Donald Trump informed Sir Keir Starmer that Britain and other European countries need to halt illegal immigration to prevent ‘ruin’ during their meeting in Scotland today.

The president spoke out as he met Sir Keir and Lady Victoria on the clubhouse steps at his Ayrshire golf course.

While on a ‘working holiday’ in the land of his mother’s origin, Trump held an unexpected press conference accompanied by the sound of bagpipes.

He addressed the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, a topic the leaders plan to discuss more deeply, and criticized Vladimir Putin regarding the Ukraine conflict.

But he also addressed the wider issue of immigration facing Europe he added that it was becoming a ‘different place’ – and praised Sir Keir for taking a strong stance against it.

‘This is a magnificent part of the world, and you cannot ruin it, you cannot let people come here illegally,’ the president said.

‘And what happens is there’ll be murderers, there’ll be drug dealers, there’ll be all sorts of things that other countries don’t want.

‘They send them to you and they send them to us and you’ve got to stop them and I hear you’ve taken a very strong stand on immigration. And taking a strong stand on immigration is imperative.’

The latest data from the Home Office indicates that 122 people crossed the Channel in small boats on Saturday. 

Security is tight at Turnberry in Ayeshire where they are discussing how to continue putting into place the US-UK trade deal they signed earlier this year, as well as the Middle East crisis. 

They met on the steps of the clubhouse while a bagpiper playing loudly in the background, with the president saying Sir Keir was going a ‘great job’.

He also said he did not mind Sir Keir ‘taking a position’ on Palestinian statehood, though he said he would not do so himself. 

The PM’s meeting with Mr Trump also comes amid growing global outrage at the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, while peace talks between Hamas and Israel came to a standstill last week.

As haunting images of emaciated children come out of the shattered territory, Mr Trump was asked if he agreed with PM Benjamin Netanyahu that there was no starvation occurring.

‘I don’t know. I mean, based on television, I would say not particularly because those children look very hungry,’ he said.

‘But we’re giving a lot of money and a lot of food, and other nations are now stepping up.’ 

Some 255 MPs from nine parties have now signed a letter demanding the UK follow the lead of France and recognise a Palestinian state. The majority of those who have signed are Labour MPs.

And reports suggest the row over whether to do this stretches all the way into the Cabinet. 

The US is the country ‘with the leverage’ to make a difference in the conflict in Gaza, the Business Secretary suggested this morning.

Speaking to BBC Breakfast ahead of Sir Keir’s meeting with Mr Trump, Jonathan Reynolds said: ‘Of course, Gaza will be on the agenda today.

‘The intolerable scenes that we’re seeing, the world is seeing, are the backdrop to that.

‘And of course, the US has itself secured on two occasions ceasefires in the conflict, so they have been actively engaged in it, working with Egypt, the Qataris, and other key partners in the region.

‘The US is the country I think we’d all recognise with the leverage here to really make a difference on both sides. So their role is fundamentally important.’

Mr Reynolds dismissed the idea that there is a split at the top of Government over when to recognise a Palestinian state.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting is among those to have signalled a desire for hastened action calling for recognition ‘while there’s still a state of Palestine left to recognise’.

Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said the Government wants to recognise a Palestinian state ‘in contribution to a peace process’.

Speaking to Good Morning Britain, Mr Reynolds said: ‘There’s no split. The whole of the Labour Party, every Labour MP, was elected on a manifesto of recognition of a Palestinian state, and we all want it to happen.

‘It is a case of when, not if.’

He added: ‘It’s about how we use this moment, because you can only do it once to have a meaningful breakthrough.’

Mr Reynolds also admitted there is ‘more to do’ on the US-UK trade deal, but played down the prospect of a fresh announcement later.

The Business Secretary said: ‘We were very happy to announce the breakthrough that we had a few months ago in relation to sectors like automotive, aerospace, which are really important to the UK economy.

‘But we always said it was job saved, but it wasn’t job done. There’s more to do.

‘The negotiations have been going on on a daily basis since then. There’s a few issues to push a little bit further today.

‘We won’t perhaps have anything to announce a resolution of those talks.

‘But there’s some sectors that we still need to resolve, particularly around steel and aluminium, and there’s the wider conversation about what the US calls its reciprocal tariffs.’

The US-UK agreement signed at the G7 summit last month slashed trade barriers on goods from both countries.

But tariffs for the steel industry, which is of key economic importance to the UK, were left to stand at 25 per cent rather than falling to zero as originally agreed.

Concerns had previously been raised that the sector could face a levy of up to 50 per cent – the US’s global rate – unless a further agreement was made by July 9, when Mr Trump said he would start implementing import taxes on America’s trading partners.

But that deadline has been and gone without any concrete update on the status of UK steel.