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U.K.’s Starmer Looks for Diplomatic Wins in Germany and France

U.K.’s Starmer Looks for Diplomatic Wins in Germany and France
British Labour Party leader Keir Starmer makes his keynote speech at the annual party conference in Brighton, England, Sept. 29, 2021 (AP photo by Alastair Grant).

U.K. PM Keir Starmer and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz agreed yesterday to work on an ambitious treaty to be signed by early next year that will include defense and trade cooperation. Starmer met with Scholz in Berlin a day before heading to France to meet with President Emmanuel Macron. (AP)

The announcement of the planned treaty also came just a day after Starmer gave a speech in which he said his Labour government had inherited “not just an economic black hole but a societal black hole” after 14 years of Conservative Party governance, and that the government would have to make some “unpopular decisions” for the long-term good. (Reuters)

Our Take

When the Labour party won the U.K. general election last month, it would have been understandable to assume that Starmer was entering office with a massive electoral mandate. After all, Labour now holds nearly two-thirds of seats in the House of Commons, the main chamber in Parliament, while the Tories are deeply unpopular.

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