One step behind: John Healey attends the latest summit on support for Ukraine alongside the NATO Secretary General and German and Ukrainian defence ministers, as the Government faces pressure at home over its lack of defence plans and slow move to increase defence spending. © dpa picture alliance / Alamy Stock Photo
Secure at home, strong abroad? One of the Government’s most oft-repeated slogans looked more in doubt than ever this week, as problems both foreign and domestic continued to snap at its heels. For the Prime Minister and the rest of the Cabinet, the week might’ve begun as an opportunity to keep plugging away at the themes they’ve stuck to since the outbreak of the war in the Middle East. In the Commons on Monday, the Prime Minister detailed his visit to the Gulf last week and reiterated his determination to bolster Britain’s energy security, and, in his own words, its “defence security” (no, we don’t know either). Starmer was soon given reason to wish he hadn’t brought it up, as the very next day former Labour Defence Secretary and NATO Secretary General Lord Robertson launched an unprecedented attack on the Government’s “corrosive complacency” in delivering the ambitions of its Strategic Defence Review, which he led. Lord Robertson’s incisive criticism galvanised the Government’s many detractors in Parliament, with defence ministers dragged back to the House of Commons to explain the whereabouts of the Defence Investment Plan, which was promised last autumn but has failed to appear amidst reports the Treasury is refusing to endorse it.
Despite this, ministers put on a brave face as Defence Secretary John Healey attended the Ukraine Defence Contact Group in Berlin on Wednesday, where he announced Britain’s largest ever package of drones for its Ukrainian allies. Meanwhile, Chancellor Rachel Reeves flew to Washington DC to attend CNBC’s Invest in America Forum. Reeves was the latest Government figure to stick her head above the parapet and directly criticise President Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran, calling it a “mistake”, while insisting that, nevertheless, Britain maintained a “very good relationship” with the United States. This may have been an admission that the Government still values US support, as demonstrated by its shelving of the Chagos Bill last Saturday after President Trump changed his mind about approving the deal. The Prime Minister himself was also on the move, landing in France this morning to co-host a much-trumpeted summit on the strait of Hormuz with President Macron.
The maxim “things can always get worse” may have come to mind yesterday, as Downing Street was hit with a potentially even more damning redux of the Peter Mandelson scandal which threatened to topple the Prime Minister in February. It was reported that Mandelson had failed the ‘Developed Vetting’ process, required for individuals needing frequent access to top secret information, on which his appointment as ambassador to the US *should* have been contingent. For reasons that remain unclear, Mandelson got the job anyway. The Government has been quick to insist that the Prime Minister knew nothing of this irregularity, with top Foreign Office mandarin Olly Robbins given the boot almost immediately. However, the PM still has plenty of explaining to do, having explicitly stated multiple times that Mandelson had passed vetting, even blaming the vetting process for letting his indiscretions slip through the cracks. Any hope in Downing Street that it wouldn’t have to don its damage control gear this week now looks firmly dashed.
Under three weeks to go now, and the Manifestos have all been published. For those interested, ones published this week were: the SNP, Scottish Labour, Scottish Liberal Democrats, Scottish Green Party, and the Welsh Liberal Democrats. The others already published were Reform UK Scotland, Scottish Conservatives, Plaid Cymru, Reform UK Wales, Welsh Labour, Welsh Conservatives, and the Welsh Green Party.
158.1p – The average price of a litre of petrol, down from 158.3p.
0.5% – How much the UK economy grew in February.
0.8% – The IMF’s latest estimate for UK growth this year, down from 1.3%, representing the largest decrease of any advanced economy.
£20.4bn – The amount the Government spent on research and development in 2024.
£146m – Pledged by the UK for Sudan for the financial year 2026 to 2027, to support frontline aid workers.
10 – The number of times Paddington Bear was mentioned in Wednesday’s adjournment debate on the regulation of the marmalade market.
The Pope and US President Donald Trump have gone at it this week, with the former describing a “delusion of omnipotence” was driving US-Israeli interests in Iran. The President took to Truth Social where he accused the Pope of being ‘WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy’ and said that he only had his post in the Vatican because Trump had his in the White House. And amid all the back and forth came an absolutely sensational Trump classic, as he shared an AI-generated image portraying himself as Jesus… or a doctor?? Instead of responding to the outcry by denying he’d posted it, as you might expect, he argued “it’s supported to be as a doctor making people better. And I do make people better.”
Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said this week that “sham lawyers” enabling abuse of the asylum system “will face the full force of the law.” Her comments follow a BBC investigation that uncovered cases of law firms charging often vulnerable migrants thousands of pounds to fabricate claims of being gay in order to remain in the UK. The report detailed how individuals with expiring visas were allegedly coached to produce false accounts, supported by fabricated letters, photographs and even medical reports. While the UK’s asylum system is designed to protect those at genuine risk in countries such as Pakistan and Bangladesh, the apparent ‘systematic exploitation’ by some legal advisers is likely to create a fresh challenge for the Home Office.
The renewed Women’s Health Strategy was published with the aims of ensuring women are ‘better heard and served’ in the NHS as Health Secretary Wes Streeting vowed to tackle ‘medical misogyny.’ Within the Strategy, gynecological care will be streamlined to cut waiting lists and see ‘faster access’ for conditions like endometriosis and fibroids, and a ‘new standard of care’ will be introduced to ensure women are offered appropriate pain relief for invasive gynecological procedures. A £1.5 million Femtech challenge fund to ‘accelerate adoption of innovations’ that could help transform future women’s healthcare and a women’s voices partnership will be established to inform future policy and decision making.
The £500m Sovereign AI fund was launched, set to invest in promising AI startups to help them scale quickly. The first equity investment was confirmed in Callosum, with six further startups to receive access to support including fully funded access to the UK’s largest AI supercomputers, early procurement opportunities from the Government, and visa decisions within a working day, plus access to an initial 10 cost-free visas for the world’s top R&D talent to come and work for them.
The Chancellor announced an expansion of the British Industrial Competitiveness Scheme, meaning over 10,000 manufacturing businesses will see their bills cut by up to 25% from April 2027. Eligible businesses will also receive a one-off additional payment in 2027 to cover the support they would have received if BICS had been in place from this April.
The Liberal Democrats have said they would introduce new legislation to require housing developers in England to guarantee access to GP services for new residents. The party argues this would be funded through developer levies, with local authorities placed under a formal duty to assess and provide the necessary healthcare provision alongside new housing. The proposal enters an already contested debate as research from the Home Builders Federation suggests that councils across England and Wales are currently sitting on more than £9bn in unspent developer contributions earmarked for local infrastructure. Despite this, party leader Ed Davey insisted this week that “too often new developments don't come with the services and infrastructure they need,” underscoring the party’s push to link housebuilding more directly with frontline services.
The Government has published new guidance on primary school offer day to help families get children ‘ready for school’, following research by Savanta indicating that 37% of pupils start without the basic skills needed for the classroom. The guidance outlines a more joined-up system around families to support the transition into reception, backed by funding for the Nuffield Early Language Intervention through to 2029. The Government highlighted three core ‘building blocks’: strong relationships with families, close collaboration between schools, nurseries and childminders, and earlier identification of children’s needs, including SEND, to ensure support is in place from the outset. In addition, the Government announced that high-sugar and deep-fried food will be taken off the menu in new plans to overhaul school dinners. This has come amid a ‘health crisis’ facing children and aims to help tackle obesity rates, as currently one in three children leaving primary school are overweight or obese, and tooth decay is the leading cause of hospital admissions for kids aged 5 to 9.
The SNP launched their manifesto ahead of the May election focused on the cost-of-living crisis. The manifesto pledged to introduce a £2 bus fare cap and a price cap on a basket of essential food items sold by large supermarkets, a ban on mobile phones in classrooms, expansion of walk-in GP practices to cut the 8am rush, and (you guessed it) proposed a referendum on Scottish independence in 2028.
The Ministry of Justice has confirmed a new national taskforce to recruit and train thousands of magistrates in less than half the current time, with the aim of modernising and speeding up the process as the Courts and Tribunals Bill continues through Parliament. The initiative aims to increase the number of magistrates to 21,000 by March 2029 and forms part of a wider plan to deliver “faster and fairer” justice for victims. Backed by “record investment,” it is also intended to help reduce the Crown Court backlog, which reached a record high of 80,000 outstanding cases as of early 2026, and has proved to be a major headache for the Justice Department since coming into office.
The Business Department launched a consultation on the misuse of NDAs, as they seek to stop employers using NDAs to cover up workplace harassment and discrimination. The consultation explores whether protections should be extended to a wider group of people including agency workers and the self-employed, with proposed changes also meaning witnesses to such behaviors would be protected from being pressured into agreements that would stop them calling it out. DBT also confirmed a consultation on changes to the legal framework for whistleblowing will be released in summer.
In Brussels, the UK and EU signed the legal text to formally bring the UK into Erasmus+ in 2027, with over 100,000 people expected to benefit in the first year alone. The British Council will act as the National Agency for Erasmus+ in the UK.
The Commons returned from recess on Monday to a statement from the PM on the Middle East in which he stressed the importance of Britain’s energy, economic and defence security, before facing questions from the backbenches on topics such as increasing defence spending, the defence investment plan, whether the US is an ally to the UK and oil and gas. Tuesday saw MPs debate the Crime and Policing Bill, with Lords amendments relating to fly tipping, the designation and restriction of Extreme Criminal Protest Groups, and the abolition of non-crime hate incidents all voted down. More ping pong took place on Wednesday, as Lords amendments to both the Pensions Schemes Bill and the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill were debated, with the Bills expected back in the Lords on Monday. And finally, Members on the green benches are no strangers to debating obscure and niche topics in adjournment debates, with the award for the most obscure going this week to Lib Dem Tessa Munt, for her adjournment debate on the regulation of the marmalade market which took place on Wednesday. During the debate Adam Jogee intervened with a very thought-provoking point for the Minister…. that he prefers jam while his wife is “an assiduous and loyal orange marmalade fan”.
Over in the Lords, the English Devolution and Community Empowerment Bill completed its report stage and third reading, and will now return to the Commons with amendment, including but not limited to, creating a national strategy for parish and town councils, the creation of gambling impact assessments giving more control to local councils, stronger taxi and private hire enforcement powers, and Mayoral powers to champion arts and culture all approved. Outside of legislation, Peers asked questions this week on the projected increases in energy demand from data centres, the effectiveness of the Prevent programme, the 80th anniversary in 2028 of HMT Empire Windrush arriving at Tilbury Docks, and the extent and risks of the use of nitrous oxide gas by young people.
An emerging AI ‘techlash’ risks leaving Government ‘boxed in’ unless they act quickly to share the benefits of the technology, according to a new report from the IPPR, which warns that current policy is too focused on accelerating growth, with little clarity on how AI will improve people’s lives. The report argues that without intervention, advances in AI risks concentrating power in a handful of tech companies which would widen inequality and replace jobs ‘faster than new ones are created’. Instead, IPPR has called for ‘AI directionism’, which would mean shaping markets, directing investment, and setting clear priorities for how AI should be used in areas such as healthcare, education and public services.
Potholes are the biggest issue facing voters at a local level, according to new YouGov polling conducted less than a month out from elections across Britain. Roads, covering potholes, parking and congestion, top the list of priorities, with 37% of Britons naming them among their three most important issues. The cost of living follows close behind at 35%, with NHS services cited by 29%. It’s a finding unlikely to be lost on Transport Sec Heidi Alexander, who recently had her own (literal) run-in with what was described as a “crater” of a pothole, an encounter which left her Mini Cooper needing to be hauled away on a recovery truck (See below for more).
Speaking of elections… it will perhaps come as no surprise that the majority of the public expect Reform UK and the Green Party to perform well next month, according to Ipsos. Around half of Britons (50%) think Reform UK will increase its number of councillors, with 42% expecting gains for the Greens. By contrast, expectations for the old guard are far gloomier: 56% believe Labour will lose councillors, alongside 43% who say the same of the Conservatives.
You’ve Got to Laugh
16 years of Viktor Orbán rule over Hungary ended last weekend when Péter Magyar and Tisza comprehensively won the election. Magyar has wasted no time in seeking to roll-back changes Orbán made to institutions such as the judiciary and media, calling them out in the most direct way possible. Magyar met the Hungarian President at the Sándor Palace, and, while most people would probably be admiring the surroundings, said the President should “leave office immediately”, stating he was “unfit to serve as the guardian of legality”. Next came an appearance on the state broadcaster, confirming he would “immediately suspend this lying news service” and “shut down this factory of lies”.
There’s nothing like first-hand experience to enact change, and the Transport Secretary certainly got her fair share recently, when it emerged this week her Mini Cooper had to be taken off the road after hitting a pothole she compared to a moon crater before Easter. It’s not a coincidence the rather ironic news broke in the same week Heidi Alexander’s department announced councils will face new rules on how to spend additional funding to fix the country’s shabby roads. Luckily for the Transport Sec, the incident occurred in a Lib Dem run council…
It’s safe to say Your Party hasn’t exactly gone to plan since it was formed last year. From a comedic naming process, to very public splits, allegations of a sexist boys club, and membership fees reportedly being transferred all over the shop. Not one to be left out, this week their leadership in Scotland resigned en masse, claiming the party is “over” – making it the second party in Scotland to end this year, after Alba pulled down the shutters in March.
