US election: Sir Keir Starmer urged to mend relationship with EU after Donald Trump presidential victory

The Prime Minister congratulated Mr Trump on a “historic election victory”, and said: “I know that the UK-US special relationship will continue to prosper on both sides of the Atlantic for years to come.”

A YouGov poll found 57 per cent of Britons were unhappy at Mr Trump’s election, with the majority of those very unhappy. Only 20 per cent of respondents were pleased with his victory.

The return of Mr Trump to the White House could cause diplomatic headaches for the UK, with potential splits on global trade policy and the level of US support for Ukraine and Nato.

Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said: “This is a dark, dark day for people around the globe. The world’s largest economy and most powerful military will be led by a dangerous, destructive demagogue.

"Families across the UK will also be worrying about the damage Trump will do to our economy and our national security, given his record of starting trade wars, undermining Nato and emboldening tyrants like Putin.

"Fixing the UK’s broken relationship with the EU is even more urgent than before. We must strengthen trade and defence cooperation across Europe to help protect ourselves from the damage Trump will do.”

Leeds Central and Headingley MP Alex Sobel also warned about the implications on Nato.

He said: “The result of the US Election needs to reaffirm the commitment of UK and European allies to the values of freedom and democracy. The defence of Ukraine is paramount and a good economic relationship with the US. 

“We all need to work together to ensure there is no creeping isolationism and protectionism. Nato allies need to engage strongly with President Zelensky’s victory plan and work collectively with Kyiv.”

Security expert Philip Ingram MBE, who served in the army for more than 26 years and commanded troops at Catterick Garrison, said he thought there might “be a change in some of the rhetoric” that Mr Trump comes out with.

“As we saw during his last presidency, Trump said a lot of things and didn’t actually do them,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

“The one thing we can guarantee is that he’ll be more US-centric. “But if he stopped supplying weapons to Ukraine, all of those jobs that have been created in arms factories across the US would be lost.”

At Prime Minister’s Question, new Tory leader Kemi Badenoch urged Sir Keir to apologise for Foreign Secretary David Lammy’s 2018 description of Mr Trump as a “woman-hating, neo-Nazi-sympathising sociopath” who is “a profound threat to the international order”.

In the House of Commons, Sir Keir revealed that he and Mr Lammy had a two-hour dinner with the new President in New York a couple of weeks earlier.

He said: “We live in a probably more volatile world than we’ve lived in for many decades. It is absolutely crucial that we have a strong relationship, that strong special relationship forged in difficult circumstances, between the US and the UK.”

Sir Keir has not yet spoken to Mr Trump but looks forward to doing so “in due course”, Downing Street said. A No10 spokesperson said that “the Prime Minister would of course welcome a visit from President-elect Trump to the UK in the future”.

They added: “We welcome sustained bipartisan US support for Ukraine which has been absolutely key in the international effort, and the UK’s support for Ukraine will remain ironclad.

“This is obviously among many issues that the Prime Minister looks forward to working with the president-elect on in the coming months and years ahead.”