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Sir Keir Starmer, the Prime Minister, entertained 29 other national leaders online to seek a way of guaranteeing the future security of Ukraine. He then invited European defence leaders to meet in London. He spoke by phone to President Volodymyr Zelensky after the inconclusive conversation between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin. John ‘Paddy’ Hemingway, thought to be the last Battle of Britain pilot, died aged 105.
The government faced resentment in its own party against welfare cuts outlined by Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary: the eligibility criteria for Personal Independence Payments would be tightened; incapacity benefits under universal credit would be frozen for existing claimants and those under 22 would not be able to claim it. Ms Kendall said the measures would save £5 billion a year in 2029-30, but wouldn’t say quite how. With the number of people in jail at 87,556, the Ministry of Justice activated a scheme to use police cells temporarily. A gang of three men was convicted of the theft of a £4.8 million golden lavatory from an art exhibition at Blenheim Palace.
The government announced the abolition of NHS England, whose function will be brought under the Department of Health. About half its 14,400 staff would go, and half of the Department of Health’s 3,500, it was predicted. The economy contracted unexpectedly by 0.1 per cent in January. Santander said it was closing 95 of its 444 branches. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said ‘Net zero by 2050 is impossible’; Britain is obliged to reach it by a law passed in 2019. The Refugee Council said that, by the beginning of the year, 41,987 asylum appeals were waiting for a hearing, and almost 40,000 migrants were being housed in hotels. In the seven days to 17 March no migrants arrived in small boats. The Glen Sannox, a CalMac ferry that came into service more than six years late, cancelled its sailings from the Isle of Arran after two months when a crack was discovered. Two days later it restarted.
Abroad
President Trump of the United States spoke for 90 minutes on the telephone to President Putin of Russia, who refused to accept a 30-day ceasefire which America and Ukraine had agreed, offering only to halt attacks on energy infrastructure. The war continued, with Russia bombing two hospitals. President Andrzej Duda of Poland called for America to base nuclear weapons in his country. The Bundestag voted to exempt defence from the provision in Germany’s constitution that limits federal government borrowing. Serbians protested against the pro-Russian government, focusing on the collapse of a roof at Novi Sad railway station in November that killed 15. The price of gold hit $3,000 an ounce, more than twice its value five years ago.
Israel launched extensive air strikes on Gaza. Issam al-Dalis, head of the Hamas government in Gaza, and Mahmoud Abu Wafah, the highest-ranking Hamas security official there, were reported to be among the dead, which Hamas put above 400. Talks in Doha had failed to extend the ceasefire. A leader of the Islamic State group in Iraq and Syria known as Abu Khadija (Abdallah Makki Muslih al-Rifa) was killed by the Iraqi national intelligence service and US-led coalition forces, according to the Prime Minister of Iraq. America launched a wave of air strikes on Houthi rebels in Yemen; President Trump cited the group’s attacks on shipping in the Red Sea. President Ahmed al-Sharaa of Syria signed a five-year constitutional declaration making Islamic jurisprudence ‘the main source of legislation’. More than 300 people were freed after a passenger train was seized by militants in Balochistan province, Pakistan; 33 militants were reported killed, in addition to 21 civilians and four soldiers. A fire at Pulse nightclub in Kocani, North Macedonia, killed at least 59.
Ekrem Imamoglu, the mayor of Istanbul and a political rival to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, was arrested along with 100 others. America expelled the South African ambassador to Washington; Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, described Ebrahim Rasool as a ‘race-baiting politician’. The United States deported 238 Venezuelans said to be members of the Tren de Aragua drug gang to a prison in El Salvador. Tornadoes killed dozens in the US midwest and south. SpaceX sent a capsule to the International Space Station and fetched home two astronauts stranded since June. Donatella Versace is to relinquish her role as creative director at Versace, which she has held since 1997. CSH
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