Joining EU’s loan for Ukraine will boost UK jobs and ties with bloc, says Starmer

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The Prime Minister announced the UK’s bid to join the initiative at a gathering of European leaders in the Armenian capital Yerevan on Monday.

He was using the trip to continue his push for closer ties with the bloc on defence, security and the economy, and to make the case for his reset with Brussels to UK voters ahead of local elections this week.

Speaking to media as he arrived at the European Political Community (EPC) summit, he said: “In relation to the EU loan that we are discussing participating in, that is very good for Ukraine, because it will give Ukraine the capability that it desperately needs in year five of this conflict.

“It’s very good for the UK because of the capability that leads to jobs in the United Kingdom.

“And it’s very good for UK-EU relations, which is very important as we go on to the various discussions.”

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He said it was “vital” to work with other international leaders at the event on ending the conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East, which were affecting “every single household” in the UK including by driving up energy prices.

Sir Keir and French President Emmanuel Macron co-chaired a meeting on Ukraine.

Attendees included Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, Poland’s premier Donald Tusk, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store, Nato chief Mark Rutte, European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and vice president Kaja Kallas, and European Council president Antonio Costa.

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, the first leader of a non-European country to attend the EPC, also participated.

Sir Keir told allies that Britain wants to work more closely with them to ensure Kyiv gets the military equipment it needs to continue its fight against Russia.

The UK will also impose further sanctions on Russian companies later this week in a bid to disrupt military supply chains, according to Downing Street.

The loan initiative – recently approved by the EU after Viktor Orban’s defeat in Hungarian elections ended a long-running impasse – could create opportunities for British defence firms to compete for contracts in return for a financial contribution from the UK which could reportedly reach up to £400 million.

It is understood that the payments will be determined by the value of contracts and will come from the UK’s ringfenced £3 billion for Ukraine.

Following a meeting with Mr Zelenskyy after arriving in Armenia on Sunday, Sir Keir held private talks with Mr Macron and Mr Rutte on Monday, and is expected to have further bilateral meetings in the margins of the EPC summit.

He was accompanied to Yerevan by EU relations minister Nick Thomas-Symonds and national security adviser Jonathan Powell.

Before the gathering, Sir Keir called for the UK and the EU to “go further and faster on defence” co-operation.

He wrote in The Observer that Brexit had “damaged our economy” and strengthening economic links with the continent was key to recovery.

The UK and EU, which will hold another joint summit this summer, will negotiate the parameters of access to the bloc’s loan for Ukraine in the coming weeks, No 10 said.

Brussels is pushing for Britain to agree to pay around £1 billion a year before detailed talks on further access to the single market, according to The Times.

The Government said it did not recognise the reporting, with a spokesperson saying: “We won’t comment on ongoing negotiations.”

Under plans to be unveiled in the King’s Speech, which have been criticised by the Tories and Reform UK, the Government will seek legislation to follow EU single market rules without necessarily giving MPs a vote on each piece of red tape.