UK agrees deal to join EU Ukraine Support Loan scheme

LONDON, July 13 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Keir Starmer signed Britain up to a European Union defence loan scheme for Ukraine on Monday, one of his last acts as the nation's prime minister to try to improve London's ties with the bloc after years of wrangling over Brexit.

Starmer announced the agreement, which will give British defence firms access to contracts funded by the €90 billion ($102.59 billion) Ukraine Support Loan, as he arrived in Paris for a meeting of the Coalition of the Willing group of Ukrainian allied countries.

"This agreement will help ensure Ukraine gets the support it needs to defend itself against Russian aggression, while backing British defence companies, supporting skilled jobs and strengthening our national security," Starmer said in a statement.

The British government hailed its involvement in the loan after London's plan to join a separate €150 billion EU fund to invest in bolstering European defences broke down in November after Starmer's government balked at the scale of the financial contribution requested by the bloc.

Starmer has made Britain's support for Ukraine one of his main priorities, seeing his leadership alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz as one of the highlights of his premiership.

His participation in the latest Coalition of the Willing group marks one of his last foreign outings before standing down on July 20 to make way for former Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham, who has also vowed to support Ukraine as it defends itself against Russia's four-year war.

($1 = 0.8773 euros)

(Reporting by Muvija M, Writing by Elizabeth Piper and William James; Editing by Alison Williams)