Newslinks for Tuesday 4th March 2025

March 4, 2025

Robert Jenrick targets the Government’s defence spending up lift as too small

“Keir Starmer declared at his Lancaster House summit that “We are at a crossroads in history”, leading Labour spin-doctors to brief the papers that the UK has been placed on a “war footing”. Their claim is laughable. Starmer’s 0.2 percentage point increase in defence spending isn’t enough to stop the size of the Army or Navy being cut. It may just about cover replenishing the military equipment we have already donated to Ukraine. Once you subtract spending on our creaking nuclear deterrent, we are still only spending about 1.5 per cent of GDP on our conventional military.” – Daily Telegraph

Trump suspends all military aid to Ukraine – Daily Telegraph
US suspends military aid to Ukraine – FT
US has suspended all military aid to Ukraine, White House official says, in wake of Trump-Zelenskyy row – Guardian
Trump halts military aid to Ukraine after Oval Office clash with Zelensky – The i
How WOULD Keir Starmer’s ‘coalition of the willing’ enforce a peace deal in Ukraine? European troops on the ground and RAF planes in the skies could stop Russia breaking a ceasefire – Daily Mail
Sending troops to Ukraine without US help would be folly, Starmer says – The Times
Donald Trump orders US to stop military aid for Ukraine after row with Zelensky – Daily Express
Not a Don deal. Trump tells Zelensky be ‘more appreciative’ days after Oval Office spat – as Starmer says US President ‘vital’ for peace – The Sun
Western countries must keep military aid flowing to Ukraine, Starmer warns – Guardian
Tax up. Keir Starmer should hike taxes to fund defence spending instead of slashing aid, fuming Labour MPs demand – The Sun

Comment

Trump or Zelensky: That’s the choice Starmer has to make – David Blair, Daily Telegraph

Piecemeal cuts won’t cover defence spending rises, so what’s the plan? – Paul Johnson, The Times

Europe’s reckless bid for victory. It is defenceless without America – Unherd

The Brexiteer’s case for a European Army – The Critic

‘Europe plus’ won’t save Ukraine – Spectator

>Today

Why a Trump-Putin axis does not make a case for the European Union

Policy Exchange report says soaring UK crime costing up to £250bn a year

“Soaring levels of crime are costing Britain’s economy as much as £250bn a year, according to a report that blames austerity for a breakdown in policing and criminal justice. The report by the centre-right thinktank Policy Exchange, backed by the former Conservative chancellor and home secretary Sajid Javid, said that years of cuts to funding for the police, prisons and courts had contributed to a dramatic rise in crime which was holding back the economy. The report said an “epidemic” of shoplifting, alongside other crimes, was hitting businesses, the public sector and individuals hard, with a direct cost to the economy of about £170bn a year, or about 6.5% of GDP” – Guardian

Staggering £250 BILLION crime bill revealed as Labour urged to take drastic action – Daily Express
‘It’s very brazen’: retail workers and shoplifters on the UK’s record theft stats – Guardian
Call for 50,000 more prison places to cut £250bn cost of crime – The Times

Stocks fall as Donald Trump imposes tariffs on top US trade partners

“Donald Trump has imposed a swath of tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, sparking immediate retaliation from Beijing and sending global stock markets lower as fears mount over a full-blown trade war. In the most sweeping trade measures since returning to the White House in January, the US president hit imports from Canada and Mexico with a 25 per cent tariff that went into effect on Tuesday. The White House also imposed an additional 10 per cent tariff on Chinese imports on top of a 10 per cent levy imposed last month. Trump has accused the three countries of failing to clamp down on the trafficking of the deadly opioid fentanyl while also demanding that Mexico and Canada tighten their borders.” – FT

China and Canada retaliate after Trump trade tariffs come into effect – Guardian
Shares plunge as Canada retaliates to Trump tariffs – Daily Telegraph

Firms urge Starmer to go further as ‘right to switch off’ dropped

“Sir Keir Starmer is being pressed to further water down his workers’ rights plans after ministers dropped a right to “switch off” outside working hours. Business leaders said other pressing issues still needed to be resolved to avoid harm to hiring and investment. A measure designed to stop employees from always having to be available will not be enshrined in government amendments to the Employment Rights Bill on Tuesday. The policy, inspired by a law introduced in France in 2017, was in Labour’s manifesto but did not appear in the bill that was introduced to parliament last year. The government had committed to implementing it, but it is understood that the plan will not be taken forward by ministers updating the bill this week.” – The Times

Labour ministers unveil sick-pay guarantee for 1.3m low paid staff under workers’ rights drive – Daily Mail
New DWP plan could stop 1.3m people claiming sickness benefits– The i

Home Office wrongly treated child asylum seekers as adults

“The Home Office incorrectly treated hundreds of child asylum seekers as adults last year and housed them in hotels and detention centres with adults, a report has revealed. The findings came as 592 migrants crossed the Channel on Sunday in 11 small boats, the highest daily arrivals so far this year, as people smugglers took advantage of calmer conditions. It took the total number of small boat arrivals this year to 2,255, a fifth higher than this time last year. About one in six migrants who cross the Channel are unaccompanied children. Fresh evidence has also emerged of the increasingly dangerous journeys migrants are taking to reach the UK from the French authorities, who said dinghies are now being launched as far south as Dieppe in Normandy, 80 miles from Calais.” – The Times

Keir Starmer defends his plan to tackle the Channel migrant crisis despite small boat crossings being up 20 per cent on last year – as PM is set to snub French mayors’ call for him to ‘look at our beaches’ in person – Daily Mail

Iraqi drug dealer jailed for five years cannot be deported because he is too ‘Westernised’

“A jailed Iraqi drug dealer has escaped deportation after he was deemed too ‘Westernised’ to go back. The convicted criminal sentenced to five years and four months behind bars for dealing cocaine at his crown court trial in 2015. He had unsuccessfully tried to claim asylum in 2010 – nine years after entering Britain – but had been granted indefinite leave to remain. The Immigration and Asylum Chamber at the Upper Tribunal in London was told the unnamed Iraqi had now been in the UK for 24 years. The Home Office applied to to deport him following his release from jail but the asylum court ruled he is eligible to remain in Britain. It comes after a judge argued he would be ‘viewed with suspicion’ if he returned to Iraq and ‘face persecution because he would be viewed as Westernised’” – Daily Mail

Pope suffers double respiratory failure

“Pope Francis suffered two respiratory attacks on Monday, more than two weeks into a hospital stay for pneumonia. Doctors had to intervene to extract a large build-up of mucus from the lungs of the 88 year-old, who is battling double pneumonia in the Gemelli Hospital in Rome. “Today, the Holy Father experienced two episodes of acute respiratory failure, caused by a significant accumulation of endobronchial mucus and consequent bronchospasm,” the Vatican said in a statement released on Monday evening. The medical team looking after him intervened to help him breathe. The Pope, who has been in hospital since Feb 14, was put back on non-invasive mechanical ventilation, the Vatican said.” – Daily Telegraph