On the back foot: Keir Starmer meets with Emmanuel Macron ahead of an emergency meeting in Paris on Monday © ANP / Alamy Stock Photo
Europe’s 80-year long security consensus was shattered this week as President Trump broke almost every norm underpinning NATO and the US-European alliance which has upheld the post-WWII order and ensured Ukraine’s survival. In a dizzying nine days, Trump and his administration retracted pledges on security guarantees for Ukraine, including the unified NATO position that Ukraine should become a member; implied that the US might not maintain long-security guarantees in Europe; demanded Ukraine hand over natural resources worth £500bn in return for military aid; held talks with Russia on ending the conflict without Ukrainian or European involvement and discussed plans for a direct Trump-Putin meeting; labelled President Zelenskyy a dictator and implied Ukraine was responsible for starting the conflict; and rejected the use of the term ‘Russian aggression’ in a G7 statement to mark the war’s third anniversary. In response, European leaders hastily gathered in Paris to try and form a consensus on maintaining support for Ukraine, without success. Keir Starmer declared the UK was willing to deploy UK troops to Ukraine as a security guarantee, but admitted such a pledge was pointless without US support. It has also intensified the debate around the UK’s ability to protect itself, with the Government coming under increasingly heavy pressure to set out when it will increase spending and how the UK can ensure domestic and European security without US support.
£15.4bn – Government surplus in January 2025, the highest since records began but still £5.1bn below forecasts from the OBR.
3% – inflation in December 2024, the highest figure for 10 months.
700,000 – more urgent and emergency dental appoints due to be delivered over the next year.
£268,000 – average value of a property in the UK in December, up 4.6% from the previous year.
3.7 million – people watched the live episode of EastEnders on Thursday, marking the 40th anniversary of the soap.
8 – counts of bribery that the former leader of Reform UK in Wales, Nathan Gill, has been charged with.
Retailers will now need to report bulk or suspicious knife purchases to the police in an effort to prevent illegal resales. Cracking down on the sale of weapons, the Home Office announced new measures that are collectively known as ‘Ronan’s Law’, named in honour of 16-year old Ronan Kanda who was murdered in 2022. The measures also include increasing the sentence for selling weapons to under-18s from six months to two years.
Big Week for Museum Connoisseurs. Lisa Nandy launched a £270 million Arts Everywhere Fund earlier this week, which is set to benefit arts venues, museums, libraries and the heritage sector across the UK. The funding will be targeted at organisations in urgent need of financial support. Additionally, MHCLG announced that ten culture projects across the UK will receive £67 million.
Unlucky for Trump, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald and Stormont First Minister Michelle O’Neill announced they would boycott St. Patrick’s Day events at Washington D.C. next month in protest against the US President’s stance on the Isreal-Gaza conflict. Party President McDonald expressed concern over Trump’s calls for “the permanent seizure of Palestinian lands” and urged a permanent ceasefire followed by a negotiation settlement.
Nigel Farage has relinquished ownership of Reform UK as the party now seeks to give more control to its members… Well, sort of. In a move first promised back in September, the party announced that it has become a non-profit organisation, “with no shareholders”, and is assembling a governing board in line with the constitution agreed upon by members at its conference in September. According to records filed on Companies House, Reform UK Party Limited is now owned by Reform 2025 LTD… of which Mr Farage is a Director.
No. 11 hosted senior representatives from key companies in the investment banking and asset management sector, as Chancellor Rachel Reeves set out her plans to boost the competitiveness of the UK’s capital markets and drive economic growth. As part of the Government’s Plan for Change, the Government is implementing reforms such as speeding up settlement of securities trading, including share transactions.
The Chancellor’s recent policy decisions have left 52% of Britons feeling less confident about economic growth, according to a new Ipsos poll. This is particularly evident among those aged 55+, with 71% expressing diminished confidence. When asked about specific policies, 72% supported increased NHS funding and 56% welcomed the introduction of VAT on private school fees. However, 67% disagreed with the decision to end winter fuel payments for pensioners who do not receive pension credit and just over half (53%) opposed the increase of employers’ NICs from 13.8% to 15%.
48% believe it is more important for the UK Government to support Ukraine than to maintain good relations with the US, with 20% arguing otherwise and 14% saying neither. YouGov polling also found that 74% of Britons agreed with Prime Minister Keir Starmer that it was reasonable for Ukraine to postpone elections while at war after Donald Trump described President Zelenskyy as a “dictator”.
Scotland’s health and social care spending plans for 2025-26 represent a real-terms freeze, so argues a report by the IFS. It warns that despite the £1.5bn in-year top-ups in the current financial year, the present fiscal situation means it is unlikely that further large increases in UK Government funding will be forthcoming over the next 12 months. This means the Scottish Government will likely have to rely on other sources of funds instead, including carrying forward underspends from this year into next via the Scotland Reserve and utilising Scotwind income from offshore windfarm licences.
With Parliament on a short week’s recess, our usual repository for mishaps, misspeaks and general misdemeanours is sadly unavailable to us… So, you can imagine our delight (and mild relief) when The Times came to the rescue this week in the form of former Chief Whip Simon Hart’s serialized diaries: an incredibly refreshing and very honest account of very recent events. As a warning if you’re still sat at your desk… some of the stories are definitely not safe for work (or Westminster for that matter…). Many names from some of the more eye-opening tales are also kept anonymous, which led to Navigate staff having to spend most of Wednesday on WhatsApp fending off requests to reveal some of Westminster’s best/worst kept secrets (delete as appropriate). Spoiler alert, it will take more than the offer of a pint to reveal the names of the worst offenders, but we’ll not say no to one anyway… Ungovernable, The Political Diaries of a Chief Whip is available to buy on 27th Feb.
