Keir Starmer echoes Donald Trump as he declares economy and migration two ‘key priorities’

SIR Keir Starmer today echoed Donald Trump as he declared the economy and migration are his “two key priorities”.

Travelling to Azerbaijan for the Cop29 climate conference, the PM insisted his jet setting premiership is entirely focused on boosting growth and stopping the boats.

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Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria board a plane at Stansted Airport in Essex on July 9, 2024Credit: Getty
President-elect Donald Trump

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President-elect Donald TrumpCredit: AP

Between September and November this year the PM will have spent a whopping 22 days on trips abroad.  

Labour recently oversaw the worst fortnight for small crossings of the year – with a whopping 3,197 making the journey in a busy 14-day period.

Last week 1,806 made the perilous journey from France.

Batting off criticism he isn’t at home stopping dinghies docking in Kent, Sir Keir said: “The key question for me is what am I spending my time on. Wherever I am that is the most important thing.

“And the two key priorities for me on all of these engagements with our partners is economic growth and border control and security.

“They are the two dominant themes.”

Taking a leaf out of Trump’s book, the PM defied his left-wing backbenchers and declared both issues “the priorities of the British people”.

But Sir Keir will not discuss migration with the US President-elect ahead of the G20 in Rio de Janeiro next week.

World leaders, including Argentinian President Javier Milei, are set to stop off at Mar-a-Lago en route to Brazil for talks with Trump.

The PM said: “We’re going straight to Rio.

“I spoke to Trump on the phone on Wednesday evening. We had a very constructive, very good conversation.

“And obviously I had the opportunity a few weeks ago to speak to him for a couple of hours in New York where we discussed a wider range of issues and we’ll continue to do so.”