Whitehall officials are ‘considering and planning lots of different scenarios’ for Ukraine after Donald Trump’s US election win, a Cabinet minister has confirmed
Whitehall officials are “considering and planning lots of different scenarios” for Ukraine after Donald Trump’s US election win, a Cabinet minister has confirmed.
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Darren Jones was confronted about the potential of the President-elect cutting or stopping funding to the war-torn country.
He said on Sunday: “We’re going to continue to work with the Biden administration until the inauguration on current American policy bases that aligns with our position in the UK, where we want to support Ukraine, that our support for Ukraine is resolute.
“We don’t want any countenance of the idea that we’re stepping back from that. That’s why we’re offering them £3billion a year, which you know, in the fiscal context here in the UK, is difficult but the right decision for us.”
Pressed on what the UK might do if the US retreats under Mr Trump, Mr Jones told Sky News: “Officials will be considering and planning lots of different scenarios – as they would do under any administration – to make sure that the UK is in the strongest possible position.”
It comes amid jitters that Mr Trump may scale back support for Ukraine, which was invaded by Russia in February 2022, and push for a peace deal that is favourable to Vladimir Putin.
A member of his team told the Wall Street Journal: “We can do training and other support but the barrel of the gun is going to be European. We are not sending American men and women to uphold peace in Ukraine. And we are not paying for it. Get the Poles, Germans, British and French to do it.”
Mr Trump has previously said he could end the conflict in a single day if he was re-elected as US President. The UK chief of defence staff, Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, on Sunday warned that Ukraine will be the ones to determine how its war with Russia will end. “When we talk about this coming to an end, that’s for the government of Ukraine to determine, and in the meantime, we continue to support Ukraine,” he said.
Shadow Foreign Secretary Dame Priti Patel said the UK has to “work with America” when it comes to Ukraine, suggesting that there needs to be “joint solutions to the shared problems”. She said: “We do have to work with America on this. We can’t do this on our own, we have to work with our European friends and allies as well.
“Europe has spent billions in this collective effort, we have to find joint solutions to the shared problems. This isn’t a problem for one country versus another country, this is actually about the security of us all, the defence of our own freedoms, and therefore I would, I would gently suggest that we have to work together on these solutions.”
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Separately officials are also “considering lots of different scenarios” amid concerns about the possible impact of tariffs under the incoming US Trump presidency. Mr Trump said before his victory he would raise tariffs on Chinese goods to 60% and impose a “universal” tax of at least 10% on imports from other countries.
Mr Jones said: “Officials will be considering lots of different scenarios but the position of the Government is that we support free trade and we support the trading relationship between the United States and the United Kingdom. It’s a very strong, very fruitful relationship, both for us but also for the American economy and of course we want to protect that and strengthen it in the years ahead.”