Dame Priti Patel urges the government to build upon the "deep and enduring" relationship between the US and the UK and “resume talks over a free trade agreement”. Speaking from Washington DC where she will attend Donald Trump’s inauguration the shadow foreign secretary says the prime minister’s non-attendance “might speak to a lack of a relationship” between the president elect and Sir Keir Starmer. Report by Blairm. Like us on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/itn and follow us on Twitter at http://twitter.com/itn
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00:00Well, I think, first of all, our two countries have such a deep and enduring relationship.
00:06And the government, the Labour government, needs to build upon that. That's going to
00:10be a test and a challenge for them. Let's face it, they've not exactly been particularly
00:15courteous towards President Trump in the past, his previous administration. And to be fair,
00:21our chief diplomat, David Lammy, has made some unorthodox comments himself about President
00:25Trump. But importantly, we have to put the interests of our country front and centre
00:30of discussions. I would urge the Labour government to resume talks around a free trade agreement,
00:35for example. I think that's really important. That's something that my party did when we
00:40were last in government. I've mentioned national security, homeland security, foreign affairs,
00:45defence. These are all natural areas where we have strong ties. I think the fact that
00:50he isn't here, I suspect he hasn't been invited, might speak to their lack of relationship.
00:56And so the emphasis now is upon Keir Starmer to really build a relationship with the incoming
01:01Trump administration. As I said, I've been invited here by our sister party, the Republican
01:06Party. We work with them when we're in government and out of government, and that's because
01:10our ties are enduring.