Keir Starmer to hold talks on new security treaty during visit to Poland
The Prime Minister has said that it is ‘time to take our partnership to the next level’ with Poland.
The UK and Poland will start work on a new defence and security agreement on Friday, when Sir Keir Starmer travels to the eastern European country for talks.
The Prime Minister has said that it is “time to take our partnership to the next level” with Warsaw and that “closer collaboration” with allies such as Poland will “protect the UK’s national security”.
He is expected to discuss the new UK-Poland treaty with his counterpart Donald Tusk, which will support both countries working together to protect Europe from Russian aggression and work together to tackle people smuggling gangs.
The agreement will also do more to tackle disinformation and hybrid threats, Number 10 said.
Ahead of the visit, Sir Keir said: “The UK and Poland are longstanding allies and our co-operation stretches back for generations.
“With ever-increasing threats to Europe’s security, now is the time to take our partnership to the next level, so we can ensure we’re tackling the big issues that rebound on the British people at home – from Putin’s aggression to the vile people smuggling gangs trading in human misery.
“It is only through closer collaboration with our most important partners such as Poland that we’ll protect the UK’s national security – the key foundation on which I’ll deliver my plan for change.”
Further talks are expected to begin this month with a view to agreeing the treaty, Number 10 has said and comes as the Government has laid out a desire to reset the UK’s relationship with Europe.
Sir Keir will also meet Polish business leaders during his trip to Warsaw, while Polish firm InPost has announced that it will invest a further £600 million into the UK in the next five years to grow its operations.
It is thought that the overall £1 billion investment by the firm – which operates parcel lockers – could support up to 12,000 new jobs.
The trip to Poland comes after the Prime Minister visited Ukraine on Thursday for the first time since he entered Number 10.
Sir Keir said on Thursday that the UK will “play our part” in guaranteeing Ukraine’s security following any peace deal, during the trip which coincided with a drone attack by Vladimir Putin’s forces on the Ukrainian capital.
The Prime Minister is understood to have heard sirens warning Kyiv’s citizens of the air raid as he met with President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The air raid on Kyiv while he was visiting was “a reminder of the daily attacks and the resolve of the Ukrainian people in the face of it”.
