A Hampshire MP says the United States risks leaving a vacuum in Europe similar to that before the Second World War.

Conservative MP Sir Julian Lewis has said if the US does negotiate a peace deal against the wishes of Ukraine, then it should at least guarantee the security of the remaining, unoccupied, part of the country.

This comes as US President Donald Trump said he and Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed during a phone call to begin “negotiations” on ending the Ukraine war, adding that he would “probably” meet in person with Mr Putin in the near term.

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The former head of the defence select committee and MP for New Forest East, Sir Julian said: “Will the government impress on President Trump at every possible opportunity that the reason why appeasement led to World War Two was that it left a vacuum in Europe? Whereas the reason why the occupation of Eastern Europe at the end of that war did not lead to World War Three was the United States filled any possible vacuum and contained further aggression.

“So if he is going for a settlement against the wishes of the Ukrainian people, the least he can do is to guarantee directly the security of that part of Ukraine which remains unoccupied.”

Defence minister Maria Eagle said: “The US Secretary of State for Defence in his remarks to the contact group did make it clear that deterrence is important around the world, so I think there is an agreement there.”

Sir Julian also said that there should be a debate on defence spending during and after the Cold War, arguing "when one is involved in a serious confrontation, we should not be arguing about 2.5 per cent, we should be arguing about a figure much nearer to the 5 per cent that President (Donald) Trump – for once – is right to demand”.

Commons Leader Lucy Powell replied: “On defence spending, he will know this Government is absolutely committed to working towards 2.5% of GDP but he’s right to point out defence spending has been too low to meet the strategic needs of our country in this context.

“And in fact, he will also know that the last time government spending reached 2.5% of GDP on defence was under the last Labour government and it never reached there under his party’s.”