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Ukraine 1) Zelensky arrives in UK and is promised “full backing”
“Sir Keir Starmer has told Volodymyr Zelensky he has “full backing across the United Kingdom” as the two met in Downing Street. The Ukrainian president told the prime minister he was happy his country had “such friends”, after arriving in the UK in the wake of a White House meeting with US President Donald Trump that descended into a row between the two leaders. Zelensky and Sir Keir also signed a £2.26bn loan for Ukrainian military supplies, that will be repaid using profits from frozen Russian assets. After Saturday’s meeting, Sir Keir spoke with Trump, and French President Emmanuel Macron.” – BBC
- Zelensky’s White House horror show proves Europe needs to act – Leader, Sunday Times
- Britain stands with Zelensky and Ukraine – Leader, Sunday Telegraph
- Europe’s leaders must unite to prove Putin wrong – Leader, The Sun on Sunday
- The UK and Europe are stronger than Russia. We have to stand together with Ukraine – Daniel Johnson, Sunday Telegraph
- Trump’s White House tirade can be good for the world – Peter Hitchens, Mail on Sunday
- Starmer learnt his lines, if only the world would stick to theirs – Tim Shipman, Sunday Times
- PM’s cold-eyed realism sets a path for Labour’s future – Jason Cowley, Sunday Times
- Can Ukraine survive without US aid? – Mark Galeotti, Sunday Times
- Don’t count Zelensky and Ukraine out yet. The odds were worse in 2022 – Con Coughlin, Sunday Telegraph
Ukraine 2) Reeves unlocks billions to help war effort
“Rachel Reeves has announced a multibillion-pound funding package to bolster British defence and arm Ukraine as the prime minister warns we are at a “turning point” in the conflict. …Reeves said she would change the remit of the £27.8 billion National Wealth Fund so it could be spent on defence. The public-private investment fund was previously only used for infrastructure projects, including green energy schemes. The money would be separate from the increase in defence spending announced by Sir Keir Starmer last week. The chancellor and Ukraine’s finance minister have also signed a £2.26 billion bilateral loan agreement. It marks the first time the money from the appreciation of frozen Russian assets in Britain will be used for military purposes.” – Sunday Times
- Russia has to pay for the damage it has caused – Interview with Rachel Reeves, Sunday Times
Ukraine 3) Calls to cancel Trump’s state visit
“Donald Trump’s state visit to Britain should be shelved in the wake of his astonishing White House tirade against President Zelensky, a series of prominent public figures declared last night…shadow home affairs minister Alicia Kearns said: ‘State visits should be conferred to the most honourable of allies, not to curry favour. No state visit should proceed until the steadfastness of the US’s commitment to her allies is assured. His Majesty should not have to carry the weight of Keir’s diplomatic failings.’..Labour peer George Foulkes said the visit should be postponed after Mr Trump’s ‘outrageous behaviour.’ ” – Mail on Sunday
- SNP MP calls for Trump state visit to be scrapped – BBC
- Why Trump’s state visit puts the King in a difficult position – Camilla Tominey, Sunday Telegraph
- The idea of Starmer rolling out the red carpet to bend the knee to Trump is not just sickening, it’s politically untenable – Dan Hodges, Mail on Sunday
- Scepticism among British public over Trump’s second state visit – The Observer
- For the sake of our national dignity, the Prime Minister should now ask the King to withdraw this invitation – Leader, Mail on Sunday
- Rod Stewart issues warning – Sunday Express
Ukraine 4) Badenoch: The US commitment to Europe can no longer be taken for granted
“We Europeans must prepare for the worst. Our motto must be peace through strength. It is now abundantly clear all Nato allies must rapidly increase their defence spending. The UK should commit to raising defence spending to 3 per cent of GDP by the end of this Parliament. The Prime Minister will have our support in taking the difficult decisions required to make this happen.” – Kemi Badenoch, Sunday Telegraph
>Today: ToryDiary: Our survey. Jenrick holds the lead and Cartlidge surges in the Shadow Cabinet League Table
Labour scraps employees’ ‘right to switch off’ to ease squeeze on business
“Plans to give people the right to “switch off” outside of working hours will be dropped by the government this week in a move to reduce the impact of Labour’s new employment rights on businesses. The policy had formed a central part of Sir Keir Starmer’s manifesto vow to establish a “new deal for working people”. While it did not appear in the employment rights bill going through parliament, the government had committed to implementing it in the future.” – Sunday Times
- Retreat on workers’ rights is welcome but employers need more – Leader, Sunday Times
Grieve to lead review of Islamophobia definition
“The government has appointed former Conservative Attorney General Dominic Grieve to lead a review into creating a new definition of Islamophobia. Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner launched a new working group tasked with understanding and defining hate crime targeted against Muslims. Labour had promised a new definition, after the last Tory government rejected a cross-party proposal in 2019.” – BBC
- It’s time to begin forging our new post-DEI culture – Jake Wallis Simons, Sunday Telegraph
Young men lose out in gender pay gap
“Young women are now consistently earning more than their male counterparts for the first time, according to a report that warns of a social “crisis” gripping young men. Women and girls aged 16 to 24 in both white-collar and blue-collar jobs make nearly 10 per cent more on average than their male peers, according to the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) think tank. The report, Lost Boys, highlights how a generation of young men are facing far worse outcomes than young women in education and beyond, falling further behind by virtually every yardstick, while changing social attitudes leave them feeling isolated.” – Sunday Times
UK charity accused of helping to fund Hamas
“A UK charity raising money for Gaza is facing a police investigation over claims the cash ends up funding Hamas. Save One Life UK has been reported to counter-terror police over fears some of the money it distributes to children may be diverted to the terror group. The London-based charity has raised around £2 million in the past four years, with most of its aid directed to Gaza since the start of Israel’s military retaliation to the Oct 7 attacks by Hamas in 2023.” – Sunday Telegraph
Labour warned it must target help to deprived areas – or lose out to Reform
“Keir Starmer’s government must strictly target the delivery of its core “missions” at areas of maximum deprivation or lose huge numbers of votes to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, an independent commission led by a former Labour cabinet minister will suggest this week. The Independent Commission on Neighbourhoods (ICON), chaired by Labour peer Hilary Armstrong, a former party chief whip and housing minister, will say the government risks “wasting billions of pounds in higher public spending while failing to transform the places that need it most” unless it adopts the targeted approach.” – The Observer
- Reform UK’s Luke Campbell: ‘I’ve always been a Labour man, but they failed the country’ – Sunday Express
Other political news
- Badenoch: Farmer inheritance tax change ‘immoral’ – BBC
- Israel backs US proposal to extend ceasefire in Gaza through Ramadan and Jewish Passover – Mail on Sunday
- GCHQ dumps Stonewall as Trump takes control of ‘deep state’ – Sunday Telegraph
- ‘He could have killed me’, says Mike Amesbury victim as he reveals disbelief at Labour MP’s suspended sentence – Mail on Sunday
- The UK city where furious locals say the Green Party have ‘turned it into a prison’ – Sunday Express
- Channel 5 splits with US owner Paramount to defy Trump on diversity – Sunday Telegraph
- ‘Pupils are in fear every day’: parents raise concerns about new schools run by top UK academy – The Observer
- Troops’ fury at being served ‘appalling food’ as two-thirds of Army’s chefs are axed – Mail on Sunday
- Victims commissioner tells chancellor cutbacks and national insurance hike creating ‘existential crisis’ for rape and domestic abuse charities – The Observer
- Labour accused of hypocrisy as it ‘hides cost of helicopter deal’ despite laying into Tories for taxpayer-funded chopper flights – Mail on Sunday
- BBC ‘manipulated by terrorists’ over Gaza film says former chief – Sunday Times
- Labour MPs demand probe into ‘biased’ and ‘failing’ BBC after Gaza documentary scandal – The Sun on Sunday
- EDI guidance warns against using colloquial phrases such as ‘kill two birds with one stone’ or ‘a piece of cake’ – Mail on Sunday
- Kurdish separatists PKK declare ceasefire with Turkey – Sunday Times
- Miliband “could face axe in the Spring Reshuffle” – Mail on Sunday
- Civil servants spent more than £1,000 on Nespresso coffee pods, investigation finds – The Sun on Sunday
- ‘Affordable housing’ home owners complain of paying high charges for facilities mainly used by better-off residents – The Observer
Colvile: Decentralisation in the NHS is welcome
“The health secretary’s plan — the reason Pritchard left — is to turn the system into something much more like education (even as his counterpart there, Bridget Phillipson, attempts the reverse). Trusts will be given more freedom. NHS England will shrink substantially: several thousand job cuts have already been announced. The quango will run things centrally where that makes sense, such as procurement, or making it easier to share data, deploy AI, introduce new medical devices or carry out clinical trials (much of which is now negotiated, grindingly slowly, trust by trust). More generally NHS England will shift to something of an Ofsted-style role: holding trusts accountable, publishing performance data, intervening when they are failing. Money will follow the choices of patients, just as it does the choices of parents. Trusts that save money may even get to reinvest some of it in capital projects. All of which sounds … well, pretty reasonable, actually.” – Robert Colvile, Sunday Times
- NHS is spending more than £100million a year on transgender treatments, enough to hire 2,500 nurses – Mail on Sunday
News in brief
- Ireland is on a knife edge – Ian O’Doherty, The Spectator
- The precarity of the Gaza ceasefire deal – Rajan Menon, New Statesman
- Has Trump inspired a Lib Dem surge? – Peter Franklin, Unherd
- When did our era of national demoralisation begin? – Joanna Gray, Daily Sceptic
- Hands off our greyhounds! – Ken McLaughlin, Spiked Online
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