Putin given ‘10 days’ for deal at Trump-Starmer summit — as it happened

Trump will travel back to Washington DC tomorrow, but he will return to the UK for another state visit in September.

A senior MP for Volodymyr Zelensky’s party said President Trump’s apparent disillusionment with President Putin is “encouraging”.

Oleksandr Merezhko, the chair of the Ukrainian parliament’s foreign affairs committee, told Times Radio: “I hope that finally President Trump has started to understand who he is dealing with — an absolutely unreliable interlocutor, the Kremlin dictator.

“He said he doesn’t see any sense in talking to Putin any more and to me it’s a good sign that he’s becoming realistic.”

Merezhko said previous ultimatums from Trump had not deterred the Russian dictator. He added: “I hope that President Trump will finally change his course of action and demonstrate resolve in terms of bringing Putin to the negotiating table by using force.”

President Trump will cut the ribbon on his “New Course” at Menie Estate on Tuesday. It will be “a big beautiful occasion,” one source, who will attend, said.

There will be the presidential game of golf, Trump’s third round since he arrived on Saturday, and later a Pro-Am tournament on the course.

Trump is expected to meet with Swinney on Monday evening. The SNP leader said he will seek to ensure the president knows the “strength of feeling” in Scotland over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Trump — whose mother was born in the Outer Hebrides — said he wants to see Scotland “thrive” and spoke of his “love” for the country during a visit to his golf course in Ayrshire earlier on Monday.

All golf bags for players taking part in a round with President Trump on Tuesday have had to be submitted for security checks ahead of the event, The Times understands.

Sources said the safeguard is to allow Trump’s security detail to perform thorough searches on the golf equipment.

Tuesday’s event on the fairways of his new course in Menie Estate, Balmedie, follows a banquet hosted by the president for around 30 distinguished guests at an undisclosed location with “an array of high level politicians and millionaires” attending, according to another source.

It will be attended by Sir Keir Starmer, the prime minister, John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister as well as representatives of the Trump Organisation including his son Eric, golf industry leaders and business leaders.

Sir Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has responded to President Trump’s criticism of him.

During a press conference with Sir Keir Starmer Trump called Khan a “nasty person” who had “done a terrible job” — before adding that he would still be happy to visit London.

A spokesperson for Khan said the mayor is “delighted” by Trump’s willingness to visit the capital, adding: “He’d see how our diversity makes us stronger not weaker; richer, not poorer. Perhaps these are the reasons why a record number of Americans have applied for British citizenship under his presidency.”

Trump and Starmer have just landed in Lossiemouth for a brief stop before making their way to Aberdeenshire.

John Swinney, the first minister of Scotland, said he wants to persuade President Trump to exempt Scottish whisky from tariffs when they meet on Monday evening.

He said exports to the US are vital for the Scottish whisky industry and that tariffs were costing it £4 million a week.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast, Swinney added the president is “very welcome in Scotland”.

But he defended locals’ right to protest and said he will bring up the situation with Gaza, which he said is causing “deep unease, concern and heartbreak within Scotland”. Swinney added: “Trump has got a hugely influential position in trying to solve the situation in the Middle East.”

Sir Keir Starmer defended his government’s Online Safety Act while taking questions alongside President Trump this afternoon.

Trump was asked by reporters if he feared restrictions on social media companies could lead to his own TruthSocial platform being censored.

He joked: “I don’t think he’s [Starmer’s] going to censor my site because I say only good things. Please uncensor my site.”

The prime minister responded: “We’re not censoring anyone. We’ve got some measures which are there to protect children, in particular, from sites like suicide sites … I personally feel very strongly that we should protect our young teenagers. I don’t see that as a free speech issue, I see that as child protection.”

About 100 anti-Trump protesters have gathered in Balmedie, close to the US president’s Menie golf resort.

The crowd, representing the Stop Trump Coalition, heard speeches by disability rights campaigners and a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND).

Alena Ivanova, of the coalition, said: “We were inundated by messages from US citizens deeply, deeply grateful to the people of Scotland for showing up for them, for showing up for the migrants in the States, for showing up for the people of Palestine, for the people that are being genocided right now, for showing up for our common humanity.

“And this is what we are here to do again, and this is what we will keep gathering to do for as long as it takes.”

Spain committed to parachuting 12 tonnes of aid into Gaza, in a rare example of an EU nation joining Middle Eastern countries in sending aid by air.

Prime minister Pedro Sánchez, who has been a fierce critic of prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu throughout Israel’s war with Hamas, told a press conference on Monday the airdrops would take place from Jordan on Friday, using Spanish air force planes.

“The famine in Gaza is a shame for all of humanity and stopping it, therefore, is a moral imperative,” said Sanchez.

About 100 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours, the Hamas-run health ministry has said.

It said 25 Palestinians died trying to reach supplies, bringing the total number of those who have been killed while seeking aid to 1,157.

The death toll has continued to increase, despite a pause in Israeli military activity coming into effect from 8am UK time throughout a number areas in Gaza. The pauses are due to end at 6pm on Monday and start again on Tuesday morning.

Police officers have been patrolling the dunes and shoreline of Balmedie village, Aberdeenshiee around Trump’s Menie Estate golf resort.

Locals said they have been blocked from the beach as of this morning.

A demonstration of about a hundred people led by the Stop Trump Coalition, a nation-wide political group that campaigns against policies by the administration, marched towards the beach this afternoon in protest.

Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump will travel together to Aberdeen for a private engagement this afternoon, Downing Street said.

The two leaders will then head to Trump’s other golf hotel in the east of Scotland, arriving at about 5.30pm. The US president is opening a second course on the site.

John Swinney, the first minister of Scotland, will meet Trump and Starmer for dinner this evening.

Trump will travel back to Washington DC tomorrow, but he will be back in the UK for another state visit with King Charles in September.

The president of Egypt, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, has said a large number of Egyptian aid trucks were waiting at the Rafah border crossing but “for aid to enter, coordination is necessary”.

“The other party that is inside the Rafah crossing, on the Palestinian side, must open for this aid to enter,” he added, referring to Israel’s military. Israel has frequently denied withholding aid at the border, blaming aid agencies for a “collection bottleneck”.

Sisi called on President Trump to help ‘’put an end to’’ the ongoing war. In a televised address, he said the US leader was the only “one capable of stopping the war, bringing in aid and ending this suffering”.

Trump said today that a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas was ‘’possible’’, despite peace talks collapsing last week in Doha without a breakthrough.

Volodymyr Zelensky’s top adviser has praised President Trump’s decision to reduce his 50-day deadline for Russia to agree a ceasefire with Ukraine.

Posting on X, Andriy Yermak thanked Trump for “standing firm and delivering a clear message of peace through strength”.

Yermak said Trump “has already said he’s shortening the timeline he gave Putin, because he believes the answer is obvious”. He added: “Putin respects only power — and that message is loud and clear”.

President Trump repeated his attack on wind power. “Wind is a disaster,” he said, adding that it was not Starmer’s fault.

“Wind is the most expensive form of energy and it destroys the beauty of your fields, plains, waterways,” Trump said. “When we go to Aberdeen you’ll see some of the ugliest windmills you’ve ever seen. They are the height of a 50-storey building.

“And you can take a thousand times more energy out of a hole in the ground this big — it’s called oil and gas and you have it there in the North Sea.”

Starmer countered: “We believe in a mix. Oil and gas is going to be with us for a very long time but also wind, solar, increasingly nuclear.”

Maxwell, former partner of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, is in prison in the US over child sex trafficking offences.

Questioned whether he had been asked to give her a pardon, Trump told reporters: “Well, I’m allowed to give her a pardon, but nobody’s approached me with it. Nobody’s asked me about it. It’s in the news — that aspect of it — but right now, it would be inappropriate to talk about it.”

On Epstein he said: “For years, I wouldn’t talk to Jeffrey Epstein. I wouldn’t talk because he did something that was inappropriate.”

The president also insisted he “never went to the island”. “I did turn it down, but a lot of people in Palm Beach were invited to his island,” Trump said. He claimed Bill Clinton had been there 28 times.

But he claimed the Epstein files were a “hoax that’s been built up way beyond proportion”.

President Trump’s extraordinarily direct advice to Sir Keir Starmer on how to manage Britain’s economy is unlikely to be welcomed by the prime minister, Max Kendix writes.

Trump said winners of elections are “the one who cuts taxes the most, the one who gives you the lowest energy prices and the best kinds of energy, the one who keeps you out of wars”.

It is the first point on the list which clashes with Starmer’s agenda. A series of U-turns, combined with a rising cost of borrowing, is set to force Labour to raise taxes to fulfil its own fiscal rules.

The last time this government put taxes up, farmers’ inheritance tax was one of the levers Starmer pulled — something Trump also learned about and began to criticise, much to the prime minister’s visible discomfort.

President Trump’s vow to bring forward a deadline for Russia to negotiate a deal with Ukraine has been described by the former US national security adviser John Bolton as “hollow”.

Speaking to Times Radio, he said the “time period” for the ultimatum was not as important as the “consequences Trump announced”.

“I don’t think the Russians are intimidated by high tariffs on Russian exports to the US, since they’re so small and in the aggregate really wouldn’t have much effect,” Bolton said. “And the other threat of secondary sanctions on purchasers of Russian oil and gas, which would fall primarily on countries like India and China, I think people see as hollow.”

Bolton also said he believed putting financial pressure on China and India was not “in Trump’s game plan”.

President Trump said he is “looking forward” to his second state visit.

He said: “I’m a big fan of King Charles. A great guy, great person. He looks really well to me.”

Referring to his first state visit during his first term, he said: “It was one of the most beautiful evenings I’ve ever seen. I hate to say it but nobody does it like you people, the pomp and ceremony.”

President Trump has described the mayor of London, Sir Sadiq Khan, as a “nasty person” who has done “a terrible job”.

Asked if he would visit London, the US president said: “I will. I’m not a fan of your mayor. I think he’s done a terrible job, the mayor of London … a nasty person.”

The prime minister laughed and intervened to say: “He’s a friend of mine, actually.”

Trump went on to say: “I think he’s done a terrible job. But I would certainly visit London.”

President Trump continued his praise of Sir Keir Starmer’s wife, saying he respects the prime minister even more after meeting Lady Victoria Starmer.

Trump said: “I respect him much more today than I did before because I just met his wife and family. He’s got a perfect wife and that’s never easy to achieve.”

Starmer laughed and said: “I take no credit for that.”

Sir Keir Starmer said the situation in Gaza was a “humanitarian catastrophe” so pressure must be put on Israel.

He said the hostages need to get out and humanitarian aid needs to get in “at speed, at volume”.
Starmer stressed that trucks carrying aid need to get in as “that’s the only way you can get the volume in”.

“We need to galvanise other countries in getting aid in,” he added.

“Yes, that does involve putting pressure on Israel because this is a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Starmer said he and Trump had discussed what a “peace plan” in Gaza would look like, and insisted that “Hamas can play absolutely no part in future governance in Palestine and in Gaza”.

President Trump’s plea for Sir Keir Starmer not to censor his Truth Social platform was a little tongue in cheek — but it reflects an issue which is a real dividing line between Europe and this US administration (Max Kendix writes).

Britain has just enacted its Online Safety Act, which mandates age verification checks on explicit content online.

This prompted a question from a reporter over potential “censorship” of social media platforms including Trump’s own. Starmer intervened to shut down the idea, but not before Trump could say “will you please uncensor my site?”

Trump did not seem to take the issue too seriously, but many of his top team — including vice president JD Vance — has consistently raised issues with Britain’s approach to free speech online.

If Iran starts rebuilding its nuclear capabilities, then the US would “wipe it out”, Trump promised.
He said: “We wiped out their nuclear possibilities. They can start again. If they do, we will wipe it out faster than you can wave your finger at it. We will do that openly and gladly.”

Trump has hinted that he may not impose heavy tariffs on British pharmaceuticals.

Asked by reporters whether his plans for an import levy on medicines would affect the UK, the US president told reporters: “We will be announcing on pharmaceuticals sometime in the very near future. We have a very big plan on pharmaceuticals.

“We want to bring a lot of the pharmaceuticals back to America, where they should be.

“But you also have a good pharmaceutical business — we’ll be dealing with you on pharmaceuticals also — and we certainly feel a lot better with your country working on pharmaceuticals for America than some of the other countries that were … with the relationship we have, you would not use that as a cudgel. You wouldn’t be using it as a block.”

Sir Keir Starmer’s push for net zero clearly does not sit comfortable with President Trump (Max Kendix writes).

Trump has long criticised Scotland for building “windmills” — wind turbines — in the North Sea, saying they obstruct the view from his golf course.

Now he has gone a step further by suggesting Starmer should start fracking in Aberdeen. “That’s called the oil capital of Europe and that’s a great asset that you have someday, if they ever think they’ll change their thinking on that”, he said. “You have a great and valuable asset, there’s a lot of valuable resources underground there but that’s a decision for you to make.”

President Trump thanked Sir Keir Starmer for his support on international affairs.

He said: “We’ve done a lot of good work. We’ve had great support from the prime minister.

“Any time we needed help, any time we needed any form of support, you’ve been there. We appreciate it very much, and we’re going to continue onward.”

Trump said his new deadline for Putin to come to the negotiating table over the Ukraine invasion would be between 10 and 12 days

Asked by reporters how long he would set for the new deadline, Trump said: “I am going to make a new deadline of about 10 or 12 days from today. There is no reason in waiting.”

Hamas has become “very difficult to deal with” in recent days, Trump said.

He said: “Hamas has become very difficult to deal with in the last couple of days, because they don’t want to give up these last 20 [hostages], because they think as long as … they have them, they have protection, but I don’t think it can work that way.

“So I’m speaking to Netanyahu, and we are coming up with various plans. I’m going to say it’s a very difficult situation. If they didn’t have the hostages, things would go very quickly, but they do, and we know where they have them, in some cases, and you don’t want to go riding roughshod over that area, because that means those hostages will be killed.”

Food centres without fences will be set up in Gaza with the help of the UK, Trump said.

He said: “So we’re going to set up food centres where the people can walk in and no boundaries, we’re not going to have fences.

“You know, they can’t, they see the food from 30 yards away and they see the food, it’s all there, but nobody’s at it because they have fences set up that nobody can even get it. It’s crazy what’s going on over there.”

The US would “supply funds”, Trump said, and other nations, including the UK and “all of the European nations” are also involved.

President Trump said “we want to get the children fed” when discussing Gaza. “Before we get to phase two — what is going to happen afterwards — we want to get the children fed,” Trump said.

He said the US had contributed $60 million in aid last week and repeated the claim that Hamas take some of the food aid.

Trump continued: “We want to help. It’s a terrible situation. The whole thing is terrible. It’s been bad for many years.”

He said the president of the EU commission, Ursula von der Leyen, had been “terrific” on the matter, adding: “We have a good group of countries who are going to help with the humanitarian needs.”

Starmer has invited Trump to a football ground in return for this visit to Trump’s golf course.

Speaking in a more traditional mid-meeting statement to media while sat next to the US President, Starmer said: “It’s fantastic to be here, thank you for your hospitality and to see this amazing golf course. I’ll invite you to a football game at some stage and we can exchange sports.”

A big football fan, the prime minister is known to be a supporter of Arsenal and still plays five-a-side himself.

Trump, whose preferred sport is golf, replied: “It’s been great being with you and thank you very much.” He then praised Starmer yet again for the trade deal they had agreed.

Sir Keir Starmer and President Trump are speaking to media again, this time from within the Turnberry buildings.

Starmer says the pair are discussing a ceasefire in Gaza, getting more humanitarian aid in and “a plan for what happens afterwards”.

The prime minister said the situation in Gaza was “intolerable including images of starvation”.

He added: “Both of us know that we have to get to that ceasefire and we have to get humanitarian aid in and thank you for what you have already been doing, are doing and committed to because without you this would not be capable of resolution.

“We can work not just on the pressing issues of a ceasefire but also on this issue of getting humanitarian aid in at volume, at speed. And then we have discussed a plan for what happens afterwards. I think we can do our very best to alleviate what is an awful situation.”

Israeli NGOs have for the first time published reports accusing Israel of “genocide” in Gaza.

The human rights groups B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights issued a joint statement after the report’s publication, saying: “An examination of Israel’s policy in the Gaza Strip and its horrific outcomes, together with statements by senior Israeli politicians and military commanders about the goals of the attack, leads to the unequivocal conclusion that Israel is taking co-ordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip.”

Both organisations are frequent critics of Israeli government policies. Their language in today’s two reports, however, marks their most harsh yet.

Israel has not responded but has repeatedly rejected accusations of genocide, saying it takes steps to mitigate harm to civilians and accusing Hamas of embedding itself in civilian infrastructure, including schools and hospitals.

“Nothing prepares you for the realisation that you are part of a society committing genocide. This is a deeply painful moment for us,” B’Tselem’s executive director, Yuli Novak, told a news conference.

Barack Obama has called for “immediate action” to stop “the travesty of innocent people dying of preventable starvation” in Gaza.

“Aid must be permitted to reach people in Gaza. There is no justification for keeping food and water away from civilian families,” the former US president added in a post on X.

On small boats, Trump also said the UK “cannot let people come in here illegally”.

He praised Starmer’s “very strong stand on immigration”, but added: “Europe is going to is a much different place than it was just five years ago, ten years ago.

“They’ve got to get their act together. If they don’t, you’re not going to have Europe anymore, as you know it, and you can’t do that. This is a magnificent part of the world, and you cannot ruin it.

“You cannot let people come in here illegally. And what happens is, there’ll be murderers, there’ll be drug dealers, there’ll be all sorts of things that other countries don’t want, and they send them to you, and they send them to us, and you’ve got to stop them.”

Notably appearing alongside Sir Keir Starmer on the visit to see President Trump is the prime minister’s wife, Victoria.

Trump has a long record of paying attention to the wives of male foreign leaders, and Britain’s equivalent of the first lady is no exception.

The Times revealed in January that in one of their first ever calls, Trump told Starmer that his wife was “beautiful” and the prime minister’s “greatest asset”.

The flattery continued in public this afternoon. Referring to Victoria, Trump said: “She’s a respected person all over the United States. I don’t know what he’s doing but she’s very respected, as respected as him. I don’t want to say more, I’ll get myself in trouble. But she’s a great woman and is very highly respected.”

President Trump said he will reduce the 50-day deadline he had given President Putin for a deal on Ukraine.

Asked about the war in Ukraine, Trump said: “I have spoken to President Putin a lot, I get along with him very well. Five times we’ve had discussions, you (Starmer) and I have had discussions. We thought we had that settled numerous times.

“And then President Putin goes out and starts launching rockets into some city — like Kiev — and kills a lot of people in a nursing home or whatever and I say that’s not the way to do it. I’m disappointed in President Putin. I’m going to reduce that 50 days to a lesser number.”

President Trump said “nobody has done anything great” in Gaza.

Asked whether Israel had done all it could to avoid civilian casualties, Trump said: “Nobody has done anything great over there. The whole place is a mess. It will get straightened out. They have to get food and safety right now.”

Every time President Trump appears next to a foreign leader in front of the media, it is a moment of serious political peril for the US president’s guest (Max Kendix writes).

So Sir Keir Starmer will be grateful that he has again avoided public embarrassment with Trump’s comments.

The president, as ever, veered wildly off topic about war in the Congo, nuclear dust and migrants on the southern border. Whenever a question was asked on red-button topics — free speech or illegal immigration into Britain, for example — the prime minister made sure to steer Trump to praise over criticism. The strategy worked, as it did in the White House in February.

But as Starmer has discovered since, navigating these public moments is not even half the battle of negotiating with this president.

Asked whether he supports Netanyahu’s view that there is no starvation in Gaza, President Trump said “based on television I would say not particularly because those children looked very hungry”.

“We’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food and other nations are now stepping up,” he added. “I know this nation is.”

Starmer adds: “There’s a humanitarian crisis. It’s an absolute catastrophe. People in Britain are revolted at what they are seeing. We have got to get to that ceasefire. Thank you Mr President for leading on that and also just to get more aid in. America has done a lot on this, a lot of countries have done a lot, we’re now working with Jordan on getting direct aid drops in. This is a desperate situation.”

The relationship between the UK and US is “unparalleled”, Trump said.

The US president said: “We’re in great shape, the trade deal was made with the UK, the prime minister did a great job. You know, they’ve been trying to make that deal for 12 years and he got it done.

“So everybody respects it, there’s going to be a lot of jobs for here and great for America. And you know, in terms of even the relationship, our relationship is unparalleled. But it keeps it even closer, you know, when you’re able to have a good trade deal.”

President Trump said the UK is “doing a fantastic thing” when asked how he would respond to small boats crossing the Channel.

Trump said: “If you’re stopping immigration and stopping the wrong people … my hats are off to you. You’re doing, not a good thing, you’re doing a fantastic thing.

“So I know nothing about the boats, but if the boats are loaded up with bad people, and they usually are, because, you know, other countries don’t send their best they send people that they don’t want, and they’re not stupid people, and they send the people that they don’t want.”

Turning to Starmer, Trump added: “And I’ve heard that you’ve taken a much stronger stance on this.”

Asked about a ceasefire in Gaza, Trump says “we want to get one”.

He then turned to the ceasefire just announced between Thailand and Cambodia.

When asked whether he agreed with Starmer’s position on recognising a Palestinian state being a “concrete step towards a lasting peace” Trump replied: “I’m not going to take a position.”

President Trump has said the situation in Gaza is the “one of the main reasons” for his meeting with Sir Keir Starmer today.

Speaking to gathered media while the sound of bagpipes blared behind him, the US President said: “We’ve given a lot of money to Gaza for food and everything else. A lot of that money is stolen by Hamas and a lot of the food is stolen. We’re very much involved and I think it’s one of the main reasons for our meeting.”

Starmer adds: “Yes, we will be discussing that today.”

Sir Keir Starmer has arrived at Trump’s Turnberry golf course. The prime minister was welcomed by President Trump to the tune of bagpipes.

Members of the European Commission are scheduled to discuss today a proposal to partially suspend Israel’s access to the bloc’s Horizon Europe research funding program.

An agenda published by the Commission confirmed the talks after several EU countries asked the bloc to put concrete options on the table, warning that Israel was not living up to its commitments under an agreement on humanitarian access to Gaza.

As Trump and Starmer prepare for their meeting in Scotland today, some European leaders have given a far from warm reaction to the trade deal agreed between the US president and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, yesterday.

François Bayrou, France’s prime minister, said it was a “dark day” when “an alliance of free peoples … resorts to submission”. Jordan Bardella, president of the country’s far-right National Rally, wrote on X: “Ursula von der Leyen accepted yesterday the commercial surrender of Europe, to the detriment of our exporters, farmers and industrialists,”

Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s prime minister, said he supported the arrangement “without enthusiasm”, while Hungary’s Eurosceptic firebrand leader, Viktor Orbán, said Trump “ate von der Leyen for breakfast”. He added: “The US president is a heavyweight when it comes to negotiations while Madame President is [a] featherweight.”

Others, including the German chancellor, Friedrich Merz, were more welcoming of the deal, which fixed a baseline tariff of 15 per cent. “This agreement has succeeded in averting a trade conflict that would have hit the export-orientated German economy hard,” Merz said.

Germany is prepared to put pressure on Israel, its government has said, after the chancellor, Friedrich Merz, called his Israeli counterpart, Binyamin Netanyahu, yesterday, urging him to help “starving” Gazans.

A spokesman for the German government, which is one of Israel’s biggest backers in Europe, said: “The chancellor was very clear in the phone conversation with the Israeli prime minister … that the federal government is prepared to increase the pressure if progress is not made.”

Citing a security cabinet meeting this afternoon, the spokesman added: “In principle, we are prepared to take further steps, which is also the purpose of this afternoon’s security meeting.”

Germany is the biggest arms exporter to Israel after the US.

The US has a “different position” to Britain on recognising a Palestinian state, a senior minister has acknowledged.

Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary said Britain was “deeply committed” to the concept, but told LBC: “The US, I think, it’s probably got a different position to us at present, but I do think they want to see this conflict end.”

He said Starmer and Trump would have “a conversation about what’s the best way to do that”.

Sir Keir Starmer has landed in Glasgow before his meeting with President Trump. He flew in from Zurich after watching England’s Lionesses win the Euros yesterday. The prime minister is expected to arrive at Turnberry by midday.

The US drained a quarter of its supply of Thaad interceptor missiles as it helped down Iranian missiles aimed at Israel during their 12-day war last month, according to reports.

US forces intercepted Tehran’s missiles, firing more than 100 Thaad (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) missiles, with sources telling CNN the number could be as high as 150.

The revelation could stoke fears of a gap being exposed in America’s defence network at a moment where US support for Israel’s military offensives has reached a historic low. Just 23 per cent of Americans said Israel’s actions in Gaza are justified, according to an SSRS poll conducted in July.

Fourteen Gazans have died of malnourishment in the last 24 hours, the territory’s Hamas-run health ministry said this morning.

Two children are said to be among those who have died. The total number of deaths related to malnourishment has now risen to 147, the ministry said, 88 of which are children.

Another issue likely to be on the agenda for Starmer and Trump is the future of the Iranian nuclear programme after the recent strikes by Israeli — and later US — warplanes.

Trump claimed that American “bunker-buster bombs” totally “obliterated” the main sites where uranium enrichment, key to the programme, took place. However, there remain concerns that Iran was able to secrete away its stocks of already enriched uranium — enough to build several warheads — and may be able to resurrect the programme.

• Operation Midnight Hammer: how the US strikes on Iran unfolded

Iran today said it had reached an agreement with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the UN’s nuclear watchdog, to resume inspections of the programme.

That was a key demand for European states, including the UK, as they decide whether to reimpose “snapback” UN sanctions on Iran under the terms of the 2015 nuclear deal.

The IAEA has accused Iran of not being transparent, though it confirmed that it had set eyes on the enriched uranium stocks in June, before the Israeli and US strikes.

Sir Keir Starmer is set to arrive at Turnberry this morning and be greeted by President Trump around midday. We are expected to get some remarks to the media from Trump shortly afterwards.

The pair will hold a bilat in the early afternoon before travelling to visit Trump’s golf resort in Aberdeenshire.

Along with the 120 lorries that were able to deliver aid inside the Strip on Sunday, “an additional 180 trucks entered Gaza and are now awaiting collection and distribution”, COGAT, an Israeli defence ministry body, said on X. “Hundreds of others still queued for UN pickup”, the post added.

The figures are in line with an increase recorded in the second half of last week, after the outcry about the number of children suffering malnutrition massively raised pressure on the Israeli authorities to change tack.

• Does Israel’s concession on Gaza aid bring a ceasefire any closer?

Britain getting a lower US tariff rate than the EU is a benefit of Brexit, the business secretary has acknowledged.

Jonathan Reynolds said the deal was “a benefit of being out of the European Union, having our independent trade policy. Absolutely no doubt about that.”

President Trump agreed a deal that imposes 15 per cent tariffs on imports of goods from the EU, compared with 10 per cent or lower on British goods.

Reynolds said that “all of the trade negotiations that we’ve got use the fact that we are not part of the Customs Union anymore”, but urged people to move on from old debates.

He said “there’s been costs as well” to leaving the EU, saying that the Brexit referendum remained “contentious” but he wanted “sensible, pragmatic” deals that voters on both sides could welcome.

Reynolds, who backed Remain, told BBC Breakfast that “I would like to try and build something looking for the future. I know how strongly people feel.”

Israeli military pauses in three areas of Gaza are expected to last only “a week or so”, Tom Fletcher, the UN humanitarian chief, has said.

Fletcher said the time frame was “clearly insufficient”, telling the BBC that the UN was witnessing a “21st-century atrocity”.

He described the next few days as “make or break”, adding that the 100 or so truckloads of aid that were distributed in the Strip yesterday were “a drop in the ocean” and that much of it “got looted”.

Britain does not want a “tokenistic” recognition of a Palestinian state, a senior minister has said.

Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, said that Britain wanted to recognise Palestine in this parliament, but argued this had to be done “in a way that gets the breakthrough we need”.

“Many countries around the world have already done this — to be frank, to be candid, that hasn’t stopped the appalling scenes that we’re talking about this morning,” he said.

“We can only do this once. If we do it in a way which is tokenistic, which doesn’t produce the end to this conflict, where do we go to next?”

Airdrops of aid into Gaza will not be enough to end starvation, the government has acknowledged.

Jonathan Reynolds, the business secretary, said: “We know the only way to get sufficient quantities of aid into Gaza is for that blockade to end, for those vehicles to get in on the ground. The point about the air drops is that we cannot wait. We’ve got to do something. It’s an unconscionable situation.”

Only the US can persuade Israel to let in more aid to Gaza and restart peace talks, the business secretary has acknowledged.

Jonathan Reynolds said Sir Keir Starmer would seek to persuade President Trump to do more at a meeting today because “the US are the ones with real leverage” in the Middle East.

“We need the US. Only the US can really make the kind of breakthrough as a third country that we need to see in terms of the end of this conflict,” he told Sky News.

A pause in Israeli military action is thought to have begun in three areas of Gaza to “improve the humanitarian response”.

The halt in activity was due to begin this morning at 10am local time (8am UK time), lasting until 8pm local time (6pm UK time). Israel’s military said it would come into force on a daily basis in Gaza City, al-Mawasi and Deir al-Balah.

Israel also confirmed on Monday morning that 120 truckloads of aid were distributed in Gaza yesterday by the UN and aid agencies.

Scotland’s first minister, John Swinney, has also said that he will use a planned meeting with Trump to call for more humanitarian aid and a ceasefire in Gaza.

He told BBC Breakfast: “The international situation is causing deep unease and concern and heartbreak within Scotland, particularly the situation in Gaza.”

Swinney said the “blunt human reality” is that the people of Gaza face starvation and there “must be an intensification of pressure on Israel”.

Trump is “perhaps uniquely positioned to apply that pressure to Israel”, he said.
Swinney said he also plans to discuss trade, investment and economic connection.

Also on the table when Starmer meets Trump will be the future of tariffs on British steel.

The US and UK have agreed to slash trade barriers but tariffs for the steel industry were left at 25 per cent rather than falling to zero as originally agreed.

Downing Street said that both sides were working “at pace” to “go further to deliver benefits to working people on both sides of the Atlantic” and to give UK industry “the security it needs”.

The two leaders are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine, which No 10 said would include “applying pressure” on President Putin to end the invasion.

Starmer and Trump will then travel on together for a private engagement in Aberdeen.

The prime minister is said to be “horrified” by images of starvation in Gaza and will prioritise the issue when he meets President Trump at his Turnberry golf resort in Scotland.

No 10 said Sir Keir Starmer would raise “what more can be done” to secure a ceasefire and “bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation”.

Trump said the pair would be “discussing a lot about Israel”, adding that Starmer was “very much involved in terms of wanting something to happen”.

Starmer is expected to attempt to set out a “UK peace plan” and revive wider efforts to reach a solution in Gaza. He insists that British recognition of a Palestinian state is a matter of “when, not if” and is seeking to do so as part of a co-ordinated international effort.