Starmer making first Commons statement since Trump meeting and Ukraine summit

Sir Keir Starmer has left Number 10 and is heading to parliament for a statement about his recent exploits.

He'll be updating MPs about his talks with Donald Trump and the weekend's summit with European leaders about Ukraine.

We'll have live coverage from around 3.30pm.

A "coalition of the willing" could provide boots on the ground in Ukraine in the event of a ceasefire. 

The phrase was a central theme of Sir Keir Starmer's speech after European leaders gathered in London for crucial talks about Ukraine's future.

Led by the UK and France, the initiative could see troops from a number of European and NATO countries deployed to Ukraine as peacekeepers in order to deter Vladimir Putin from rearming and attacking again in the future.

Starmer said Europe "must do the heavy lifting" on defence and indicated several countries had expressed interest in being part of the coalition.

So who's in, who's out - and what's behind these latest buzzwords?

Our foreign news reporter Michael Drummond explains everything you need to know here...

As news of the resignation of Anneliese Dodds broke, Sky News political editor Beth Rigby was recording her Electoral Dysfunction podcast with Harriet Harman and Ruth Davidson.

Both Harman and Davidson seemed to think the departure of Dodds was nothing major for Sir Keir Starmer.

Harman said the departure was "very characteristic" of Dodds - and praised her as "thoroughly principled and decent".

"I'm really disappointed," she said, adding she'd have liked her to stick around to try to "refocus what is left of the development agenda".

But she said she doubts her exit will "make any difference" to the prime minister's government, given the "functional and strong" hold he has over his cabinet's agenda.

'She had nowhere else to go'

Davidson was a bit more frank - not a shock from a Conservative - about the departure, saying her position was "completely uncredible".

She noted Dodds was Starmer's first shadow chancellor, and lasted a year before being replaced by Rachel Reeves.

"He then gave her the job of being the party chairman," she said.

"She ran this amazing election campaign, they had this amazing majority. He fired her the very next day and made her a junior minister, and then he gutted her budget. 

"She had nowhere else to go."

👉 Click here to listen to Electoral Dysfunction on your podcast app 👈

The defence secretary, John Healey, will go to Washington DC this week to meet with his US counterpart, Pete Hegseth, Downing Street has announced.

The pair met for the first time last month at the NATO defence ministers' meeting, and they spoke by phone last week after the PM announced an increase in defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 - something the Trump administration has welcomed.

The meeting will come after the extraordinary row in the Oval Office between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy over aid to Ukraine, and the summit in London on Sunday with the Ukrainian president and European leaders.

The prime minister has hosted representatives of small and medium-sized businesses in Britain's defence industry this lunchtime.

It comes after Sir Keir Starmer announced the UK would boost defence spending from 2.3% of GDP to 2.5% by 2027.

The meeting was also attended by apprentices and students, with a careers fair to highlight the impact defence investment can have on jobs and the economy.

Sir Keir Starmer has gone "from the Brexit naughty step" into leading "a new era" for Europe.

That's the view from today's Politics At Jack And Sam's podcast, after the prime minister convened a meeting of European leaders in London for talks about the war in Ukraine.

Speaking from Germany, Politico's Anne McElvoy tells our deputy political editor Sam Coates there's been a big change in how the media are covering the British PM compared to recent years.

There are "huge profiles of him in the newspapers" and TV reports giving him "great credit" for assembling the summit.

It feels like a "moment of transition from the Brexit world to a world of getting serious about European defence and a new era in Europe".

PM well suited to the moment

Sam concurs, saying from his talks with British officials there's a "quiet confidence about the way the PM is conducting himself" on the world stage right now.

And there's a sense he has the "temperament necessary" for this fragile moment in diplomatic relations.

After an extremely busy few days for the prime minister, things have calmed down a little here in the Politics Hub.

Here are the main things you need to know:

• Sir Keir Starmer has won praise from across the House of Commons for overseeing the weekend's Ukraine summit in London;
• It came as he sought to lead Europe in putting on a united front after Volodymyr Zelenskyy's extraordinary row with Donald Trump on Friday, which came a day after the PM was there himself;
• Starmer will give a statement in the Commons from around 3.30pm to update MPs on his Washington trip and the weekend summit.

• One of Starmer's top diplomats isn't receiving such fulsome praise, however, with Lord Mandelson under fire for suggesting Ukraine should commit to a ceasefire before Russia;
• The UK's US ambassador earned a slap down from defence minister Luke Pollard, who told Sky's Wilfred Frost it's "not government policy";
• And Nigel Farage has been criticised by the Lib Dems and Tories for saying Zelenskyy had been "rude" to Trump at the White House on Friday.

We'll bring you live coverage of the prime minister's statement from around 3.30pm here in the Politics Hub.

Politics Hub With Sophy Ridge also returns at 7pm - we'll have the guest line-up for you once it's locked in.

Stay with us for more updates and analysis through the afternoon.

It was only four days ago that Sir Keir Starmer was in Washington DC to meet Donald Trump in the White House for the first time - and it feels like it has been a year!

After the meeting on Thursday that was almost unanimously deemed a success, things all went downhill just hours after the PM landed back in London on Friday, with Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy having an extraordinary row in the Oval Office.

Cue phone calls, a meeting with the Ukrainian president in Downing Street, and a summit of European leaders. It was a very busy weekend for the PM.

After days of intensive diplomatic activity, Starmer will give a statement to the House of Commons this afternoon to update MPs on the government's efforts.

The statement is expected to start at 3.30pm

We'll have live coverage right here in the Politics Hub and across Sky News, so do join us.

By Sarah Taaffe-Maguire, business and economics reporter

Defence and military spending has dominated the news cycle over the past week - and today it's dominating the markets.

Arms maker BAE Systems, up a massive 17.5% at one point today, is leading the UK's benchmark FTSE 100 stock index.

It's followed by defence firm Rolls-Royce Holdings, up nearly 6%.

The boost to weapons makers can be seen across Europe. The aerospace and defence companies of the pan-European Stoxx index saw the biggest daily jump since November 2020.

Leaders from across the continent backed Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his war against Russia over the weekend after a summit held by Sir Keir Starmer yesterday. 

EU leaders rallied to defend Ukraine after a brutal Friday evening showdown between Zelenskyy and Donald Trump, vowing to provide support if US input decreases or come up with their own Russia-Ukraine peace deal.

Likely boosting UK arms companies was Starmer's promise of a loan and delivery of Belfast-made missiles.

But it's the prospect of a peace deal that's likely pushed oil to the lowest price all year - $72.49 for a barrel of Brent crude.

Sebastien Lai, the son of imprisoned Hong Kong pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai, is calling for the government to push harder for his father's release.

He has this morning delivered a letter to Number 10 Downing Street asking for a meeting with him to show the Chinese government that the highest levels of the British government are taking the fate of the British citizen serious.

He told Sky's Wilfred Frost earlier that this is "about releasing him, but it's also about saving his life".