The deployment comes just weeks after Donald Trump said he wants to take over Greenland.
The UK’s mighty carrier strike group to the North Atlantic will be led by HMS Prince of Wales (Image: Getty)
The UK will deploy its mighty carrier strike group of warships to the North Atlantic this year as fears over a potential World War 3 continue to explode. The deployment will come amid ongoing concerns about security in the so-called High North.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer told the Munich Security Conference: “I can announce today that the UK will deploy our carrier strike group to the North Atlantic and the High North this year, led by HMS Prince of Wales, operating alongside the US, Canada and other Nato allies in a powerful show of our commitment to Euro-Atlantic security.” The deployment comes after Donald Trump’s earlier assertion that he wants to take over Greenland. The US President has claimed he does not believe Denmark, of which Greenland is a territory, is doing enough to defend it from threats by Russia and China. European nations rallied to Denmark’s side amid the suggestion that the US could annex Greenland.
Keir Starmer made the comments during 62nd Munich Security Conference (Image: POOL/AFP via Getty Images)
Sir Keir also warned Europe must be ready to fight as it faces a growing threat from the like of Russia.
In his speech, the Prime Minister told the conference hall: “Now we feel the solidity of peace, the very ground that we stand on softening under our feet.
“It’s the job of leaders to be ahead of these seismic shapes, yet that is against the grain of history.”
He said leaders must not dither as “Russia has proved its appetite for aggression”.
Sir Keir continued that after a peace deal for Ukraine, “Russia’s rearmament would only accelerate” and “we must answer this threat in full”.
“To break the convention of a thousand speeches, we are not at a crossroads. The road ahead is straight, and it is clear. We must build our hard power, because that is the currency of the age.
“We must be able to deter aggression, and, yes, if necessary, we must be ready to fight.”
Sir Keir also insisted the UK would honour the NATO commitment to defend its allies if called upon.
One of the alliance’s founding principles, Article 5, is that an attack on one NATO member is an attack on all.
US President Donald Trump has questioned whether the US’s European partners would answer the call if it were made today.
But the Prime Minister sought to dispel this doubt, telling European leaders: “I am proud that my party fought for NATO’s creation, what our then-foreign secretary Ernie Bevin called a spiritual union of the West.
“And we’ve shown our fidelity to that ideal, asserting each other’s sovereignty as we did on Greenland, and crucially, coming to each other’s aid under Article 5, we fought together in Afghanistan at terrible cost to many in my country and across many allied countries.
“So I say to all NATO members, our commitment to Article 5 is as profound now as ever, and be in no doubt, if called on, the UK would come to your aid today.”
