Starmer says he ‘will not yield’ to Trump pressure over Greenland

Sir Keir Starmer has insisted he “will not yield” in his stance over Greenland as he vowed to stand up to Donald Trump over his threats to annex the Danish territory.

In his most hostile language yet, the prime minister also hit back at the US president’s criticism of plans for the Chagos Islands, and said the move was made expressly to pressure him over Greenland.

Mr Trump on Tuesday launched a blistering attack on Britain, calling Sir Keir Starmer’s plan to cede the Chagos Islands to Mauritius one of “great stupidity” – despite publicly backing the deal last year.

Laying out his position in his strongest terms yet, Sir Keir told Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday, said: “I will not yield, Britain will not yield on our principles and values about the future of Greenland under threats of tariffs, and that is my clear position.”

The US president has threatened to hit Britain and other European allies with 10 per cent tariffs from 1 February unless they agree to his purchase of Greenland, and he has refused to rule out using military force to seize the island.

Writing on his Truth Social platform, the US president said the UK’s Chagos deal was “another in a very long line of national security reasons why Greenland has to be acquired”.

But Sir Keir said the US president’s change in stance on Chagos was done to apply pressure on him over Greenland.

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In his first public comments since the row blindsided the UK government, the PM said: “President Trump deployed words on Chagos yesterday that were different to his previous words of welcome and support when I met him in the White House.

“He deployed those words yesterday for the express purpose of putting pressure on me and Britain in relation to my values and principles on the future of Greenland.”

The PM repeated: “He wants me to yield on my position, and I'm not going to do so.”

Meanwhile, the Trump administration has stepped up its criticism of the plan to hand the islands, which include the Diego Garcia military base, to Mauritius.

US treasury secretary Scott Bessent accused the UK of “letting us down”.

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He told a press conference in Davos, Switzerland, where world leaders are attending the World Economic Forum: “President Trump has made it clear that we will not outsource our national security or our hemispheric security to any other countries.

“Our partner, the UK, is letting us down with the base on Diego Garcia, which we had shared together for many, many years, and they want to turn it over to Mauritius.”

On Tuesday, as he lashed out in an online rant, the US president had written: “Shockingly, our ‘brilliant’ NATO Ally, the United Kingdom, is currently planning to give away the Island of Diego Garcia, the site of a vital U.S. Military Base, to Mauritius, and to do so FOR NO REASON WHATSOEVER.”

But the UK pointed out that the deal had already been publicly welcomed by the US.

President Trump also appeared to indicate his support for the deal last year, telling Sir Keir during his visit to the White House in February that he was “inclined to go with your country” and that he had “a feeling it’s going to work out very well”.

The Tories welcomed Trump’s intervention, with Conservative shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel saying he had “said what we’ve said all along”.