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A former Australian prime minister has said his country should be “prepared to make a contribution” to protect the freedom of Ukraine.
Tony Abbott told Sky News’ Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge that no country “will be safe against a bully” if Vladimir Putin wins the war.
He called on Britain to take the lead in protecting Ukraine even without a US backstop – but said all the free countries of the world should be “prepared to make a stand”.
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Mr Abbott, who led the conservative Liberal Party, said: “I personally think that Australia should be prepared to make a contribution to the long term freedom and security of Ukraine.
“The Ukrainians have been fighting for the freedom of everyone. And if Putin is able to snuff out the freedom and the independence of Ukraine, what smaller country anywhere is safe against a bully?
“Is Taiwan safe? Is Australia, for that matter, safe? Is Japan safe?
“This is why it’s important that whatever the Americans ultimately do, the free countries of the world are prepared to make a stand in support of the freedom of Ukraine.”
It comes after Sir Keir Starmer urged America to provide a “security guarantee” to deter Putin and said he is prepared to send British troops to Ukraine if a peace deal is made.
The UK prime minister was speaking following a summit of continental leaders that was arranged by French President Emmanuel Macron, after Donald Trump shocked the world by arranging bilateral talks between the US and Russia – excluding Europe and Ukraine.
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US must provide ‘backstop’ to deter Russia
Mr Abbott said Mr Trump “will blight his second presidency” if he hands a victory to Putin.
“If the result of anything the American president does is to leave Ukraine broken, defenceless, and ultimately a colony of imperial Russia, I think that would be a tragedy,” he said.
He said Sir Keir was “sensible and brave” to consider sending peace keeping troops, but he should be prepared to do this without America’s help, and on its own if necessary.
He said: “Britain is a substantial power. After the United States, it’s the second most powerful country, notwithstanding the current weakness of the British Army. And it should be prepared to take a stand for freedom by protecting Ukraine.
“Britain should be prepared to lead here and it should not expect yet again to ride on America’s coat tails.”
Mr Trump has said the US no longer sees the defence of Europe as its primary concern in a major change of policy since the Second World War.
It has prompted calls for the UK and other NATO countries to increase defence spending.
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Speaking after the Paris summit on Monday night, Sir Keir said a “US security guarantee” is the only path to peace in Ukraine.
But he also insisted “Europe must play its role”, adding: “I’m prepared to consider committing British forces on the ground alongside others if there is a lasting peace agreement.
“So I will go to Washington next week to meet President Trump and discuss what we see as the key elements of a lasting peace.”
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However, despite three hours of emergency talks, European leaders left the meeting without a common view.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described the idea of deploying European peacekeepers as “completely premature” and said it was “completely the wrong time to have this discussion”.
And Denmark’s Mette Frederiksen said her country was “open to discussing many things” but stressed her nation was still very far off deploying its own soldiers to Ukraine.
Watch the full interview on the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge from 6.30pm
Some government departments have been asked to make savings which would amount to a 11% cut in spending – as the prime minister faces calls to raise defence spending.
Sky News has been told that departments which do not have their spending protected have been asked to model two options – “flat” spending, which, adjusted for inflation, amounts to a cut; and a deeper reduction amounting to 11% in real terms.
No final decisions on departmental spending will be taken until the Treasury’s spending review, which sets departmental budgets for three years, and will be completed in June. Decisions on possible spending cuts by departments have been described by sources as “incredibly difficult”.
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It comes amid calls to increase defence spending, in the light of the Trump administration’s warning to European nations to shoulder their own security – and send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine.
Sir Keir Starmer has promised to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP but has not set out when this will be achieved. Ministers say a defence review to be published this spring will set out a “roadmap” to it.
Those departments with their budgets protected include the NHS, childcare and schools, defence and overseas aid at 0.5%.
What could be hit?
This raises the prospect of more severe cuts for unprotected departments including local government – which is responsible for social care – justice, including courts and prisons; the environment, Home Office and culture.
British Army Apache helicopters on a military exercise last May. Pic: Reuters
John Healey the defence secretary, announced a shake-up of defence spending at a speech in Westminster, to focus on “war readiness and deterrence”. He said: “At this time, we must rearm Britain.”
He said: “The decisions that we make right now over the coming weeks will not only define the outcome of the conflict in Ukraine, but the security of our world for a generation to come. And the nature of government means dealing with these challenges”.
Mr Healey would not say how quickly defence spending would rise but said conversations over the past week with the US defence secretary Pete Hegseth were about the need to go further.
He said the message was “not new”, adding: “We know as European nations we need to step up on European security, on defence spending and on Ukraine, especially over the last year we’ve been doing just that. What Pete Hegseth accelerated was that recognition that we’re stepping up, but we must go further.”
Raising defence spending to 2.5% of GDP would cost ‘£6bn a year’
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, said that increasing defence spending from its current level of 2.3% to 2.5% would mean finding approximately an extra £6bn a year by the end of the parliament.
He said: “Six billion in our overall budget is not enormous. The problem facing the government is that the fiscal situation is so tight, even finding that kind of money is going to be difficult.
“The last government and this one have increased spending quite a bit across quite a range of public services since 2020. So it’s not that we’re coming right off the back of austerity, but we are still in a position where a lot of government departments, the Ministry of Justice, for example, have got less money now than I had all the way back in 2010.
“So it’s still going to be hard for a lot of these areas to swallow any further cuts or even to cope with flat spending.”
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A Treasury spokesperson said: “The chancellor has asked all departments to deliver savings and efficiencies of 5% of their current budget as part of the first zero-based spending review in seventeen years and every pound of government spending is being interrogated, to root out waste and get the best value for taxpayers.
“National security is a foundation of this government’s plan for change, which is why we have increased defence spending by almost £3bn while delivering the highest pay rise for our armed forces in over 20 years.
“We will set out a path to 2.5% once the strategic defence review has concluded. We will not give a running commentary while the review is undertaken.”
Politics
Sadiq Khan: London mayor says President Trump ‘absolutely’ welcome to visit UK in major U-turn
London’s mayor Sir Sadiq Khan has defended his past attacks on Donald Trump, telling Sky News that standing up for the city “does mean sometimes saying boo to a goose”.
But in a major U-turn since calling on the government to ban the US president’s 2019 UK state visit, when he was asked if Mr Trump would be welcome this time, he declared: “Absolutely!”
Sir Sadiq, who was knighted in the King’s New Year’s Honours, was interviewed by Sky News as he hosted talks with the ambassadors of the European Union‘s 27 member states at a top London hotel.
In the past, the mayor has denounced the president as “ignorant” on Islam, “racist”, “sexist”, “a homophobe” and likened his tactics to “the fascists of the 20th century”.
Asked if he still held those views, he said: “President Trump has fairly and squarely won a second term. Let’s judge President Trump on what he does to his second term rather than what he did in his first term.
“My job as the mayor of this great city is to stand up for our values, stand up for our businesses, stand up for our people. And that does mean sometimes saying boo to a goose.”
And Sir Sadiq did criticise new US vice president JD Vance for claiming in a Valentine’s Day speech at the Munich Security Conference that free speech was in retreat in the UK and Europe.
“We had a situation a couple of days ago where it was said in words to the effect that the biggest threat facing our country and our continent is a lack of freedom of speech,” said the mayor.
“Woe betide me being criticised for exercising my freedom of speech. Contrary to what JD Vance might think, we have freedom of speech in this country.”
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JD Vance criticises UK and Europe
Sir Sadiq was also critical of the president’s threat of “trade wars and tariffs”, suggesting they could damage American companies doing business in London and the UK.
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“London is the number one city of choice for foreign direct investment for many businesses across the globe,” he said.
“We’ve got many great American companies invested in London, whether it’s in culture – Netflix and many other studios have opened recently in this great city of ours – financial institutions, legal and others currently invested in London.
“We do great business with the USA in terms of services and goods. I want it to carry on. An issue with tariffs and trade wars is that there are more people who lose out from those than win from those.”
On another Trump state visit, which the president is known to want, the mayor said: “I’d like President Trump to come to London so he can see some of the misunderstandings he has of our city.
“So he can see there is no threat to freedom of speech in this great city of ours. So he can see that actually Muslims, Jews, Christians, Hindus and Sikhs don’t just tolerate each other, we respect, celebrate and embrace each other.
“So he can see for himself the fact that diversity is a strength, not a weakness. He can see for himself that many people in this great city of ours and country of ours love America, love American culture, indeed in the past have loved American politics and are looking forward to working closely with him going forward.”
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PM to meet Trump next week
Sir Sadiq also appeared to strike a less hostile tone in his opposition to Heathrow expansion, after previously threatening a legal challenge against a third runway.
“I’m a pro-growth mayor,” he said. “I’m a pro-business mayor, as evidenced by the policies of the last eight years. I want a better Heathrow, not a bigger Heathrow.
“If Heathrow can come up with plans that address issues around noise, around air, around climate change, that pays for the underground M25, re-routing the A4, improvements to Southern Rail, improvements on the Piccadilly line, improvements on the Elizabeth line, we’ll look at them.
“Let’s see what Heathrow’s plans are. What the Climate Change Committee – well respected – has said [is] that any expansion of aviation must abide with our climate change commitments. Let’s wait and see what Heathrow come up with.”
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Denying this was a change in his position, he added: “Not at all. I’m quite clear in relation to standing up for London, but also standing up for our environment, for air quality, for noise pollution and for Londoners.
“And it’s really important to wait for Heathrow to have their plans before I launch a legal challenge against hypotheticals.”
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