Peace through strength: Keir Starmer meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at NATO HQ in Brussels this week © PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo
Keir Starmer became the first Prime Minister since Brexit to join a meeting of European Union leaders, as he travelled to Brussels at the start of the week for talks which focused on defence and security co-operation. While he was out there, Starmer also met with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and held a joint press conference to reinforce the UK’s commitment to NATO and to call on Europe to “shoulder more of the burden” when it comes to defence spending. The Presidents of the European Council and European Commission will also come to the UK for a summit on 19 May to discuss the UK’s relationship with the EU, with all of this part of the Government’s attempts to “reset” the UK-EU partnership. The PM’s week has also been spent trying to tread a fine line in relation to the new US administration, seeking to avoid tariffs while also not supporting Trump’s new policy on Gaza… labelled “ethnic cleansing” by UN Secretary General António Guterres. So far it’s working, as Trump said Starmer had been “very nice” while speaking optimistically about the UK’s chances of avoiding being hit with tariffs.
Good news for the Government this week as the Bank of England reduced interest rates, but bad news for the Government this week as the Bank of England downgraded its growth forecast for 2025 and increased its inflation estimate. With interest rates reduced by 0.25 percentage points to 4.5%, the cost of borrowing is at its lowest since June 2023, which is good news for prospective homebuyers and those remortgaging. But higher energy and water bills are now expected to mean inflation will reach 3.7%, while growth for 2025 is now expected to be 0.75%, exactly half of the Bank of England’s previous estimate.
£2.5bn – amount saved from the NHS due to pet ownership, as pet owners make 15% fewer visits to the doctor for health reasons, according to new data from Mars Petcare
Over 50% – percentage increase in the number of WPQs since the election
11 – number of independent MPs in the Commons after Richard Burgon MP, Ian Byrne MP, Imran Hussain MP and Rebecca Long Bailey MP had the Labour Party whip restored this week
4.5% – new Bank of England Interest Rate
270,000 – number of inactive 16-34-year-olds due to long-term sickness, according to new figures from the DWP
10% – percentage increase for council tax in Bradford, with the Government also allowing a 9% rise in Newham and Windsor and Maidenhead and a 7.5% rise in Birmingham, Somerset and Trafford
£15m – level of funding for the Government’s new Tackling Food Surplus at the Farm Gate scheme, to help farmers redistribute surplus food to organisations fighting hunger in communities.
Six new areas were brought onto the Devolution Priority Programme, with Mayors to be elected by May 2026 as part of the Government’s ‘devolution revolution’. The areas include: Cumbria, Cheshire & Warrington, Norfolk & Suffolk, Greater Essex, Sussex & Brighton and Hampshire & Solent. In addition, legislation came into force to establish four new devolution institutions, which includes establishing two new mayoral authorities in Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire, and the formation of combined county authorities in Devon and Torbay, and Lancashire. The English Devolution Bill – which is due to be brought forward later this year – will also ‘hardwire proposed new mayoral powers into law.’
The expanded Net Zero Council held its first meeting to discuss priorities for 2025/26. Co-chaired by Secretary Ed Miliband and Co-operative Group CEO Shrine Khoury-Haq, the Council brings together leaders from some of the UK’s biggest businesses, charities and organisations, as well as trade unions and local authorities. Priorities include: supporting the development and delivery of sector roadmaps, helping businesses to develop transition plans and investors to identify opportunities; supporting SMEs to decarbonise while maximizing the benefits of the transition; and developing products to support public participation with net zero. DESNZ confirmed that a new Delivery Group will oversee the workstreams.
More nuclear power plants are expected to be approved across England and Wales as the Prime Minister announced a series of measures to slash red tape, such as: including mini-nuclear power stations in planning rules; scrapping the set list of 8-sites; removing the expiry date on nuclear planning rules; and setting up a Nuclear Regulatory Taskforce ‘that will spearhead improvements to the regulations to help more companies build.’ Developers will be encouraged to bring forward sites as soon as possible at the pre-application stage in the planning process, speeding up overall timelines.
Plans for a ‘new era of school standards’ were set out by the Education Secretary. Speaking at the Centre for Social Justice, Bridget Phillipson highlighted that there were more than 600 ‘stuck’ schools in England that have received consecutive poor Ofsted judgements, affecting more than 300,000 children. She announced an initial £20m investment in new regional improvement teams that will prioritise these schools, drawing up bespoke improvement plans.
Nearly 700,000 women will take part in a new breast cancer screening trial to test how cutting-edge AI tools can be used to catch breast cancer cases earlier, according to new plans announced by the Health Secretary this week. 30 testing sites across the country will be enhanced with the latest digital AI technologies, ready to invite women already booked in for routine screenings on the NHS to take part.
The Government’s deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius hit the headlines again this week after suggestions in The Times the £9bn, front-loaded, 99-year payment from the UK to Mauritius that accompanies the islands, would rise to £18bn when inflation is taken into account. Opposition MPs were quick to question the reasoning and thought process behind the deal, with reports even Cabinet Ministers had described it as “terrible”, “mad” and “impossible to understand”.
Another week in Parliament and another week of ministerial statements and urgent questions eating into the available time to debate legislation. 3 UQs and a whopping 5 ministerial statements took up more than 25% of the time the Commons sat this week – one day out of the full four… When not discussing last minute additions to the agenda, the Commons held the second reading of the Public Authorities Bill – to reduce fraud against, and erroneous payments being made by, public authorities; and passed motions relating to social security benefits, national insurance payments, and local government finance. Backbench business debates were also held on coalfield communities and financial education.
Over on the red benches, when not having to repeat the myriad of urgent questions and statements that took place in the Commons, the Lords held the first day of debate as part of the Terrorism Bill’s committee stage – better known as Martyn’s Law, to put in place various measures following the Manchester Arena bombings in 2017; and passed the second reading of the Renters’ Rights Bill. Peers also passed the Data (Use and Access) Bill – sending it across to the Commons with the inclusion of a major backbench amendment related to AI and copyright law that the Government will be seeking to remove from the Bill as painlessly as possible in the near future. Debates were also held on lifelong learning, the creative industries and water companies.
Reform took the lead in a Westminster voting intention poll for the first time this week, coming top in YouGov’s regular poll. With 25% of voters surveyed stating they would vote for Reform UK, the poll gives Nigel Farage’s party a 1 point lead over Labour and a 4 point lead over the Conservatives.
47% of Brits view Europe as the most important relationship to Britain, compared to 21% for the USA and 15% for the Commonwealth, according to Ipsos’ latest poll. The number who answered Europe is the highest since the polling company first asked the question in 2019, when the figure stood at 39%. The USA has risen however to its highest number, from a low of just 12% in 2023.
“The new politics of AI requires a step change in democratic engagement with policymaking” – so argues the IPPR in a report out this week in time for the Paris AI Summit taking place next week… which Keir Starmer has declined to attend it has been announced this week. The new report argues that the potential changes caused by AI are too significant to leave to technical policy experts to decide, and will review early engagement from policymakers to set the direction of AI innovation moving forward.
White British adults are more than twice as likely to live in a household that owns their home than Black African or Arab adults, a new report out by the Resolution Foundation this week has found. The report, investigating ethnic inequality in housing affordability, found that Bangladeshi, Black other and Arab adults spend more than twice as much of their household income on housing than White British adults.
There is a £161m blackhole in the Government’s budget for music education, so concludes a report produced by the UK Association of Music Education by the think tank Demos. The report has called for a boost in funding to help Music Hubs, an increase in funding for music education in schools and the rejuvenation of “cultural deserts” across the UK through targeted local investment including in community spaces and venues.
Just a week after the Polish Minister for Foreign Affairs, Radek Sikorski, called on people to stop referring to the Belarussian leader as ‘Europe’s last dictator’ – arguing Putin has “lept over him in thievery, repression and war crimes” – former Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf tabled a motion in the Scottish Parliament titled ‘Aleksandr Lukashenko Europe’s Last Dictator’. Fantastic timing!
And please enjoy this photo of Foreign Affairs Committee Chair Emily Thornbury and Armed Forces Minister Luke Pollard holding some equipment of sorts… “Best ‘this is serious’ face on three… 1,2,3…”
