There can be “no durable peace” in Ukraine without European nations, particularly Ukrainians, taking part in talks to end the war with Russia, the business secretary has told the BBC.

Jonathan Reynolds downplayed divisions between the US and its allies over resolving the conflict, after concerns over the Trump administration moving ahead with peace talks that would lock out European countries, including Ukraine.

In response, European leaders, including Sir Keir Starmer, will meet in Paris on Monday, while US officials prepare to meet Russian negotiators.

Reynolds told the Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme the UK could act as a “bridge” between the US and Europe to strengthen relations.

Reynolds also told the programme, hosted by Victoria Derbyshire, the UK and Europe had to respond to US demands for them to pay more towards their “collective defence” in the face of “greater threats”.

He said the UK government would set out a roadmap to increase defence spending from 2.3% to 2.5% of national output, but declined to offer a definitive timetable.

The Trump administration has called for its Nato allies to uplift to 5% and has said in the past week that it will no longer primarily be focused on European security.

Pressed on whether the 2.5% figure would be sufficient, Reynolds said any decision would take threats to national security into account.

Asked if the threat had “just got bigger without the US”, he said there was “no doubt” it had.

Reynolds said he thought the UK could “play a constructive role” as a bridge between the US and Europe “as we adjust to this new era, and it certainly is a new era”.

But he added there had not been a “fundamental breach” in relations and there was “still a great deal of common ground”.

The business secretary did concede it would not “be it easy, there’s a very assertive agenda from the US.”

Asked what he made of the UK and European nations not being invited to the US-Russian talks, Reynolds said US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth had made clear “everything is still on the table”.

“We shouldn’t rule out potential outcomes,” he added.

He argued Europe and Ukraine would have to be involved for any peace settlement to be lasting.

“Ultimately [President Trump] is somebody who likes to win, and winning would not be rewarding a war of aggression,” he said.

On Saturday, Sir Keir said that the emergency summit in Paris was a “once-in-a-generation moment for our national security” and it was clear Europe must take a greater role in Nato.

He added that the UK would work “to keep the US and Europe together” and could not allow divisions between the two to distract from “external enemies”.

Plans for the summit came after Trump’s special envoy to Ukraine, Keith Kellogg, said European leaders would be consulted but not take part in any talks between US and Russia over ending the war.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the meeting should not be “over-dramatised”.

Senior White House figures are due to meet Russian negotiators in Saudi Arabia in the coming days. US officials said that Ukraine was also invited – although President Volodymyr Zelensky says his country has received no such invitation.

Also talking to Victoria Derbyshire, Conservative shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel said it was “too premature to make assumptions” about the way Ukraine peace talks were heading.

“We all have to have very, very cold and calm heads right now, primarily because this conflict is still raging.”

She said Ukrainians should be the ones determining their future because the war was about their “independence and sovereignty”.

Asked if she supported President Trump’s proposal that Ukraine give up territory to end the conflict, she said: “We have to understand in more detail what they are saying, it’s too easy to generalise.

“It’s very early days in those talks, and I think right now, the United Kingdom, along with Nato allies, we must continue to be firm and solid and strong in that support we’re giving.”

Dame Priti added that as a priority, the UK needed to step up its spending on defence.

Appearing on the same programme, Reform UK’s deputy leader Richard Tice said it was “no surprise” Trump and his team were taking “a completely different” approach by putting “everything up for grabs” in terms of Ukraine.

He described it as a “massive wake-up call” for European leaders to take responsibility for their own defence.

Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay said Ukraine had to be “at the front and centre” of any peace talks.

He warned that the US moves could leave Ukraine and the rest of Europe “at risk of future Russian aggression”.

Karin von Hippel, former director at the Royal United Services Institute (Rusi), said she did not think Trump would “sell Ukraine down the river” and European nations should “stay calm”.

Meanwhile, Conservative former Prime Minister Sir John Major has warned democracy is under threat as the US steps back from its leading role in the world.

He told BBC Radio 4’s The World This Weekend Trump’s policy of “isolation” was creating a power vacuum which would embolden countries like Russia and China to fill it.

Sir John said: “Many of the gains we made over recent years, when the Soviet Union collapsed, are now being reversed and you see a very aggressive Russia again in Ukraine.

“And if they were to succeed with their venture in Ukraine, no doubt they’d be elsewhere before too long.”

Police are investigating whether a suspect wanted after the fatal shooting of a woman outside a pub on Valentine’s Day may have entered the River Thames.

The woman, who was in her 40s, died at the scene of the attack, which happened at the Three Horseshoes in Knockholt, Kent, just after 19:00 GMT on Friday.

Police later found a vehicle that contained a gun on the Queen Elizabeth II Bridge, which crosses the River Thames, near Dartford.

The force said it was not ruling out the possibility the man may have entered the water after it received reports of a man “on the wrong side of the barrier”.

The woman has not been formally identified but police said her attacker was known to her.

It is thought both people were not from Kent but had connections to the local area.

A Kent Police spokesperson said: “Officers continue to work with the families of both parties involved to support them following this tragic incident.”

BBC reporter Ben Schofield, at the scene in Main Road, Knockholt, on Sunday, said more information was “gradually becoming available” on what happened.

Villagers recalled hearing gunshots “ringing out” at about 19:00 GMT on Friday.

Police said they were looking for one suspect and did not believe there was an ongoing risk to the public.

Flowers have been left outside the village pub, located about five miles (8km) north-west of Sevenoaks.

In a statement posted on its Facebook page, the Three Horseshoes pub expressed its “sincere condolences to the victim’s family and friends” and reopened on Sunday.

Meanwhile, local reverend Tim Edwards said prayers were being offered at St Katherine’s Church in Knockholt “for the family and all affected”.

He said the church would also be open for anyone who wanted “to pray or just sit quietly”.