Trump praises Starmer on small boats as pair meet for talks in Scotland – live

US president Donald Trump said Gazan children were facing “real starvation”.

“You can’t fake that,” Mr Trump said. He said the US was stepping up sending food to Gaza, but did not specify how.

It was not clear if he meant through the controversial Gaza Humanitarian Foundation or through other means.

US president Donald Trump said he “wants to get the children fed” as he urged other countries to step up aid to Gaza.

“We’re going to set up food centres, in conjunction with some very good people. We are going to spend a little money and food and other nations are joining us,” Mr Trump said.

“It is crazy what is going on over there. We will work closely with the UK to get aid in.”

Donald Trump suggested that the UK is “doing a fantastic thing” in trying to reduce immigration via small boat crossings.

Mr Trump said he knows “nothing about the boats” when asked about the issue while meeting Sir Keir Starmer at his Turnberry golf resort, but said “my hats are off to you” if the UK is trying to reduce immigration.

Sir Keir and his wife Lady Victoria were greeted by the President and a chorus of bagpipes as they arrived in South Ayrshire on Monday.

When Mr Trump was asked about how he would deal with small boats, Sir Keir explained that it refers to people who are crossing the Channel.

Mr Trump told reporters: “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.”

Donald Trump said “other nations are going to have to step up” when it comes to helping people in Gaza.

Speaking outside his hotel in Turnberry, South Ayrshire, the US president said: “The United States recently, just a couple of weeks ago, we gave 60 million US dollars. It’s a lot of money.

“No other nation gave money, I know the Prime Minister would, if he knew about it. And he really knows about it now, because we’re going to be discussing it.

“But we gave 60 million US dollars, nobody said even thank you, you know, thanks, somebody should be saying thank you. But other nations are going to have to step up.”

Sir Keir Starmer will present a UK-led plan to bring peace to the Middle East, forged alongside France and Germany, to Donald Trump and other allies in coming days, Downing Street said.

Referencing a call with leaders over the weekend, the prime minister’s official spokesman told reporters: “From the readout that you’ve seen from the call that he had with Chancellor Merz and President Macron, you will see that they agreed to work closely together on a plan.

“It builds on the collaboration to date that paves the way to a long-term solution on security in the region. As I’ve said, the prime minister will be presenting that plan to other key allies, including the USA and Arab states, over the coming days, and indeed convening Cabinet this week. You can expect to see more coming out of that.”

Palestinians have an “inalienable right to statehood”, and it is a “question of when, not if” the UK will agree to recognition, No 10 added.

The prime minister is also mindful of the “wider context of the human suffering in Gaza and the release of the remaining hostages, which must also be prioritised if we want to see a sustainable and lasting peace in the region”, the spokesman said.

Sir Keir Starmer has said that Gaza is facing an “absolute catastrophe”.

Speaking at Turnberry ahead of his talks with Donald Trump, the prime minister said: “It’s a humanitarian crisis, it’s an absolute catastrophe.

“Nobody wants to see that. I think people in Britain are revolted at seeing what they’re seeing on their screens, so we’ve got to get to that ceasefire.

“And thank you, Mr President, for leading on that, and also to just get more and more aid in and again America has done a lot on this. A lot of countries have done a lot.”

Sir Keir added: “This is a desperate situation.”

Donald Trump has said he is “very much involved” when asked about the war in Gaza.

Speaking over the sound of a bagpipe playing, the US president could be heard saying: “We’ve, as you know, given a lot of money to Gaza for food and everything else.”

He added: “We’re very much involved…”

Prime minister Sir Keir Starmer then said: “Yes we’re going to be discussing it today.”

The Independent’s political editor David Maddox reports:

On the political issue vexing Sir Keir Starmer over recognising Palestine as a state Donald Trump also appeared to give permission for the UK PM to change policy and go ahead with it.

In contrast to the anger over France recognising Palestine last Friday from secretary of state Marco Rubio, he said: “I’m not going to take a position. I don’t mind him [Sir Keir] taking a position. I’m looking for getting people fed right now. That’s the number one position, because you have a lot of starving people.”

The US president made it very clear that he does not agree with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu that “nobody is starving in Gaza”.

He said: “Based on television I would say [on agreeing with Netanyahu] ‘not particularly’, because those children look pretty hungry to me.”

He also was not enthused about Israel’s tactics saying that nobody was coming out of the crisis well.

“It’s a real mess,” he added.

But the US president warned that Hamas will not release its final 20 hostages and that was now the sticking point.

Donald Trump halted the impromptu press conference at his Scottish golf course to talk about Sir Keir Starmer’s wife, who has joined the prime minister on his visit to Scotland.

He told reporters: “By the way, your first lady… she’s a respected person all over the United States.”

Gesturing to the prime minister, he added: “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 married. She’s a great woman and very highly respected.”

In February he described her as a “beautiful, great woman” as he answered a question about EU-US relations during his first face-to-face meeting with the PM in the Oval Office.