An atrocity: The Prime Minister speaking at a Downing Street press conference on Monday after Southport attacker Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty © Associated Press / Alamy Stock Photo
The States got a new President on Monday following President Trump’s Inauguration Ceremony. Marking his return to the White House, a series of tech billionaires, social media influencers, media tycoons, former presidents and global political allies gathered in Washington DC for the ceremony. Keen to hit the ground running, after swearing the Oath, Trump used his speech to promise the beginning of the “golden age of America”; promised that the “scales of justice will be rebalanced”; explained that he would enact the Alien Enemies Act 1798 to use the “full and immense power” of the federal and state law enforcement to fight criminal gangs and “foreign terrorist organisations”; and pledged to rapidly bring down prices in America, including declaring an energy emergency, to which he said the solution was to “drill, baby, drill”. And with a busy first week in Office, scroll down to see what Trump has already enacted over the last 5 days.
Back in the UK, the Government announced an independent public inquiry following the sentencing of Axel Rudakubana, the perpetrator of the Southport murders in July. Home Secretary Yvette Cooper announced the inquiry in the Commons on Tuesday, explaining that the inquiry will examine the multiple shortfallings of the State which led to the attack in July, alongside considering the wider challenges of rising youth violence and extremism. The Government are yet to announce who will lead the inquiry but have announced the appointment of Lord David Anderson KC as the interim Prevent Commissioner, the counter-terrorism policing unit, who will now conduct a review of Prevent’s history in this case to identify what changes are needed to ensure serious cases like this are not overlooked in future. The news comes as Rudakubana was sentenced to a minimum of 52 years in prison, after pleading guilty to the offences.
Trump wasted no time changing course as he made his return to the White House, signing a blizzard of executive orders on a range of policy issues after pledging to move with “historic speed and strength” on his campaign promises. Some of the key actions marking his political comeback include:
Immigration: Trump has declared illegal immigration at the US-Mexico border a “national emergency” and told Government agencies to prepare to “immediately repel, repatriate and remove” undocumented immigrants as part of a wider effort to tackle an “invasion” across the southern border. He also suspended the refugee settlement programme, halting all refugee flights into the US.
Economy: A directive has been signed asking all federal agencies to address the cost of living, including action to lower the costs of housing, healthcare and key household items such as food and fuel. Trump has also signed directives which aim to make the US the ‘global leader in AI’ and establish an advisory council on science and technology, as well as an executive order to regulate and promote the crypto industry.
Climate and energy: He once again vowed to withdraw the US from the Paris Agreement – a global treaty to combat climate change – which he described as the “unfair one-sided Paris climate accord rip off”. When enacted, the US will join Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only countries outside the global agreement, which Biden rejoined in 2021. Biden’s Green New Deal will also be terminated, including the Inflation Reduction Act.
Health: The US will withdraw from the World Health Organisation in 12 months’ time and stop all financial contributions to its work, marking the second time Trump has ordered the US to be pulled out of the UN’s health body after accusing it of aiding China’s efforts to “mislead the world” about COVID-19. He has also paused foreign development aid for 90 days, outlining that he wants a review of programs.
Diversity and gender: Trump revoked two orders that Biden signed on his first day in office four years ago – one advancing racial equity for underserved communities and another combatting discrimination based on gender identity or sexual orientation. He declared that the US will only recognise “two sexes, male and female”, arguing that “these sexes are not changeable and are grounded in fundamental and incontrovertible reality”. He also shut down all the offices of diversity, equity and inclusion programmes within federal government “with immediate effect”.
Other actions include: restoring the federal death penalty, which would apply to any “capital crime committed by an alien illegally present in this country” or anyone convicted of murdering a law-enforcement officer; a freeze on federal hiring, except within the US military and several other categories; and issuing pardons for nearly 1,600 of his supporters who were arrested in the riot at the US Capitol in 2021. He also signalled that he is preparing to impose 25% tariffs on imported goods from Canada from 1 February unless the neighbouring nation chose to “become a state” of the US.
24.6 million – number of American viewers who tuned in for Trump’s inauguration, down from the nearly 40 million who watched Biden’s ceremony in 2021.
£17.8bn – UK borrowing in December 2024, the highest December level for four years.
2,373 – number of people who lost their job directly as a result of the 2024 general election (mostly MP staff), up from just 460 in 2019.
14 billion – number of drinks cans sold in the UK annually, used to justify the Government’s step this week towards the creation of a deposit return scheme.
58% – number of major infrastructure projects subject to judicial review, up from a long-term average of 10%.
114mph – top wind speech recorded in the Republic of Ireland as it is battered by Storm Éowyn, the strongest storm Ireland has ever seen.
Keir Starmer announced a major overhaul to the system of judicial reviews against major infrastructure projects this week by scrapping the ‘excessive rules’ that mean ‘unarguable cases can be brought back to the courts three times’. The decision comes as data reveals that 58% of all decisions on major infrastructure have been taken to court, with each legal challenge taking around a year and a half to be resolved and the courts having to spend over 10,000 working days handling these cases. The news came as it was leaked the Chancellor of the Exchequer will reportedly give her backing to the expansion of Heathrow Airport in a speech next week.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves and Business Sec Jonathan Reynolds were among those ministers in Davos at the World Economic Forum’s Annual Meeting to rub shoulders with leading members of the global business community. The Chancellor used the conference to argue Government was ‘unashamedly pro-business… slashing burdensome regulation, launching ambitious planning reform, and leveraging trade relationships… to help businesses use Britain as their base to connect with exciting global markets’. Newly inaugurated President Trump beamed into the conference by video link, but it was snubbed by his biggest backer and the world’s richest man who called it “boring”.
The Royal Navy tracked a Russian spy ship in UK waters this week after it was caught loitering over critical undersea infrastructure in UK waters. It follows a previous entry by Yantar into British waters in November, during which a Royal Navy submarine surfaced close to the vessel 'to warn it had been secretly monitoring its every move’ – something the Defence Secretary revealed to MPs this week. In response to the warning, Yantar left UK waters for the Mediterranean but returned this week, sailing through the Channel, where it was flanked by HMS Somerset.
Speaking of submarines… the MOD granted Rolls-Royce a £9bn contract to design and manufacture the Royal Navy’s new submarine nuclear reactors. Defence Secretary John Healey announced the deal on a visit to Rolls-Royce’s nuclear reactor production facility in Derby, stating that it creates over 1,000 jobs and safeguards a further 4,000, whilst saving more than £400m over the eight-year contract.
The digitisation of public services took a leap forward this week as the Science, Innovation and Tech Secretary Peter Kyle announced the launch of a new package of AI tools – nicknamed ‘Humphrey’ – to assist civil servants in delivering better public services. The Government published its 'blueprint for a modern digital government' and will publish a digital and AI roadmap in the summer, when a digital mobile driver’s license is also due to be published as one of the first digital documents in the new gov.uk digital wallet.
Sir Charlie Mayfield has been appointed to lead the DWP’s 'Keep Britain Working' review to 'explore how to urgently support people with long-term illnesses or disabilities back into work, and to stay in work.' The review will conclude in the Autumn, with the former John Lewis boss meeting businesses and health and disability organisations across the country to identify the scale, trends, obstacles and opportunities for companies when recruiting and retaining ill and disabled people.
Chair of the Competition and Markets Authority Marcus Bokkerink was ‘ousted’ by ministers after he was reportedly not focused sufficiently enough on growth. He has been quickly replaced on an interim basis by Doug Gurr, former head of Amazon UK.
Date for your diary… Rachel Reeves also confirmed this week that she will be presenting the results of the Spending Review to the House of Commons on 11 June.
The flurry of ministerial statements and urgent questions continued this week in the Commons, with 4 UQs and 6 ministerial statements granted, including one on Friday morning. These covered topics from insulation and APR to Ukraine and, importantly, the Southport attacks (with the Home Secretary launching a public inquiry). Following on from last week’s 13 statements and UQs in total, Parliament had some postponed business to catch up on, with Monday seeing the delayed debate on the impact of food and diet on obesity and Tuesday seeing discussion on the Deposit Return Scheme regulations for plastic and metal drinks containers – which Circular Economy Minister Mary Creagh signed into law on Thursday. Additionally, the Bank Resolution (Recapitalisation) Bill passed its second reading and the Public Sector (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Bill was presented.
Roz Savage’s anticipated Private Members Climate and Nature Bill returned for its second reading on Friday, and despite receiving support from many MPs across the whole house, debate on the Bill was adjourned (by 120 votes to 7) after just over three hours of debate. The Bill is due to return on 11 July, giving Savage more time to garner further backing, but it won’t pass without Government support, which it does not currently have (and seems unlikely to get).
The Lords chamber had the more legislation-heavy week, as the Mental Health Bill, The National Insurance Contributions (Secondary Class 1 Contributions) Bill, the Great British Energy Bill, the Non-Consensual Sexually Explicit Images and Videos (Offences) Bill, and the Public Authority Algorithmic and Automated Decision-Making Systems Bill all underwent Committee Stage. Additionally, the Data (Use and Access) had day one of its report stage, which will conclude next week.
The new US President is not popular in the UK, with a survey from Ipsos finding that 63% of Britons have an unfavourable view of Donald Trump, while just 22% view the new Commander-in-Chief favourably. The results of the survey show that people are more likely to view Trump unfavourably the older they get, and that he is viewed more unfavourably than his predecessor Joe Biden… albeit Brits didn’t view Biden with much excitement either.
It does pay to go to university, according to a report from the Resolution Foundation, in partnership with King’s College London and written by former Universities Minister Lord Willetts. While acknowledging the upfront costs of university, both in terms of student fees and not entering full-time work, the paper argues that the financial benefits of a degree are seen over time. It found that by the age of 31, graduates were earning 37 per cent more than non-graduates with at least two A-levels; and that an undergraduate degree is estimated to be worth on average £280,000 for men and £190,000 for women.
A ‘total reset in incentives’ is needed to reduce immigration, according to Policy Exchange’s report on the topic. Highlighting the ‘power of the pro-immigration lobby’, an ‘outgunned Home Office in Whitehall’ and ‘activist judges in Strasbourg’, the paper sets out a series of recommendations for how to ‘reset’ the system and reduce levels of immigration into the UK. This includes: statutory caps for work and study visas, with these allocated via auction; and ‘much tougher provisions’ on employers to prove they have confirmed the right to work status of those they employ.
Thanks to Conservative MP Simon Hoare for giving us something to smile about at the tail end of this week… In a moment of rare cross-party agreement in the House of Commons on Friday morning, the former Local Government Minister rose in support of the Climate and Nature Bill. In a speech in which he managed to sandwich in both a quote from the Bible, and a reference to his new year diet, he noted the UK’s leadership across the world in the abolition of slavery, workers’ rights and indeed votes for women. When teasingly questioned about his specific role in the emancipation of women, he quickly deflected adding “Not me personally! I’m not as old as my honourable friend [indicating to Sir Roger Gale seated to his left]; I’ve just had a hard life!” You can watch the full clip here.
