“CONTROL IMMIGRATION”
Starmer will make his debut on the international stage as leader when he flies to Washington next week for a NATO summit.
Foreign Minister David Lammy meanwhile travelled to Berlin to meet his German counterpart Annalena Baerbock, in his first in-post trip.
The ministers discussed issues from boosting NATO’s support for Ukraine to the situation in the Middle East, the German foreign ministry wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“The United Kingdom is an indispensable part of Europe,” the ministry wrote, adding that Germany is “working with the new UK government to see how the UK can move closer to the EU”.
Earlier Sunday, as Starmer began his second full day at the helm, former three-time Labour prime minister Blair made an early intervention, urging him to have a “plan to control immigration”.
Blair warned Starmer that the anti-immigration Reform UK Party also posed a challenge to Labour, not just the Conservative Party.
“We need a plan to control immigration. If we don’t have rules, we get prejudices,” Blair wrote in the Sunday Times, advocating the introduction of digital ID.
Business Minister Jonathan Reynolds later ruled the idea out.
