British Prime Minister Starmer to Visit Cyprus on Tuesday

NICOSIA, Dec 8 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will visit Cyprus on Tuesday as part of a regional tour, the island’s presidency said on Sunday.

The working visit “underscores excellent relations between Cyprus and the United Kingdom”, President Nikos Christodoulides’s office said in a statement.

The two countries will discuss their strategic partnership, Cyprus’s long-running division, British-European Union relations as well as regional issues, it said.

It is the first visit of a British prime minister to the island since Edward Heath in 1971. Former Prime Minister John Major visited the island as part of the Commonwealth head of state meeting in 1993.

Britain administered Cyprus between 1878 and 1960, first as a British protectorate, then as a crown colony from 1925.

It has two sprawling military bases on the island. The facilities have been used in the past in operations against Houthi forces in Yemen in retaliation for attacks on Red Sea shipping that the Iran-backed group says is a response to the war in Gaza, as well as Islamic state targets in Syria.

(Reporting by Michele Kambas)