Trump launched a series of extraordinary attacks on President Zelensky this week, describing him as a dictator, and sidelined Ukraine in peace negotiations he began with Putin to end the war with Russia. In anticipation of a crucial meeting with Trump next week, Keir Starmer has insisted that Ukraine must be ‘at the heart of any negotiations’, and the UK has also announced new Russian sanctions.
On Sky News this morning, Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson confirmed that defence spending in the UK will be raised to 2.5 per cent of GDP, although she gave no timeline on when that might be achieved. Speaking to Trevor Phillips, Phillipson said it was right we make ‘absolutely clear where responsibility lies for the conflict’, and that the government would ‘bear down as hard as we can’ on Russia. However, she stopped short of criticising Trump directly, saying that talking to Putin was a ‘step forward’, and that the US is doing the right thing in ‘taking the lead’ with the negotiations.
James Cartlidge: ‘As a country… we have got to be more resilient’
On the BBC, shadow defence secretary James Cartlidge told Laura Kuenssberg that the government had to go ‘further and faster’ than the proposed 2.5 per cent GDP defence spending. Cartlidge pointed out that defence spending has been on a gradual decline since the second world war, and suggested that cuts to foreign aid and welfare would have to be made in order to increase the budget. Cartlidge said that over the years ‘we have spent the peace dividend on welfare’, and specifically referenced disability benefits for people with mental health issues as an area that would need to be cut, ‘facing the threats that we do’.
Estonian Foreign Minister Tsahkna: ‘It’s better to invest right now in defence than pay later’
Speaking to Laura Kuenssberg, Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna said that the defence of Ukraine was about ‘everyone’s personal security in Europe’. Tsahkna compared the present situation to 1938, saying there were still ‘opportunities to invest… to avoid everything that came later’. He added that the West could ‘rely’ on the Baltic states and Poland, who are ‘ready to fight… together with you if there is a need’, but emphasised the need for Western Europe to invest in defence.
Education Secretary Phillipson: Failing schools will still become academies after new Bill
Labour’s new Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill has come under criticism over fears it will curb the ability of academies to innovate in order to improve standards. Speaking to Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson, Laura Kuenssberg said the evidence suggests that the academy system has largely improved schools across the country, and asked why the government wanted to restrict their powers. Phillipson said that she was ‘really proud’ of what the previous Labour government had achieved with academies, and clarified that failing schools would still become academies under the new Bill. She said the new legislation would require a ‘qualified teacher at the front of every classroom’, and would make sure the new national curriculum is applied in every school. Phillipson added that she wanted the government to be ‘more active, more involved’ in turning around failing schools.
Lord Hague: ‘Part of education is listening to things that make you uncomfortable’
Lastly, William Hague, the Former Conservative leader and new chancellor of Oxford University, talked to Laura Kuenssberg about the importance of free speech. Hague stressed that unless someone is breaking the law, we should be ‘looking at a great range of different opinions’, and said he did not support ‘no-platforming’. Kuenssberg asked if Hague thought that students had become ‘too soft, or too intolerant’. Hague claimed that that was the case with some students, but said it was ‘immensely encouraging’ to spend time with students at Oxford. He argued against ‘trying to wrap yourself in that comfort blanket of not listening to things you happen to disagree with’.
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