Starmer urges PM to award medals to troops involved in Afghanistan evacuation
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has urged the government to grant military medals to those British troops involved in the evacuation of Afghanistan last month.
Speaking in the House of Commons, Sir Keir told Boris Johnson to accept his party’s proposal to honour the “remarkable” work of those who served in Operation Pitting.
Following Afghanistan’s collapse to Taliban control, the military’s emergency evacuation effort saw 15,000 people brought back to the UK amid chaotic scenes in the country’s capital Kabul.
In a message to those troops involved in Operation Pitting, Sir Keir said: “Your service deserves recognition and honour and I hope the prime minister will accept Labour’s proposal to scrap the 30-day continuous service rule so that medals are awarded for your bravery.”
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20,000 Afghans to stay in UK
Speaking earlier in the Commons, the prime minister had paid tribute to the “biggest and fastest emergency evacuation in recent history”.
“The whole House will join me in commending the courage and ingenuity of everyone involved in the Kabul Airlift, one of the most spectacular operations in our country’s post-war military history,” he told MPs.
However, the prime minister admitted that 311 people eligible to come to Britain under a special resettlement scheme for those who worked with the UK in Afghanistan were still in the country.
Of those 311 Afghan Relocations and Assistance Policy (ARAP) candidates, Mr Johnson told MPs that 192 had responded to calls from the UK government.
Labour want those troops involved in the Kabul airlift to be honoured
“We will do absolutely everything we can to ensure that those people get the safe passage that they deserve,” he added.
Mr Johnson also told the Commons that up to 20,000 vulnerable Afghans would receive indefinite leave to remain in the UK under a new separate resettlement scheme, under which the government has pledged to take 5,000 refugees in the scheme’s first year.
“We will of course work with the UN and aid agencies to identify those we should help as we have done in respect of those who fled war in Syria,” he said.
“But we will also include Afghans who have contributed to civil society, or who face a particular risk from the Taliban, for example, because of their role in standing up for democracy and human rights, or because of their gender or sexuality or religion.
“All who come to our country through this safe and legal route will receive not a five-year visa but indefinite leave to remain.”
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The prime minister said local councils and devolved administrations would soon receive details on funding for housing and extra school places for those arriving from Afghanistan, while he pledged all councils would “get the support and funding they need”.
Mr Johnson updated MPs on the situation in Afghanistan as the Taliban claimed it was now in charge of the whole of the country after taking Panjshir province, although resistance forces disputed this.
Both the prime minister and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab, who gave his own statement in the Commons after Mr Johnson, have been heavily criticised for their handling of the withdrawal of Western forces from Afghanistan and the resulting Taliban takeover.
And the prime minister faced tough questions from among his own Conservative MPs as the Commons sat for the first time since a one-day emergency debate on the Afghanistan interrupted parliament’s summer break.
Tobias Ellwood, the Conservative chair of the Commons’ defence committee, called for a “complete overhaul” of the UK’s foreign policy following a “void of leadership in the West and NATO”.
Tory former defence minister Johnny Mercer criticised the government for having “consistently failed” to meet its promises of support for military veterans.
Mr Johnson rejected a suggestion from his predecessor Theresa May that the terror threat to the UK had now increased following the Taliban’s takeover of Afghanistan.
“We have no direct information as yet of any increase to the threat but I can assure her and the House that every effort will be made to make sure that our counter-terrorist agents have the resources they need to keep us safe,” he said.
Last week, Mr Raab told MPs he was “not confident with any precision” over how many people who are entitled to come to the UK remained left in Afghanistan following the end of the evacuation effort from Kabul.
Saturday will mark the 20th anniversary of the 11 September attacks on the US in 2001, which prompted the West’s long military intervention in Afghanistan.
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Starmer and Zelenskyy discuss ending Russia’s ‘brutal war’ – as Putin says says he is open to bilateral talks on longer ceasefire
Sir Keir Starmer and Volodymyr Zelenskyy spoke about ending Russia’s “brutal war” on Ukraine in their latest phone call on Easter Monday, as Vladimir Putin said he was open to bilateral talks.
The prime minister and Ukrainian president spoke on Monday afternoon, when Sir Keir “reiterated his iron-clad support for Ukraine“.
A Downing Street spokesperson added that the prime minister “said that the UK supports Ukraine’s calls for Russia to commit to a full ceasefire and that now is the time for Putin to show he is serious about ending his brutal war”.
“They discussed the latest developments on the Coalition of the Willing, and looked forward to further progress towards a just and lasting peace,” the spokesperson added.
Mr Zelenskyy later said on social media that he had a “good and detailed conversation” with the prime minister, and added Ukrainian officials will be in London for talks on ending the war with Russia on Wednesday.
“We are ready to move forward as constructively as possible, just as we have done before, to achieve an unconditional ceasefire, followed by the establishment of a real and lasting peace,” he added.
The Ukrainian president added that the 30-hour Easter truce, which both Kyiv and Moscow accuse the other of violating, showed that Russia “are prolonging the war”.
It comes as Mr Putin proposed bilateral talks with Ukraine on a longer ceasefire, which would mark the first time Russia held such talks since a failed peace deal soon after the invasion in 2022.
Speaking to a state TV reporter, the Russian president said: “We always have a positive attitude towards a truce, which is why we came up with such an initiative (the Easter truce), especially since we are talking about the bright Easter days.”
When asked about Mr Zelenskyy’s calls to extend the 30-hour ceasefire into a 30-day pause on civilian targets, he added: “This is all a subject for careful study, perhaps even bilaterally. We do not rule this out.”
The Ukrainian president said on Sunday evening that the Russian army had “violated Putin’s ceasefire more than 2,000 times” during the day, and accused Russia of “failing” to “uphold its own promise of a ceasefire”.
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From Saturday: Why Putin offered an Easter truce?
It also comes after Donald Trump has said he hopes Russia and Ukraine “will make a deal this week,” after he and his secretary of state Marco Rubio warned that the US will walk away from efforts to broker a peace deal unless there are clear signs of progress soon.
The US president said on his Truth Social platform that both countries would “start to do big business” with the US after ending the war.
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Last month, Ukraine accepted Mr Trump’s proposal for a 30-day truce, but Mr Putin refused to back a full 30-day ceasefire, saying crucial issues of verification had not been sorted out.
He then said he would agree not to target Ukraine’s energy infrastructure. However, both sides have accused each other of breaking the moratorium on attacks on energy targets and at sea.
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