Keir Starmer to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street
Date: 2025-08-14T07:51:11.000Z
Title: Keir Starmer to meet Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Downing Street
Content: Keir Starmer will be joined by the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street on Thursday morning, as Europe braces for the outcome of Donald Trump's face-to-face discussions with his Russian counterpart later this week.
The prime minister's meeting with Zelenskyy comes after he said Britain stood ready to 'increase pressure' on Russia if necessary. Meanwhile, Trump threatened Russia with 'severe consequences' if a ceasefire was rejected by its leader.
During a call with the US president and European allies on Wednesday, Starmer praised Trump for his work to bring forward a 'viable' chance of an end to the war.
Concerns have been raised over Zelenskyy's exclusion from the meeting between Trump and Putin, which is scheduled to take place in Alaska.
Speaking on Wednesday, Starmer said:
This meeting on Friday that President Trump is attending is hugely important. As I've said personally to President Trump for the three-and-a-bit years this conflict has been going on, we haven't got anywhere near a prospect of actually a viable solution, a viable way of bringing it to a ceasefire.
And now we do have that chance because of the work of that the president has put in.
Starmer is scheduled to meet Zelenskyy at 9.30am.
Also today, education secretary Bridget Phillipson has been on the morning media rounds as students in England, Wales and Northern Ireland received their A-level exam results. Phillipson is also expected to visit Trafford College in Altrincham, Greater Manchester. The shadow secretary of state for business and trade Andrew Griffith has been on the morning media rounds for the Conservatives. I'll bring you any lines from them in a moment.
But first, in other developments:
The UK economy grew at a faster rate than expected in the second quarter, official figures show, despite a slowdown from a strong start to the year amid pressure from tax increases and Donald Trump's global trade war. Figures from the Office for National Statistics showed growth in gross domestic product (GDP) slowed to 0.3% in the three months to the end of June, down from a rate of 0.7% in the first quarter.
Rachel Reeves has promised to use her autumn budget to prioritise fixing Britain's dismal record on productivity as she sought to downplay mounting tax speculation with a focus on economic growth. Writing exclusively for the Guardian, she said: 'If Labour's first year in power was about fixing the foundations, then the second year is about building a stronger economy for a renewed Britain.'
David Lammy has referred himself to the environment watchdog after going fishing with JD Vance without the required licence during the US vice-president's trip to the UK. The foreign secretary hosted Vance and his family at Chevening House in Kent last week, where the pair fished from the property's private lake. Anglers aged 13 and over must hold a rod licence to fish for freshwater species such as carp in England and Wales.
The Scottish Greens have to broaden their appeal beyond middle-class urbanites by talking to voters in industrial towns facing wholesale job losses, a Green leadership candidate says. Gillian Mackay is one of four Scottish Greens bidding to win two co-leader posts after Patrick Harvie, the UK's longest-serving party leader, quit as co-convener earlier this year.
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