7 summit in France.
A joint statement on Ukraine endorsed by all G7 leaders, including US President Donald Trump, has revived European hopes that Washington could firm up his support for Kyiv and ramp up pressure on Moscow.
“I think we’ll see in NATO in the coming weeks that the United States is seeing Europeans step up in terms of our commitments to defence and to spend across Europe,” Lammy said.
Yet Trump’s frustration with European allies over their reluctance to come to his aid in Iran, with many countries denying US use of their military bases, has fuelled fears that the US could retreat from Ukraine in retaliation.
Yet Lammy called for “recognition” European bases were used, including in the UK, to “support efforts in the Strait of Hormuz”. He also cited the work of Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron in assembling the Coalition of the Willing, a group of allies that have been preparing to de-mine and ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz once a permanent peace pact is in place.
“For all of those reasons I expect to see a successful NATO conference,” he said.
He also vowed to continue to sanction the Russian economy by “bearing down on (…) dirty Russian money that’s financing this war”, saying that this is the “moment to keep Ukraine in the fight”.
Watch the full interview in the video player above.
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