Newslinks for Monday 31st March 2025

Trump “very angry” with Putin for refusing a ceasefire

“Donald Trump has said he is “very angry” and “pissed off” with Russian President Vladimir Putin after weeks of attempting to negotiate a ceasefire in Ukraine. In an NBC News interview, the US president said he was angry with Putin for attacking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky’s credibility, and threatened to impose a 50% tariff on countries buying Russian oil if he did not agree to a ceasefire. “If Russia and I are unable to make a deal on stopping the bloodshed in Ukraine, and if I think it was Russia’s fault – which it might not be… I am going to put secondary tariffs… on all oil coming out of Russia,” he said. The comments mark a shift in Trump’s tone toward Putin and Russia.” – BBC

• I’m not joking about a third term as president, Trump insists – The Times
• Trump’s obsession with Greenland illustrates the Arctic’s importance – Leader, The Times

Starmer and Trump discuss trade deal “at pace”

“Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump have agreed “productive negotiations” about an economic deal between the UK and US will “continue at pace”, Downing Street has said, ahead of a looming deadline on US tariffs. The Sunday night phone call between the pair comes after sources at No 10 said the government was prepared to retaliate against US trade taxes if needed. British negotiators are trying to win a last-minute exemption ahead of Trump’s 25% levy on car imports, which is expected to come in on Wednesday.” – BBC

• Trump cries havoc, and lets slip the dogs of trade war – Leader, Daily Telegraph
• Starmer won’t hit back with tariffs on US ‘liberation day’ – The Times

Timothy: We are entering a new age of empire. Britain must look to its own interests

“Just as Britain should not subordinate its national security to the interests of others in Europe, neither should we be unquestioning participants – “America’s Gurkhas” as Aris Roussinos puts it – in every US foreign policy and military operation. American leadership in the world is preferable to any realistic alternative, but in this new and dangerous age of empire, we need to be clear about our national interest. Trump says he wants to put America first – and we too should only ever put our country first.” – Nick Timothy, Daily Telegraph

Ethnic minorities prioritised for bail

“Ethnic minority criminal suspects are being given priority by judges considering bail under new two-tier justice guidelines drawn up by the Ministry of Justice. Judges and magistrates have been told they should “prioritise” the cases of ethnic minorities, women and transgender suspects because they may be at “disproportionately higher risk” of being remanded into custody. The guidance also advises judges to take account of trauma suffered by suspects whose relatives experienced racism or discrimination, and cites “important historical events which may have had a greater impact on those from specific groups and cultures”. Campaigners have claimed that black British people can suffer from trauma originally inflicted on their ancestors by the slave trade.” – Daily Telegraph

>Today: ToryDiary: Mahmood may be about to show the Tories that you can just undo things

Dowden warns Hertfordshire Police against “curtailing democracy”

“Hertfordshire Police risked “curtailing democracy”, a Tory MP has said after the force indicated he could be treated as a harassment suspect for helping parents under investigation over a school dispute. Sir Oliver Dowden said he was “astonished” that a police officer suggested elected officials could themselves be investigated if they continued to advocate for Maxie Allen and Rosalind Levine. A constable told a local councillor she could become a suspect and said she should pass the harassment warning on to others she had copied into an email about the case, including Dowden, the former deputy prime minister.” – The Times

• Why don’t police stick to stamping out crime, not free speech? – Leader, The Sun

Starmer calls for international cooperation against people smugglers

“Sir Keir Starmer has pledged to tackle people smugglers in the same way as Al Qaeda terrorists were thwarted in their attempts to blow up planes across the Atlantic. The Prime Minister called for governments to apply the same international cooperation to cracking down on people smugglers as was successfully done to counter the threat from terrorist organisations when he was director of public prosecutions in the late 2000s.” – Daily Telegraph

• You are right to be angry about illegal migration – Keir Starmer, Daily Mail
• UK will pay foreign prosecutors to hunt down people smugglers – The Times
• Labour needs to show it is serious about stopping Channel migrants – Leader, The Times
• This extraordinary truth lays bare how broken Britain’s immigration system is – James Whale, Daily Express

Cooper to review human rights laws which thwart deportation of foreign criminals

“Britain has a problem with ­foreign criminals escaping deportation due to Euro laws, the Home Secretary finally admitted yesterday. After months of pressure, Yvette Cooper suggested ministers will review how Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights — the right to family life — is applied in UK law. Ms Cooper told the BBC: “There have been some cases that do raise some real ­significant concerns, and that is also about the way in which the immigration asylum system operates.” She said Labour is reviewing things “to make sure that the immigration asylum system works effectively in the way that Parliament meant it to”. – The Sun

>Yesterday: Video: Cooper reminds police they should be focusing on serious crimes

Reeves asks Whitehall to fund loss-making projects

“Government departments will be asked to fund loss-making projects backed by Rachel Reeves’s National Wealth Fund even as the Chancellor demands deep cuts to Whitehall spending. Treasury documents reveal departments will be asked to pick up the tab for any projects supported by the sovereign wealth fund that are relevant to their brief and “intentionally loss-making”. Losses will be covered from day-to-day budgets, despite unprotected departments facing real terms cuts and looming redundancies.” – Daily Telegraph

>Yesterday: Video: ‘Beginning of the end for Labour’ – Kwarteng

Minister rebukes MPs over campaign for new airport in Kashmir

“MPs who launched a campaign to build an airport in Pakistani-controlled Kashmir should focus on their constituencies in the UK, a minister has said. The group of 20 predominantly Labour MPs and peers wrote a letter to the prime minister of Pakistan demanding that he fund the construction of an airport in Mirpur. The MPs said that a “significant number” of their constituents had concerns regarding “the journey times by road” from Islamabad, about 80 miles away. In a joint letter, they said that it was a “very important matter to the Kashmiri diaspora”…Dan Jarvis, the security minister, told Times Radio that the parliamentarians should focus on matters in the UK.” – The Times

>Today: Robert Alden on Local Government: Our plan to end the Birmingham bin strike

Labour MPs urge higher pay for political advisers

“A group of pro-growth Labour MPs is urging the UK government to raise the pay and number of political advisers, in a bid to attract more experts to Whitehall who can help ministers overhaul the state. The Labour Growth Group (LGG), which boasts more than 100 parliamentarians, has co-written a report with Reform, the non-partisan Westminster think-tank, examining how Downing Street can improve the operations of central government, particularly the civil service.” – Financial Times

• Labour group tells MPs they must be on YouTube and TikTok – The Guardian

Parents of special needs children fight VAT on private school fees

“Since the Labour government imposed VAT at the ­standard rate of 20 per cent on private school fees, thousands of parents whose children attend independent schools because of special educational needs and disabilities (Send) have been forced into drastic financial decisions. A study commissioned by the Education Not Taxation campaign has found that one in five of these families has already remortgaged their home to help finance the cost of rising school fees, and one in eight has sold their home and moved.The campaign is bringing a discrimination case against the government, set to begin on Tuesday, in which parents will argue that Send children have been disproportionately affected by the ­introduction of VAT on school fees.” – The Times

• Bridget Phillipson eyes AI’s potential to free up teachers’ time – The Guardian

Conservatives meet landlords to discuss human rights challenge to rent legislation

“Senior Tories have held private talks with big landlords about how to thwart the government’s renters’ rights bill, the Guardian has learned, with ideas including launching a legal challenge under human rights law. Jane Scott, the shadow housing minister, recently hosted a roundtable meeting with several of the country’s largest landlords and estate agents, at which they discussed a number of ways to delay or stop the bill altogether. The ideas included challenging it in the courts and delaying it with repeated rounds of Lords amendments, according to three people in attendance.” – The Guardian

>Yesterday: Video: Burghart – Tory leader’s poll ratings will improve

Small businesses call on Labour to “come clean” over job losses

“Labour must ‘come clean’ over who will pay for its ‘jobs-killing’ workers’ rights bonanza, businesses have warned. The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) will include an estimate of the impact of Angela Rayner’s radical Employment Rights Bill in its autumn forecast. Ministers expect it to cost £5billion a year – potentially blowing another hole in the Chancellor’s desperate bid to balance the books. The Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is on Monday urging Rachel Reeves to explain how she will cover the cost of the plan. Its policy chair, Tina McKenzie, told the Mail that the prospect of Ms Reeves having to raise so much money when the tax bill is already so high was ‘alarming’.” – Daily Mail

>Today: Alexander Bowen on Comment: Why wouldn’t the Swiss wealth tax work here? All our other taxes

Other political news

• Lack of work coaches threatens Labour’s plan to get people off benefits – The i
• Germany’s defence spending push drives up borrowing costs across Eurozone – Financial Times
• Rising staff costs will push nurseries to the brink next month – The Times
• Toddler kicked out of nursery for being transphobic – Daily Telegraph
• Designers say plans for UK copyright law risk ‘running roughshod’ over sector – The Guardian
• UK cladding fund fix would enable 90,000 affordable homes, councils say – Financial Times
• Labour will lose the next general election if they do not lower Britons’ energy bills, warns Dale Vince – Daily Express
• Sickness benefits claims surge at fastest rate in the West – Daily Telegraph
• Protests postponed after pharmacy funding boost – BBC
• England’s road-building budget cut by five per cent – Financial Times
• Hamas tortures protester to death and leaves body on family’s doorstep – Daily Telegraph
• Morning-after pill to be made free at pharmacies in England – BBC
• MPs’ watchdog asked to reconsider ‘absurd’ pet rent rules – The Times
• How pro-Palestine activists plan to fill protest void left by Just Stop Oil – Daily Telegraph
• People ‘terrified’ by benefit reforms says Welsh Labour politician – BBC
• ‘Nonchalant’ Keir Starmer returns to his old Oxford college – The Times

News in brief

• The economic consequences of Labour, the story so far – Jon Moynihan, CapX
• Two-tier justice – Henry Hill, The Critic
• The good news about Generation Z – James Kanagasooriam and Eddie Barnes, The Spectator
• The police have become the rent-a-goons of the easily offended – Tom Slater, Spiked Online
• How the OBR became the Department for Austerity – Will Dunn, New Statesman