New PM tours UK countries | The Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

LONDON – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer is seeking to repair relations at home and abroad.

During a visit to Edinburgh on Sunday, which he billed as an “immediate reset” with the regional governments of Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, Starmer said he would also seek to improve the UK’s “botched” trade deal with the European Union.

“I think we can get a much better deal than the botched deal that (former prime minister) Boris Johnson imposed on the UK,” he said, referring to the post-Brexit pact.

Starmer said there were many discussions underway to strengthen trade, research and defence ties with the EU, but he said those discussions had begun as his top diplomat made his first overseas visit to Germany, Poland and Sweden.

While two of Starmer's ministers are in Europe ahead of a Nato meeting this week, the prime minister has been keen to visit leaders of the UK's regional governments following his party's landslide victory last week.

Starmer, who said he had a “mandate to do politics differently”, met Scottish First Minister John Swinney in a bid to “turn disagreement into cooperation”.

“We will serve every single person in Scotland,” Starmer told a cheering group of supporters. “Performance, self-interest: these are policies of the past. The policy of this Labour government in 2024 is about public service, about restoring standards to ensure that we always, always have in mind the people who elected us to government.”

Although each of the UK's devolved nations elects members to the House of Commons in London, they also have their own regional parliaments.

Starmer's Labour Party beat Swinney's Scottish National Party for the seats in Parliament. But the SNP, which campaigned for Scottish independence, still holds a majority in Holyrood, the Scottish parliament.

Swinney said after meeting the First Minister that he believed there was an opportunity to work together to make a difference for the people of Scotland.

The trip, aimed at building better working relationships across the UK, comes as Starmer's government faces a mountain of problems.

The Labour government inherited a faltering economy that has left Britons struggling to pay their bills after global economic woes and budget blunders. It also faces a disenchanted population after 14 years of chaotic Tory rule and fiscal austerity that gutted public services, including the revered National Health Service, which Starmer has said is broken.

Starmer said he wanted to transfer power from the bureaucratic corridors of London government to leaders who know what is best for their communities.

After his two-day tour he will return to England, where he plans to meet regional mayors, saying he would engage with politicians regardless of party.

“There is no monopoly on good ideas,” he said. “I am not a tribal politician.”

Starmer continued to speak with other world leaders, having separate calls with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

He spoke with the two men about his priorities regarding a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip, the return of hostages to Israel and an increase in humanitarian aid, a spokesman said.

He told Abbas that recognition of a Palestinian state as part of a peace process was the “undeniable right of the Palestinians” and told Netanyahu it was important to secure long-term conditions for a two-state solution, including ensuring financial means for Abbas's Palestinian Authority to function effectively.

Labor's initial refusal to call a ceasefire last year is blamed for costing it support and some seats in Thursday's election.

Ahead of Starmer's attendance at a Nato meeting in Washington on Tuesday, Foreign Secretary David Lammy reiterated an “unwavering” commitment to the alliance on his first overseas trip.

Lammy said the British government would strengthen its relationship with the European Union and remain “firm” in its support for Ukraine.

“European security will be this government's foreign and defence policy priority,” Mr Lammy said in Poland. “Russia's barbaric invasion has highlighted the need for us to do more to strengthen our own defences.”

However, Lammy reiterated Starmer's pledge not to join the EU single market after British voters in 2016 voted to break away from the political and economic union.

“Let’s put the Brexit years behind us,” Lammy told The Observer. “We’re not going to join the single market and the customs union, but we can do a lot together.”