Foreign policy set to dominate PMQs amid unease over deal with Mauritius and Trump’s Gaza comments
The UK government would oppose any plan that would stop Palestinians returning to their home in Gaza, Steve Reed, the environment secretary, said this morning.
In an interview on the Today programme, asked about President Trump’s proposal for a US take-over of Gaza, and the implicit ethnic cleansing of Palestinians who have been living there, Reed stated the government’s opposition to the idea – while at the same time trying to avoid direct criticism of Trump. Reed even praised him for the role he played in securing the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
I think it’s right that I should share with you the UK Government’s view of what should happen.
It would be inappropriate for me to provide a running commentary on what Donald Trump says, or indeed any other world leader.
This reporting is incorrect.
The figures being quoted are entirely inaccurate and misleading.
A person familiar with the views of one cabinet minister said they did not understand why the UK was agreeing to pay large sums of money to Mauritius at a time when the Treasury was telling UK government departments to prepare for spending cuts.
A second person familiar with a different cabinet member’s views said Starmer should cancel the deal. Both suggested Starmer was acting on legal advice from attorney general Richard Hermer.
Making calls on this story to contacts in government last night, it became clear to me that some of the most senior people in government are opposed to this deal … Just looking through the words in my notebook, “terrible”, “mad”, “impossible to understand” – those are the words I can use, at least at this time of day on air. But there are other words in my notebook. And these are from very senior government sources.
One MP who fears Nigel Farage’s outfit could be closing in on their marginal seat told Playbook the treaty would be “Reform rocket fuel.” “How am I supposed to tell my constituents that we took away their winter fuel allowance to pay a foreign country to take our sovereign territory?” they messaged to say.
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