SIR Keir Starmer has told GB News that Nicolas Maduro caused “untold misery across Venezuela” and warned against US military action to seize Greenland.
He stood by the government’s policy on inheritance tax for farms, refused to say if he had been barred from his local pub, and went on to accuse Nigel Farage of “peddling falsehoods”.
The Prime Minister told GB News’ Political Editor Christopher Hope: “Well, the position of this government is that what we need in Venezuela is a peaceful transition to democracy. That was our position before this weekend. It remains our position.
“The president was illegitimate and caused untold misery across Venezuela. International law is the framework, is the anchor, or the benchmark against which we judge the actions of all other governments, and it is, of course, for the US to justify the action that it has taken.
“It is not straightforward. It is complicated. And even today, there are further developments. But I won’t shy away from the fact that international law is the framework and is the benchmark.”
SIR KEIR STARMER MP GB News.jpeg
On the prospect of the US invading Greenland, the PM said: “Well, the future of Greenland is for Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark, and for Greenland and the future of Denmark only.
“And Denmark is a very close ally of the UK, both in Europe and in NATO, and it’s very important that we’re clear about the principles applicable here. Greenland and the Kingdom of Denmark must determine the future of Greenland and nobody else.”
Asked if Labour critics of Donald Trump are wrong, he said: “People will take different positions on this, but I think the vast majority of Labour voters and supporters, in fact the vast majority of people across the country, would say the most important thing is that peaceful transition to democracy.
“It’s been years in the waiting, and now we need a period of stabilisation, but we mustn’t lose sight of the fact that the most important thing is that transition to democracy in Venezuela.”
He also insisted that the government’s policy on inheritance tax on farms is correct, despite a U-turn just before Christmas: “The principle of applying inheritance tax to farms is obviously the right principle.
“But I listened to those that had concerns about where the threshold was, including the president of the NFU and the ex-president of the NFU, listened carefully to what they had to say and determined that we should adjust the threshold, not the principle, but the threshold, and that was the right thing to do.”
Asked if he had been banned from his local pub, Sir Keir said: “In relation to business rates, we’re working with the sector, particularly in hospitality. Obviously, there were reductions in place because of Covid, which were going to come to an end. There are then transitional provisions to help
“The overall rating levels is going down, but I do acknowledge, for pubs and others, that the re-evaluation means that they will struggle in relation to the business rates applicable to them. That’s why we’re working with them. And also other measures.
“They want more freedom for licensing. They want more freedom to actually open for longer. And we’re very open to that discussion.”
On Nigel Farage, he said: “My message would be that Nigel Farage says a lot of things that aren’t true and don’t come to fruition.
“So he stood in front of your viewers in the Brexit referendum and said, ‘If we leave the EU, migration will come down’. Well, it didn’t come down. It quadrupled, the Boris Johnson wave. He said, If we leave the EU, you’d have £350 million a week for the NHS, that didn’t turn out to be the case.
“And he said if we left the EU, we’d cut lots of red tape. Try telling that to anyone who is dealing and doing business with the EU.
“So what you get with Nigel Farage is a lot of slippery things that are said, but when you hold them up to the light, they’re not actually true, and peddling falsehoods is no way to solve the problems of this country.”