Rishi Sunak to head to Washington for talks with Joe Biden

Rishi Sunak will travel to Washington next week for talks with US President Joe Biden.

The prime minister will meet Mr Biden, along with members of Congress and business leaders, on Wednesday 7 June and Thursday 8 June.

The meeting comes after Mr Biden’s trip to Northern Ireland in April to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.

The prime minister’s official spokesman said: “Next week on June 7 and 8, the prime minister will visit Washington DC for meetings with President Biden, congressional figures and US business leaders.

“The visit will be an opportunity to build on discussions the prime minister and President Biden have had in recent months on enhancing the level of co-operation and co-ordination between the UK and US on the economic challenges that will define our future, including securing our supply chains and transitioning to zero carbon economies.”

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“It will also be an opportunity to discuss issues including sustaining our support for Ukraine as we build on the success of our G7 summit in the run-up to the NATO summit.”

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Mr Sunak is not the only UK politician who is keen to go to the US.

Last week, Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves also visited Washington to outline the party’s economic plans if it gets into government.

In a speech at the Peterson Institute in Washington DC, Ms Reeves outlined a mission to ensure economic security across the UK by rebuilding Britain’s “industrial foundation”.

This will mean “investing in the sectors and technologies that will determine our future economic success”, she said.

Ms Reeves dubbed her strategy “securonomics”, which she said would mean a bigger role for the government in running the free-market economy and fostering new partnerships with international allies.

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She also heaped praise on Mr Biden for “rebuilding America’s economic security” and for his landmark Inflation Reduction Act.

Mr Biden met the prime minister during his trip to Northern Ireland but spent much of the four-day visit in the Irish Republic.

The trip came after the UK and EU agreed and signed the Windsor Framework, which the two sides hope will fix the problems with the Northern Ireland Protocol and allow a government to be restored.

However, power sharing has not yet returned, with the Democratic Unionist Party refusing to rejoin proceedings at Stormont.

Local elections in Northern Ireland earlier this month saw Sinn Fein become the largest party of local government for the first time.

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