Fire everything: Rachel Reeves stands near an ASRAAM missile during a visit to RAF Northolt to meet with UK defence suppliers to Ukraine. © PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
The Prime Minister continued his efforts to reach an agreement on Ukraine, convening international leaders at a summit in London after the disastrous meeting between President Trump and President Zelenskyy last Friday. Keir Starmer, who is aiming to act as a “bridge” between the US and Ukraine, announced the group of leaders had: committed to maintain military support for Ukraine, agreed any lasting peace “must ensure Ukraine’s sovereignty and stability” – with Ukraine involved in any potential peace talks, committed to “boosting Ukraine’s own defensive capabilities” in the event of a peace agreement to deter any future Russian aggression, and that they would strive to develop a “coalition of the willing” to defend the agreement. In the press conference following the summit, Starmer also announced a new deal to allow Ukraine to use £1.6bn of UK Export Finance to buy over 5,000 air defence missiles and confirmed on Saturday that the UK had agreed a £2.6bn loan to provide military aid to the country. In addition, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen unveiled plans for an €800bn boost to EU defence spending, including proposals that would both support Ukraine and “address the long-term need to take much more responsibility” for European security. Meanwhile, the future of US support for Ukraine was pushed further into doubt after it paused military aid and intelligence sharing, saying it was reviewing “all aspects of the relationship”. The PM is holding talks with European leaders on Friday, pressing more countries to sign up to the UK and France’s plan to send peacekeeping troops to Ukraine in the event of a peace deal. It comes ahead of further talks between the US and Ukraine in Saudi Arabia next week, with Zelenskyy expressing hope that it will be “a meaningful meeting”.
12,000 – Additional prison places required between now and 2029, to ensure the prison estate can house the rise to over 100,000 prisoners expected over the next four years.
31% – Brits who have a favourable view of Keir Stamer, after it rose by 5% this week following his actions to support President Zelenskyy.
100 minutes – Length of Donald Trump’s address to Congress on Wednesday, the longest in at least 60 years.
94 – Number of times President Zelenskyy thanked the USA for its support over the last three years, in a montage doing the rounds on social media following last Friday’s disastrous Oval Office meeting.
€800 billion – How much European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has said EU countries will be able to increase defence spending by after agreeing her ReArm Europe package.
73,000 – Current backlog of Crown court cases.
The Prime Minister attended the first annual UK-Ireland Summit this week with Taoiseach Micheál Martin, where the two leaders agreed to work closely together on renewable energy, tech, AI and security. They agreed to mobilise investment into strategic infrastructure in the Irish and Celtic Seas 'by establishing frameworks to guide private investment and removing barriers to trade and investment.’ Other commitments made included agreeing a new framework for co-operation to support infrastructure delivery; co-operating on maritime security, with a particular focus on critical undersea infrastructure; committing to establish an SME Dialogue and an Economic Security Exchange; welcoming 'substantial new investment announcements' across the digital, AI and technology sectors; and agreeing to create a UK-Ireland 2030 Steering Group to take forward the commitments made.
The Foreign Secretary and Business Secretary are in Japan for the Economic 2+2, which will encourage future opportunities to collaborate on growth and defence, and will strengthen co-operation in areas including fair-trading, joint research into future technologies, and 'mutual investment to support growth, innovation and jobs in the defence industry.' They will also host an AI Business Reception in Tokyo and, following this, the Business Secretary will announce plans to develop a new Industrial Strategy partnership, as well as signing a UK-Japan Memorandum of Cooperation on Offshore Wind. The Foreign Secretary will then travel onto the Philippines.
The resumed UN Biodiversity Conference COP16 summit concluded in Rome with a landmark agreement to mobilise resources for people and nature. The deal will see ‘global collaboration on raising finance for biodiversity, and details of the monitoring framework of the Global Biodiversity Framework targets finalised to accelerate nature recovery.' The Cali Fund was also formally launched, to support conservation and sustainable use of nature, with a significant proportion flowing to Indigenous Peoples and local communities.
DESNZ launched a consultation on plans to unleash the North Sea’s clean energy future, supporting private investment into the technologies that will 'deliver the next generation of good jobs for North Sea workers, invest in local communities, cut carbon emissions and help the UK become energy secure.' Separately, the Treasury confirmed that the Energy Profits Levy will end in 2030 and launched a consultation on what a new regime could look like, to respond to any future shocks in oil and gas prices. This includes delivering the Government’s commitment not to issue new licences to explore new oil and gas fields in the UK.
The Government tabled amendments to its Employment Rights Bill, following weeks of consultation with business groups, trade unions and civil society. The amendments will: ensure that agency work does not become a loophole in plans to end exploitative zero hours contracts; increase the period of the protective award from 90 days to 180 days and issue further guidance for employers on consultation processes for collective redundancies; ensure the safety net of Statutory Sick Pay is available to those who need it the most, making it a legal right for all workers for the very first time; and ensure that workers can access comparable rights and protections when working through a so-called umbrella company as they would when taken on directly by a recruitment agency.
The Ministry of Defence unveiled plans to launch a new hub to provide SMEs with better access to the defence supply chain, and committed to setting direct SME spending targets for the Department by June of this year. The new hub and investment target will ensure the uplift in defence spending to 2.5% by 2027 directly benefits SMEs as much as possible.
The Plan for Neighbourhoods was announced, offering £1.5bn in funding for 75 selected communities over the next decade, as Ministers vowed this will help transform ‘left behind’ areas by investing in delivering improved vital community services. The Government will also help set up a new ‘Neighbourhood Board’, bringing together residents, local businesses and grassroots campaigners to draw up and implement a new vision for their neighbourhood.
Construction work began to create 700 new prison places in Suffolk, as part of the Ministry of Justice’s drive to deliver an additional 14,000 places across the country’s jails by 2031. The three new houseblocks at HMP Highpoint in Suffolk will increase capacity by more than 50% and, by the time of its completion in over two years time, will make it the UK’s largest prison.
The week in the House of Commons began where the weekend left off, with the Prime Minister the centre of attention, delivering a statement on developments in international support for Ukraine. In a somewhat rare but nonetheless warming 2-hour session, the PM took the plaudits from government and opposition MPs alike for his approach to both last week’s meeting in the White House, his support for President Zelenskyy, and his diplomacy while hosting European leaders on Sunday. This week also saw MPs scrutinise the spending of the Department of Health and Social Care, Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, and Department for Business and Trade, while Saturday’s International Women’s Day was marked by a 3 hour debate on Thursday.
The House of Lords began its detailed scrutiny of the legislation to remove Hereditary Peers, as the committee stage of the Bill began this week – due to go on until late March. The Crown Estate Bill, the Terrorism (Protection of Premises) Bill and the National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill all continued or completed their passage through the Lords, while peers were also given the opportunity to question the Government on topics such as defending the UK from hypersonic missiles, addressing mobile phone theft, and admissions charges for non-UK residents to museums and galleries.
Scots are unsure if a Labour Scottish Government would do a better job at improving the NHS than the current Scottish Government, according to a new Ipsos poll. According to the poll, 22% of the Scottish public believe that Labour would do a better job than the current Government. This critical view of Labour carries over when looking at party leaders, as Scottish Labour Leader Anas Sarwar and Prime Minister Keir Starmer have a favourability rating of 19% and 21% respectively. UK leaders shouldn’t take their scores to heart however… as in a separate poll, US President Trump had a favourability rating of 18% among Scots, while Elon Musk had a rating of 12%.
65% of Brits support the Government’s plans to increase defence spending by cutting overseas aid, according to a new YouGov poll. Starmer’s announcement of plans to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 has seemingly been received warmly, as just 20% of Britons oppose the policy. Support is the highest among Reform UK voters, with 91% supporting the policy, followed by Conservatives (83%), Liberal Democrats (62%) and the Starmer’s own, Labour (61%).
The UK’s health and disability benefits system should be radically overhauled, according to a new report from Policy Exchange. The report, backed by former Work and Pensions Secretary Lord Blunkett, argues that the current system discourages the behaviour that should be encouraged: ‘incentivising claimants to prove what they cannot do, rather than what they can.’ It recommends reform to the disability benefit – the Personal Independence Payment – so that it becomes a ‘conditional’ benefit for those aged 16-30 and requires those of that age to look for work, volunteer, or engage in education/training.
Following in the footsteps of Lib Dem Party Leader Ed Davey… the award for the most memorable campaign video this week goes to Lib Dem MP for Woking Will Forster, in his campaign to hold South Western Railway accountable. Announcing that he is the conductor of the new cross-party group on the matter, Forster this week took to X, with a video of him driving a train, joking it is finally a train that arrives on time. …the only problem for the residents of Woking, is that Forster is in fact, in what looks hugely uncomfortable, straddling a mini train going at an extremely slow speed.
And for those who celebrated Pancake Day this week, I’m sure the inevitable argument over the best topping choice was had all over the country. MP for Bury St Edmunds Peter Prinsley decided to add to the conversation, revealing that his favourite topping is lemon, sugar, and… errrrrr… cream cheese? Think we’ll stick to Nutella thanks.
