Starmer visits Ireland in bid to reset UK’s relationship with Dublin
Sir Keir Starmer is to visit Ireland as he seeks to reset the UK’s relationship with its nearest neighbour.
The Prime Minister will travel to Dublin on Saturday to meet with the Taoiseach, Simon Harris, in his first official visit to Ireland.
Commerce across the Irish Sea, a trade relationship worth 100 billion euros a year which supports thousands of jobs, will be top of the agenda as Sir Keir meets Mr Harris.
The Prime Minister and the Taoiseach will also meet Irish business leaders from companies including Accenture, Keelings and Primark, to encourage further trade and investment.
Strong ties
Sir Keir, whose visit to Ireland will be the first by a UK prime minister in five years, said: “The UK and Ireland share the strongest of ties – through our close geography, shared culture and the friendships of our people.
“Our relationship has never reached its full potential, but I want to change that.
“We have a clear opportunity to go further and faster to make sure our partnership is fully delivering on behalf of the British and Irish people – driving growth and prosperity in both our countries.
“The Taoiseach and I are in lockstep about our future, and we look forward to deepening our collaboration further.”
Mr Harris was the first international leader hosted by Sir Keir in the UK following the July election, in a bid to foster the close relationship.
Alongside the meeting with business chiefs, the two leaders will attend the Republic of Ireland vs England Nations League football match on Saturday evening.
Sir Keir has also sought to build a closer relationship with the EU, and leaders of the countries that make up the bloc.
He visited Berlin and Paris last week as a means of building trust with French and German leaders.
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Starmer needs to reset his relationship with the old, the young, the poor and all those not white and christian in the UK…the people who have taken the hit from Austerity, Brexit, Covid and now Captain and Pusser Bumble and First Mate Morgan…
Hear, hear! At present all Starmer & Co seem to be doing is playing into the hands of Farage and Reform UK and worse. The worst of it is all of us know who should be coughing up to sort out the economy and the social infrastructure, yet the government persists in telling us that the poor must once again suffer for the greed of the rich, even to the point of one of the government recently claiming that there would be a run on the pound and that investors would refuse to invest in the UK if the Winter… Read more »
‘Greed is Good’ Fat Shanks 27th Nov 2013…
You can try putting your backbenchers in lockstep with you, but you’re a fool if you try it on the prime minister of another country.
If the Irish have any sense which I think they have they should tell him to sling his hook 🪝