Starmer in Poland
- PM holds talks in Poland on new security pact
- Sir Keir Starmer and his wife say visit to Auschwitz 'utterly harrowing'
- Follows a trip to Kyiv where PMsigned 100-year 'friendship' deal to underpin the UK's support for Ukraine
- The PM told our political editor Beth Rigby the UK will 'play our full part' if NATO troops are deployed to help guarantee any peace deal with Russia
- But our security and defence editor Deborah Haynes said his pledges don't sound credible while questions remain over his defence record back home
Other news
- Parliamentary bar closed after 'spiking' incident
- Government-backed local inquiries into grooming gangs confirmed
- Culture secretary tells Sky News she 'utterly refutes' that Musk intervention accelerated government action
- Attack ads target Badenoch pension proposal
- Sir Ed Davey says Reform and Conservatives 'weak and desperate' in approach to Donald Trump
Good night
That's it for another week in politics.
Join us again on Sunday morning for Sunday Morning with Trevor Phillips.
Was Tusk doing Brussels's bidding with his 'Breturn' plea?
When Nigel Farage's Reform UK is just one point behind you in the opinion polls, the last thing you want to be reminded about is Brexit.
If you're Sir Keir Starmer, that is.
No doubt Poland's prime minister, Donald Tusk, was trying to be friendly. After all, as Sir Keir said, they share a passion for Arsenal Football Club.
But when Mr Tusk declared at their joint news conference in Warsaw that his dream was "instead of a Brexit, we will have a Breturn", Sir Keir visibly cringed.
Was it an ambush? Not quite. But it was certainly awkward for the UK prime minister. He stood stiffly and didn't respond, not once uttering the word "Brexit".
Mr Tusk, however, has form for bemoaning Brexit. He was, after all, the president of the European Council when the UK voted to leave the EU in 2016.
He might now be in his second spell as Poland's PM, but his five years at the EU make him the ultimate Brussels insider, who's never made any attempt to hide his feelings on Brexit.
Prior to the UK referendum, in September 2015, he said Brexit "could be the beginning of the destruction of not only the EU but also of western political civilisation in its entirety".
His most outspoken attack on the UK's Eurosceptics came in 2019 when the-then prime minister Theresa May was struggling to get a deal. He spoke of "what the special place in hell looks like for those who promoted Brexit".
Strangers' Bar: The Commons venue that changed political history
It's a bar that has changed the course of political history. And now it has made history again by being closed after a drink-spiking allegation.
It's the hub of social life in parliament, packed with MPs on nights of big Commons votes and a hotbed of intrigue, gossip, and political scandal.
In 1990, on the day of the first ballot in the Tory leadership election, Conservative MPs who had steadfastly supported Margaret Thatcher for more than a decade gathered in Strangers' Bar at 11am.
There they ordered large whiskies to pluck up the courage to stab their heroine in the back and vote for Michael Heseltine.
"If I'm to commit political suicide, I need a drink first," said a clubbable and extrovert Tory MP Barry Porter that night, convinced that he had signed his political death warrant.
Instead, he and the Iron Lady's other backbench deserters had signed hers, though, in a twist of fate, she was succeeded not by Michael Heseltine but by John Major.
More than a decade later, in 2012, it was the history of the Labour Party that was changed dramatically by a night of mayhem in Strangers' Bar.
Questions over UK's 'capacity' to be involved in Russia-Ukraine 'peacekeeping'
Sky News political correspondent Ali Fortescue spoke to chief of the defence staff Lord Richard Dannatt about reports UK peacekeepers could potentially be involved in a ceasefire between Russia and Ukraine.
Lord Dannatt, who retired in 2009, said there were "big issues" with the UK - or the other reported suggestion, France - getting involved.
He first said that it would be unlikely that Vladimir Putin would let Western troops so close to his border.
The former soldier suggested instead someone more "non-aligned" would be more acceptable to Moscow, such as India, Pakistan, a South American nation or even South Africa.
Lord Dannatt then explained further difficulties.
He said the word "peacekeeping" was being used "wrongly".
Instead, he said it would need to be an "interposition" with a "significant force" being placed between "very capable" and "very experienced" Russian and Ukrainian armies.
This would necessitate something more than "token UN troops with berets and Land Rovers flying flags".
A "well-founded" force that "could look after itself" if violence started is what he said was necessary.
Lack of capacity
Lord Dannatt then explained what such an operation would look like.
He suggested a scenario with the UK providing 10% or 15% of a force to keep the peace along the 700km border between Russia and Ukraine.
"I would judge that it would need between 5,000 and 10,000 soldiers and their support elements," the ex-soldier said.
With rotations off the front line and other factors, in total a force of 25,000 would be needed.
Lord Dannatt said the UK might be able to "squeeze" to get this many troops available.
But if more is not spent on defence, we can "forget the government taking any role" in being between Ukraine and Russia, he said.
Stopping immigration 'not about xenophobia' - Tusk
The prime ministers are asked about whether they will be able to stop immigration in the way they are promising.
Donald Tusk, the Polish leader, says counteracting illegal migration is "not about slogans, about words, about xenophobia".
Instead, it is about a "set of concrete decisions".
He gives the example that Poland put a hard boarder between itself and Belarus, and suspended mass asylum claims from Belarus and Russia.
This in contrasted by My Tusk with Brexit - which he says "did not turn out to be a remedy to illegal migration".
"It is not the case that the extreme right has a monopoly for the right answers" on migration, he adds.
Instead, it is a "sacred obligation" on every country to secure its own borders.
Taking his turn to answer, Sir Keir repeats that the previous government's Rwanda deportation scheme was a "gimmick".
He says it is possible to stop the people smuggling gangs facilitating small boat crossings.
The prime minister says his party is using counter-terrorism style policies to tackle the gangs.
Starmer pushed on CSE timeline after Musk comments
Sir Keir is also asked if his government made its announcements on child sex exploitation yesterday due to comments made by Tesla chief Elon Musk.
The prime minister doesn't address the central point of the question - but says his focus "has always been on the victims".
He adds he's been "tackling this challenge since I was chief prosecutor".
Sir Keir goes on to say that some of the things mentioned yesterday had already been announced, and his government is also focussing on implementing previous recommendations.
And with that, the news conference ends.
Starmer and Tusk have discussed 'deepening ties' in new defence pact
Sir Keir Starmer says he and his Polish counterpart, Donald Tusk, have discussed a new security and defence treaty.
He says this will include "deepening ties" between the two nations' defence industries.
The prime minister says a £4bn partnership for new air defence systems in Poland has been agreed.
This will be headquartered in Bristol.
Asked if recent meetings with other European nations were about a European army, Sir Keir says that is not the case.
Instead, Sir Keir says it was a talking about issues like strengthening defence deals and tackling criminal gangs.
Mr Tusk says his position is "identical" to Sir Keir - and says Poland and the UK are both members of NATO.
He says members of the alliance need to take their commitments "seriously".
The Polish leader then appears to address Donald Trump indirectly - saying "we cannot give anyone a pretext to annul NATO".
He adds that in the "coming months", Poland and the UK will show "everyone" that NATO and its European members are capable of discouraging aggressors.
Tusk backs closer ties between UK and EU
In a previous role, Donald Tusk was president of the European Council and a senior figure in Brexit-era drama.
However, he is now the prime minister of Poland.
Speaking alongside Sir Keir Starmer in Warsaw, Mr Tusk said "we need the maximum rapprochement" between the UK and EU - including on security and defence.
He says he is certain there will be "no political hurdles" in this - a departure from the situation under the last UK government.
Mr Tusk says he hopes for a "Breturn", rather than a "Brexit".
He adds that he hopes the UK-Polish defence pact would be ratified "this year" and there will be "concrete" results in negotiations.
The Polish leader reveals he and Sir Keir spoke for an hour this afternoon - but could have talked for longer.
Starmer pledges closer migration cooperation
Sir Keir Starmer gives his remarks to the assorted journalists at the news conference.
He says he and Mr Tusk spoke about issues including the economy, security and migration.
Sir Keir says Belarusian and Russia gangs are "driving migrants" over the border into Poland, and the UK will help to "smash the vile gangs that operate across Europe".
Starmer and Tusk holding news conference
Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Tusk are giving a news conference in Warsaw, Poland.
The prime minister is visiting the country after his trip to Ukraine.
Starmer's message left at concentration camp
Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria visited the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz-Birkenau on a trip to Poland earlier today.
The prime minister laid a wreath, with a message saying: "I honour of those so brutally murdered in this place. We will never forget."
