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Sir Keir Starmer will today travel to the G20 summit in South Africa as he makes his 42nd foreign trip in less than 17 months as Prime Minister.

His 11,000-mile round trip to Johannesburg is the PM's third overseas visit this month alone, with critics continuing to brand him 'never here Keir'.

Sir Keir took an emissions-heavy flight to the COP30 climate summit in Brazil at the beginning of November - his 40th foreign trip since becoming PM in July last year.

He then travelled to Berlin on Tuesday for a dinner with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz and French President Emmanuel Macron.

The PM is attending the G20 summit this weekend despite questions over the usefulness of the gathering in the absence of US President Donald Trump.

The Johannesburg gathering also comes just days before Labour's critical Budget next week, when Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to announce more tax rises.

Mr Trump has said he will not be making the trip to South Africa - and will not be sending any US officials - after hitting out at the country's treatment of white farmers.

He has claimed Afrikaners are being 'killed and slaughtered, and their land and farms are being illegally confiscated'. 

Sir Keir Starmer will today travel to the G20 summit in South Africa as he makes his 42nd foreign trip in less than 17 months as Prime Minister
The PM is attending the G20 summit this weekend despite questions over the usefulness of the gathering in the absence of US President Donald Trump

But South Africa's government has rejected claims of a 'white genocide' as 'widely discredited and unsupported by reliable evidence'.

Despite Mr Trump's absence, Downing Street said Sir Keir would be attending the G20 summit to talk to other world leaders on his Government's priorities.

These include driving economic growth to deliver for working people in the UK, support for Ukraine and global security, No10 added.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said she is looking forward to seeing Sir Keir at the G20 summit as Britain and the EU continue discussions over the PM's Brexit 'reset' deal.

It has been reported the Government is attempting to resist Brussels' demands to pay billions of pounds to the EU as the price of closer ties.

World leaders in Johannesburg will also be expected to discuss a reported US and Russia peace plan for Ukraine.

It has been suggested the new framework - said to have been drawn up by Washington and Moscow - would require Ukraine to give up territory and accept limits on the size of its army to end the war.

Downing Street said it shares Mr Trump's desire to end the war but added 'only the Ukrainian people can determine their future'. 

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