German Chancellor Olaf Scholz congratulated the British Labour Party on its landslide victory in the UK general election on Friday.
Asked if he saw himself in a new alliance with Britain’s new prime minister, Keir Starmer, the Social Democrat leader said: “Yes.”
He said he was happy about the Labour Party’s election victory.
As a traditionally centre-left party, Labour occupies a similar position on the UK political spectrum to Schulz’s Social Democrats in Germany.
Scholz added that he personally knows Starmer and has met him several times and stressed that he will be a very successful prime minister.
Ulrich Leicht, spokesman for the Free Democratic Party, the junior partner in Scholz’s three-party coalition, said the party also expected a significant improvement in German-British relations under Keir Starmer’s leadership.
Licht added that he was convinced that more political objectivity would prevail in the United Kingdom under Labour leadership.
He explained that the Labour Party’s election victory provides an opportunity to renew and strengthen the European security architecture within NATO, describing the UK as an important contributor to European forces. Leicht also noted that the successful cooperation between Germany and the UK in the field of defence could be expanded further with a Labour-led government.
Other German politicians were also quick to congratulate the Labour Party, including MEP Katarina Barley, the Social Democrats’ front-runner in June’s European elections.
“I am pleased that, after years of tension, a Labour prime minister in London now has the opportunity to establish a more friendly and positive tone,” Barley said.
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