UK and Poland to sign new security and defence treaty

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk met with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in Warsaw on Friday to discuss NATO cooperation and support for Ukraine, among other things.

Starmer's visit took place on the way back from Ukraine, where he spoke with President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Thursday.

During the meeting, the Polish Prime Minister presented to his British counterpart the priorities of the Polish presidency of the Council of the European Union. The Prime Ministers also discussed mutual relations, migration issues, and international security, emphasising defence cooperation and further support for Ukraine.

At the presser, they both qnnounced their intention to sign a bilateral security and defence cooperation agreement later this year and tighten cooperation on the Baltic and North Seas.

"We are opening a new joint program office in Bristol to deliver our £4 billion partnership to deliver the next generation of air defence system to Poland," said Starmer.

The UK's prime minister also visited the site of Nazi German extermination camp Auschwitz, voicing his “sheer horror” at what he saw and vowing that he would fight the growing antisemitism which is causing fears to rise among Jews including in Britain.

“Nothing could prepare me for the sheer horror of what I have seen in this place. It is utterly harrowing," he said in a statement released after his morning visit to the memorial site with his wife, Victoria, who is Jewish.

He noted the antisemitism that has been growing since the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October 2023, which triggered the war in Gaza.

Starmer’s centre-left Labour Party has struggled with accusations of antisemitism.

In 2020, the UK equalities watchdog in a scathing report found that Labour officials failed to stamp out antisemitism and committed “unlawful acts of harassment and discrimination” under Starmer’s predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn.