Labour must stop glamorising relationship with Trump
Labour and Keir Starmer must stop cosying up to Donald Trump and instead stand for the values of democracy and human rights, say the Scottish Greens.
The call came from Scottish Green MSP Maggie Chapman, after Starmer opened up to the BBC about how he and Donald Trump bonded over “shared family values”.
In 2023 Donald Trump was found guilty of 34 felonies after he paid $130,000 in hush money to cover up an affair with an American porn star. And he has dozens of sexual assault allegations against him dating back to the 1970’s.
Maggie said:
“Under Donald Trump, America is in turmoil. His administration is sending innocent people to be tortured in foreign countries, he’s just passed a bill that will strip 17 million Americans of their healthcare, he’s begun an unprecedented transfer of wealth from the poor to his billionaire supporters, and he has openly called for the ethnic cleansing of Gaza.
“For a UK Prime Minister to sit there and talk about his shared values with this President should set off alarm bells in every institution and every voter in this country. Cosying up to a racist, misogynistic, climate-wrecking authoritarian like Donald Trump is the last thing we should be doing.
“While values may be a flexible concept to Keir Starmer - if you don’t like his values he, opportunistically, has others - it must not be for our country. If we don’t have our values we have nothing.
“Already Downing Street is copying Trump’s homework by pushing through drastic cuts to disability benefits in order to boost spending on of war and defence. Rather than working to overcome 14 years of Tory austerity and rebuild the country, Starmer is doubling down on the same disastrous policies that got us into the mess we’re in.
“And Labour continues to echo the White House by refusing to end their active participation in the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza. We see the death-toll mounting daily. We watch as innocent civilians are shot or blown up while waiting for food inside barbed wire enclosures. Keir Starmer can’t even bring himself to call out these atrocities, never mind end the UK’s training and arming of those perpetrating them.
“Are these the family values he speaks of so fondly? Is this really the path we want to follow? Starmer must end this pathetic grovelling to the US President and begin standing up for real values – democracy, human rights, and a fair economy that improves living standards for everyone.”