Boris Johnson has refused to criticise Donald Trump for prematurely claiming victory in the US election and threatening to use the courts to stop votes being counted.
Mr Trump claimed there is a “fraud on the American nation” and said he would go to the US Supreme Court to get vote counting stopped, as the contest hung in the balance.
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said it was not up to Mr Trump to say when votes should stop being counted and “the next president must be the free and fair choice of the American people”.
At prime minister’s questions, Sir Keir asked Mr Johnson: “Whatever the result, will the Prime Minister join me in saying that it’s not for a candidate to decide which votes do and don’t count or when to stop counting.”
Mr Johnson replied: “Of course we don’t comment as a UK Government on the democratic processes of our friends and allies.”
SNP Westminster leader Ian Blackford pressed the prime minister on the same issue, saying: “Donald Trump claimed an unsupported victory and major fraud with millions of legitimate ballots left to count and I hope the PM will join me in condemning his actions this morning.”
Mr Johnson declined to respond the second time.
Bitterly contested race
The exchanges came after Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab said he would not get “sucked in” to the debate around Mr Trump’s comments.
Mr Raab also insisted the special relationship with the US will endure whoever wins the bitterly contested American election.
The Foreign Secretary said the “bedrock” of the relationship was based on strong economic, security and cultural ties, although he acknowledged the “contours” would be different depending on whether Mr Biden or Mr Trump won.
Republican incumbent Mr Trump has been a staunch supporter of Brexit and the prospect of a UK-US trade deal, but a Biden administration is expected to be cooler on the idea.
Mr Biden, who has Irish ancestry, has publicly criticised the government over its plan to tear up the Brexit divorce deal and break international law over the Northern Ireland protocol.
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Mr Raab sought to play down the prospect of a strained relationship under a Biden administration and stressed that the US election was still too close to call.
He told Sky News: “I’m not worried about the relationship. The contours of the opportunities and the risks always shift a little bit, but that needs to be set against the context of this bedrock and this wider set of interests which are so strong.”
He said he was “very confident that regardless of whether it’s a Republican or a Democrat win, the British-US relationship is in great shape”.