Home Office says it will tighten rules to keep ‘Kremlin-linked elites’ out of UK as Starmer speaks to European leaders – UK politics live

Keir Starmer to join European leaders on call to Volodymyr Zelenskyy to discuss Ukraine war Good morning. At least this week we’re not going to have to put up with all the usual guff about the “special relationship”. UK politics this week will be dominated by Keir Starmer’s meeting with Donald Trump in the White House on Thursday, which was described as “probably … one of the most consequential meetings of a British prime minister and president that we have had since the second world war” by Sir Peter Westmacott, a former British ambassador to Washington., on the Westminster Hour last night. For the last 30 years at least, whenever a PM has met a new US president for the first time, commentary has inevitably focused on what it said about the state of the “special relationship”. Despite making the British sound insecure and needy, as a media narrative it always worked because it was simple and appealed to patriotic notions of British exceptionalism.But last week it became clear that the “special relationship” that seems to matter most to Trump is the one he has with Vladimir Putin. There will still be huge interest in the outcome of the Starmer/Trump meeting. But the parameters have now shifted, and No 10 will probably be happy with a relationship that is positive, functioning, and not entirely disastrous for Ukraine.Under the new measures, the government will expand the criteria for exclusion to cover Kremlin-linked elites. This will ensure that, while Russia remains an acute national security threat, elites linked to the Russian state can be prevented from entering the UK.Those who could be barred from the UK include anyone who provides significant support to the Russian state and/or those who owe their significant status or wealth to the Russian state and/or those who enjoy access to the highest levels of the Russian state.Successive governments have welcomed the oligarchs and their money with open arms, providing them with a means of recycling illicit finance through the London ‘laundromat’, and connections at the highest levels with access to UK companies and political figures. Continue reading…



Source link : https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2025/feb/24/keir-starmer-labour-latest-politics-live-news-updates

Author : Andrew Sparrow

Publish date : 2025-02-24 09:37:00

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