'No durable peace' in Ukraine if Europe not in talks - minister

There can be "no durable peace" in Ukraine without European nations, particularly Ukraine, taking part in talks to end the war with Russia, the UK business secretary has told the BBC.

Jonathan Reynolds downplayed divisions between the US and its allies over resolving the conflict, following concerns over the Trump administration moving ahead with peace talks that would lock out European countries, including Ukraine.

In response, European leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer, will meet in Paris on Monday, while US officials prepare to meet Russian negotiators separately.

Reynolds told the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme that the UK could act as a "bridge" between the US and Europe.

Reynolds also told the programme, hosted by Victoria Derbyshire, that the UK and Europe had to respond to US demands for them to pay more towards their "collective defence" in the face of "greater threats".

He said the UK government would set out a roadmap to increase defence spending from 2.3% to 2.5% of national output, but declined to offer a definitive timetable.

The Trump administration has called on Nato allies to raise defence spending to 5% of gross domestic product (GDP), and has said in the past week that it will no longer primarily be focused on European security.

Pressed on whether the 2.5% figure would be sufficient, Reynolds said any decision on further increases would take threats to national security into account.

Asked if the threat had "just got bigger without the US", he said there was "no doubt" it had.

Former head of the Army Lord Dannatt has joined calls for Labour to go beyond its target of 2.5%, warning on Saturday the UK military was "too run down" to lead any future peacekeeping mission in Ukraine.

However, Ministry of Defence sources told the BBC the priority was setting a date for when 2.5% would be reached, adding that would be the first time the UK had spent that much on defence since the last Labour government.

Reynolds said he thought the UK could "play a constructive role" as a bridge between the US and Europe "as we adjust to this new era - and it certainly is a new era".

But he added that there had not been a "fundamental breach" in relations and there was "still a great deal of common ground".

The business secretary did concede it would not "be easy [as] there's a very assertive agenda from the US".

Asked what he made of the UK and European nations not being invited to the US-Russian talks, Reynolds said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had made clear that "everything is still on the table".

"We shouldn't rule out potential outcomes," he added.

He argued Europe and Ukraine would have to be involved for any peace settlement to be lasting.

"Ultimately [President Trump] is somebody who likes to win, and winning would not be rewarding a war of aggression."

Sir Keir said on Saturday that the emergency summit in Paris was a "once-in-a-generation moment for our national security" and that it was clear Europe must take a greater role in Nato.

He added that the UK would work "to keep the US and Europe together" and could not allow divisions between the two to distract from "external enemies".

Plans for the summit came after Trump's special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said European leaders would be consulted but would not take part in any talks between US and Russia over ending the war.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the meeting should not be "over-dramatised".

Senior White House figures are due to meet Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days. US officials said that Ukraine had also been invited - though President Volodymyr Zelensky says his country has received no such invitation.

Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel told Victoria Derbyshire it was "too premature to make assumptions" about the way the peace talks were heading.

"We all have to have very, very cold and calm heads right now, primarily because this conflict is still raging."

She said Ukrainians should be the ones to determine their future because the war was about their "independence and sovereignty".

Asked if she supported President Trump's proposal that Ukraine give up territory to end the conflict, she said: "We have to understand in more detail what they are saying, it's too easy to generalise.

"It's very early days in those talks, and I think right now, the United Kingdom, along with Nato allies, we must continue to be firm and solid and strong in that support we're giving."

Dame Priti added that as a priority, the UK needed to step up its spending on defence.

Appearing on the same programme, Reform UK's deputy leader Richard Tice said it was "no surprise" Trump and his team were taking "a completely different" approach by putting "everything up for grabs" in terms of Ukraine.

He described it as a "massive wake-up call" for European leaders to take responsibility for their own defence.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said Ukraine had to be "at the front and centre" of any peace talks.

He warned that the Trump administration's moves could leave Ukraine and the rest of Europe "at risk of future Russian aggression".

Karin von Hippel, former director at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), said she did not think Trump would "sell Ukraine down the river" and European nations should "stay calm".

Meanwhile, Conservative former Prime Minister Sir John Major has warned that democracy was under threat as the US steps back from its role as a world leader.

He told BBC Radio 4's The World This Weekend that Trump's policy of "isolation" was creating a power vacuum which would embolden countries like Russia and China to fill it.

Sir John said: "Many of the gains we made over recent years, when the Soviet Union collapsed, are now being reversed and you see a very aggressive Russia again in Ukraine.

"And if they were to succeed with their venture in Ukraine, no doubt they'd be elsewhere before too long."