Keir Starmer has delivered a message of support to warn-torn Ukraine as he marked Armed Forces Day.
Over two years on from Russia ’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Labour leader pledged “strong and powerful” backing on a visit to the home of the British Army. He was speaking in the military town Aldershot where he met veterans with shadow Defence Secretary John Healy on a campaign visit.
It comes after PM Rishi Sunak ’s D-day gaff weeks ago when he left commemorations in France early — sparking widespread criticism. Asked what his message was to Ukrainian people about what a Labour government will do to help them, Sir Keir told the Mirror today: “The message is the one I delivered in Kyiv myself to President Zelenskyy and repeated when I saw him on D-Day at the international event just the other week.
“Which is that the support for Ukraine remains strong and powerful, whether there’s a change of government or not… we’ve been united with the current government on Ukraine for a reason because it’s important to Ukraine that… [there is] a united front in our government, in our Parliament.
“And there’ll be no change of that position working, of course, with our NATO allies. And I’ve delivered that personally to President Zelenskyy because I wanted him to have the assurance, which is why I went to Kyiv to deliver that message to him but also why I repeated it on D-day as we were then in the campaign, the final weeks before the actual election.”
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Labour’s manifesto says “we will play a leading role in providing Ukraine with a clear path to NATO membership”. Sir Keir’s comments came as Russian shelling of frontline villages in eastern Ukraine killed four people – while rescuers in a city dug through rubble after a Kremlin attack ripped through a residential building leaving one dead, officials said.
Sir Keir and Mr Healey spoke to veterans at a coffee morning at Aldershot Town Football Club, in Hampshire, on Saturday. They included 93-year-old Purna Bahadur Gurung, who said he enjoyed meeting the Labour leader.
Speaking to reporters, Sir Keir hit out at what he branded “ridiculous” Tory suggestions that Labour would be a national security threat. It followed a minister labelling him a “danger” – with another claiming he would leave the country vulnerable to foreign powers.
But the Labour leader said: “I think this is desperate stuff from the Tories. We are the party that was a founder member of Nato. If you go to Brussels and see the treaty there for Nato, it’s a Labour secretary of state that signed that and our support for Nato has been unshakeable since then.
“On the nuclear deterrent, we’re clear about the triple lock that we’ve put in place, not only the current deterrent but the future upgrades of that deterrent and the jobs that go with it.
“We have also – and this is why it is really desperate from the Tories – united with this Government, the Tory Government, on really important issues of national security. As a result of that, they have given me high-level sensitive briefings, so much do they trust us on national security.
“I’m very glad that they have and I do thank the Defence Secretary for facilitating that, particularly during Ukraine when they gave us very regular, very sensitive briefings. To now turn around and make this ridiculous claim just shows how desperate they have become going into this election. It does them no good.”
Labour wants to introduce an Armed Forces Commissioner who will have the ability to probe issues impacting the lives of service personnel. Substandard housing, faulty kit and poor discharge support will be among topics the independent tsar will be able to investigate and report on, under plans.
The Tories propose to commission an independent review of the medical discharge process, retain the Office for Veterans’ Affairs, as well as ensuring veterans receive benefits and compensation.