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Keir Starmer has asserted that the Gaza ceasefire agreement "could not have happened without President Trump's leadership," but stopped short of endorsing the American leader for a Nobel peace prize.

Ceasefire Deal Welcomed as a "Welcome Development to the World"

Starmer remarked that the first phase of the deal would be a "relief to the world" and highlighted that the United Kingdom had played its own role behind the scenes with the US and negotiators.

Addressing the media on the last day of his trade visit to India, Starmer stressed that the agreement "must now be implemented in full, without delay, and accompanied by the prompt removal of all limitations on life-saving humanitarian aid to Gaza."

Nobel Prize Inquiry Addressed

However, when questioned if the Nobel prize committee should at this time grant Trump the coveted prize, Starmer suggested that more time was needed to know if a durable peace could be attained.

"The priority now is to press on and implement this ... my attention now is moving this from the stage it's at now ... and make a success of this, because that is important to me more than anything else," he told reporters at a press conference in Mumbai.

Trade and Investment Revealed During Trip to India

The Prime Minister has celebrated a number of deals finalized during his visit to the country – his first time there – joined by over a hundred executives and cultural leaders. The visit marks the implementation of the countries' trade pact.

• The UK government has announced a range of financial commitments, from fintech to higher education facilities, as well as the production of multiple Indian movies in the UK.
• On Thursday, Starmer signed a defence deal worth £350m for UK missiles, produced in Northern Ireland, to be deployed by the Indian military.

"Our history together is deep, the human connections between our citizens are exceptionally strong," Starmer said as he left the city. "Expanding upon our historic trade deal, we are reinventing this alliance for our times."

Digital Identification System Studied

Starmer has spent time in India analyzing the Indian digital ID system, including consulting key figures who developed the widespread system utilized by more than 1 billion people for social services, transactions, and identification.

He suggested that the UK was considering expanding the application of digital ID beyond making it mandatory to verify eligibility to work. He proposed that the Britain would eventually look at connecting it to financial and payments systems – on a optional basis – as well as for official procedures such as home loan and school applications.

"It's been taken up on a optional basis [in India] in massive scale, not least because it means that you can access your own money, conduct transactions so much more conveniently than is possible with alternative methods," he explained.

"The efficiency with which it enables citizens here to utilize facilities, especially banking options, is something that was acknowledged in our discussions yesterday, and in fact a financial technology discussion that we had today. So we're examining those instances of how digital identification helps people with processes that often take excessive time and are overly complex and simplifies them for them."

Public Support for Reforms

Starmer admitted that the administration had to make the case for the reforms to the British public, which have declined sharply in public approval since Starmer proposed them.

"I think now we need to go out and make that case the huge benefits ... And I believe that the more people see the benefits that come with this ... as has happened in different nations, people say: 'That will simplify my daily routine,' and therefore I want to proceed with it," he affirmed.

Rights Issues and Global Affairs Discussed

The Prime Minister said he had brought up a range of challenging issues with the Indian premier regarding human rights and ties with Russia, though he seemed to have made minimal progress. He confirmed that he and Prime Minister Modi talked about how the country was continuing to purchase oil from Russia, which is subject to extensive international restrictions.

"For both Prime Minister Modi and me the focus on resolving this situation and the multiple measures will be implemented to that purpose," he commented. "And that was a broad spectrum of discussion, but we did set out the actions that we are taking in relation to energy."

The Prime Minister also said he had raised the situation of the UK-based activist the individual, from Dumbarton, who has been detained in an Indian jail for nearly eight years without facing a full trial. It is frequently mentioned as one of the most egregious cases of unfair treatment among Britons still held overseas.

However, he did not indicate much progress had been achieved. "Indeed, we brought up the diplomatic matters," he stated. "We always raise them when we have the chance to do so. I must add that the foreign secretary is meeting the relatives in coming weeks, as well as raising it today."

Upcoming Initiatives

Starmer is widely expected to take a comparable trade-focused visit to the People's Republic of China in the coming year as part of a effort to ease relations between the United Kingdom and China.

This bilateral connection is under the spotlight because of the collapse of a espionage investigation, reportedly occurring because the UK has been unwilling to provide fresh evidence that the country is considered a security risk.

Starmer said the UK was eager to pursue additional commercial partnerships but emphasized that a commercial agreement with China was not currently planned. "It is not a priority, for a trade deal as such, but our position is to cooperate where we can, challenge where we need to, and that's been the consistent policy of the administration in regarding China."