Sawt Falasteen - Starmer hails 'real progress' on UK-Germany ties at Scholz talks

Starmer welcomed Scholz to his Chequers country residence northwest of London, a day before he will become the first UK premier since Brexit to attend a European Council gathering as part of his reset of relations with Europe.

"When I started as prime minister seven months ago now, I was determined to strengthen the relationship between our two countries," Starmer said ahead of the talks.

"And thanks to your leadership, I think we've made real progress," he added.

Scholz replied that the meeting was a "good sign of the very good relations between our two countries and between the two of us", and a "very good moment to improve our relation between EU and UK".

Starmer, a fervent supporter of remaining in the European Union during the 2016 referendum, said he was "very much looking forward" to attending Monday's informal EU leaders retreat in Belgium and "the wider reset of relations between the UK and the EU".

But he insisted, five years on from Brexit being implemented, that "that does not involve a return to the European Union."

"We had a referendum here on that, and that matter is settled, but I do want to see a close relationship on defence and security, on energy, on trade and our economy," he said.

His interior minister Yvette Cooper earlier told Sky News that there would also be no return "to the customs union, to the single market, or to free movement."

- Ukraine, Gaza, Trump tariffs -

Both Starmer and Scholz told the media that Ukraine would be high on the agenda for their talks.

"This is the very moment where we have to develop as Europeans and as friends of Ukraine, our common strategy," said Scholz.

This would require Europe and the United States to continue backing Ukraine so that Russia could not dictate the terms of any peace deal, he added.

In a summary of the talks issued by Starmer's Downing Street office, the prime minister stressed that it was important to ensure Ukraine "was in the strongest possible position in the coming months, so that peace could be achieved through strength".

The leaders agreed that "Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine had underscored the importance of scaling up and coordinating defence production across Europe," said the press release.

Turning to the Israel-Gaza ceasefire, the pair "welcomed the ongoing release of hostages and underscored the importance of seeing through all phases of the deal," said Downing Street.

The pair were also asked about the news overnight that US President Donald Trump had imposed tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China -- and whether the EU and UK may be next in line.

"It's early days, and what I want to see is strong trading relations, and in the discussions that I've had with President Trump, that's what we have centred on," said Starmer.

O.Salim--SF-PST