Sir Keir Starmer has stopped short of guaranteeing that MPs will get to vote on whether British troops should go to Ukraine.
The Prime Minister, who was providing an update to the House of Commons after his weekend summit, was quizzed today by Tory leader Kemi Badenoch about the prospect of troops heading to the ex-Soviet state.
Addressing MPs, Starmer said: “We will, of course, put details before the House when we get to that stage, if we get to that stage.
“And as I mentioned to her this morning in our phone call, I will make sure that she gets whatever briefings she needs to be able to look at the details before it gets to the House, so she’s fully informed.”
Sir Keir Starmer addresses MPs in the House of Commons
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Enhanced Forward Presence (eFP) United Kingdom soldiers patch during military training
However, Poland, Spain and Germany could torpedo efforts by refusing to send soldiers to the ex-Soviet state.
Poland is concerned about its own security given its long border with both Ukraine and Kremlin-sympathising Belarus.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk last month said: “We do not plan to send Polish soldiers to the territory of Ukraine.”
Outgoing German Chancellor Olaf Scholz had also ruled out sending troops.
Keir Starmer meeting with Donald Trump at the White House
Reuters
However, his expected successor Friedrich Merz has pledged more Taurus missiles for Kyiv.
During Starmer’s face-to-face meeting with Donald Trump in the White House, the Prime Minister also appeared to lose the support of the 47th President.
Trump quipped that British troops would be able to “take care of themselves” and hinted America would only send troops if necessary.
The US is also pushing back against calls for the US to serve as the so-called “backstop” to conflict, instead insisting: “You have European countries, because they’re right there, we’re very far away, we have an ocean between us.”
