In the first six weeks of US President Donald Trump’s second administration, decisive action and executive orders reshaped key policies – border control, spending cuts, and rolling back DEI pledges.
In the first eight months of UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s tenure, the Labour leader has U-turned on the key deterrent for illegal migration, made cuts to the Winter Fuel Payment for millions of pensioners and bolstered his support for Ukraine, increasing defence spending.
On the issue of migration, Trump put military on the southern border on his first day in office, and has managed to reduce their illegal migration by more than 90 per cent in six weeks.
Trump’s declaration said it is “necessary for the Armed Forces to take all appropriate action to assist the Department of Homeland Security in obtaining full operational control of the southern border”.
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Donald Trump and Keir Starmer’s first key policies as US and UK leaders have been compared
Reuters
Trump’s policy also empowers the President to put already allocated Defense Department money towards “finishing the wall” to block those illegally attempting to cross to border.
For Starmer, in his first press conference as Prime Minister, he declared he was scrapping the agreed Rwanda Scheme, enacted by the previous Conservative Government. The Labour leader told the nation that the Rwanda deportation policy was “dead and buried”.
In Labour’s attempt to “smash the gangs” and target those people smuggling migrants across the Channel, numbers are continuing to rise, with around 3,300 migrants having crossed into Britain this year alone.
Defending the Government’s efforts to reducing numbers, Starmer has assured the public his administration is working on “practical steps” to deal with the “chaos” of the UK asylum system.
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Starmer and Trump are currently faced with growing tensions in Europe, as they attempt to negotiate a peace deal between Ukraine and Russia
GB News
On foreign aid, Trump imposed a 90-day freeze on foreign aid payments to help fund USAID operations around the world in what he called an “America First” agenda.
However, the US Supreme Court has this week rejected Trump’s bid to freeze $2billion in foreign aid payments, with the court voting 5-4 to uphold the requirement that payments be made on aid contracts that have already been completed.
On this side of the pond, Starmer has pushed for further endorsement of Ukraine following President Zelensky’s public row with Trump. After visiting the Prime Minister and King Charles in the UK, Zelensky has been awarded a further £1.6billion in a new missile deal with Britain.
The UK Government has also pledged to increase defence spending to 2.5 per cent, which Chancellor Rachel Reeves has suggested could be achieved by slashing up to £5billion in welfare spending.
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Discussing the achievements of Starmer and Trump, GB News hosts Bev Turner and Andrew Pierce compared the two world leaders
GB News
On tackling the increasing threat of climate change, the US President has withdrawn the US from the Paris Climate Agreement, which was met with cheers from the White House as Trump signed the executive order.
Trump also vowed to “drill baby, drill” in a pledge to begin a “new age” of oil and gas exploration.
Under Keir Starmer’s Government, Britain continues to push for net zero targets, with plans to make the UK a “clean energy super power”.
Energy Secretary Ed Miliband has unleashed a swathe of plans to achieve net zero, including solar panel farms, decarbonising the grid by 2030 and imposing the Zero Emission Vehicle (ZEV) mandate – which may result in Britons facing higher bills, rather than lower.
Miliband has reaffirmed Labour’s green energy ambitions, stating: “The single most important thing we can do is stick to our clean power mission.”
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