British Prime Minister Keir Starmer said US President Donald Trump has a point that European countries must bear a greater burden for their collective self-defence, the New York Times said on Sunday.

“We need to think about defence and security in a more immediate way,” he told the newspaper in an interview.

UK’s Starmer says ‘coalition of willing’ expanding preparations for post-truce Ukraine

Starmer is trying to assemble a multinational military force that he calls a coalition of the willing to keep Ukraine’s skies, ports and borders secure after any peace settlement, the report said.

On Trump, Starmer said, “On a person-to-person basis, I think we have a good relationship.” But, he said, the US leader’s actions, from imposing a 25% tariff on British steel to berating President Volodymyr Zelenskiyy of Ukraine, had generated “quite a degree of disorientation”.