LONDON: Prime Minister Keir Starmer on Sunday hailed “real progress” in the UK´s relationship with Germany as he hosted Chancellor Olaf Scholz for talks, with Ukraine high on the agenda.

Starmer welcomed Scholz to his Chequers country residence northwest of London, a day before he will become the first UK premier since Brexit to attend a European Council gathering as part of his reset of relations with Europe.

“When I started as prime minister seven months ago now, I was determined to strengthen the relationship between our two countries,” Starmer said ahead of the talks. “And thanks to your leadership, I think we´ve made real progress,” he added.

Scholz replied that the meeting was a “good sign of the very good relations between our two countries and between the two of us”, and a “very good moment to improve our relation between EU and UK”. Starmer, a fervent supporter of remaining in the European Union during the 2016 referendum, said he was “very much looking forward” to attending Monday´s informal EU leaders retreat in Belgium and “the wider reset of relations between the UK and the EU”.

But he insisted, five years on from Brexit being implemented, that “that does not involve a return to the European Union.”

“We had a referendum here on that, and that matter is settled, but I do want to see a close relationship on defence and security, on energy, on trade and our economy,” he said. His interior minister Yvette Cooper earlier told Sky News that there would also be no return “to the customs union, to the single market, or to free movement.”