Closing summary
The UK’s defence secretary, John Healey, said he wants to deploy British troops to Ukraine as it would signal an end to Russia’s war.
Shadow education secretary Laura Trott said the Conservatives wanted funding to be scrapped for “dead-end university courses”, such as creative art courses, which she said were leaving graduates with weaker job prospects.
Trott also said the Tories would oppose any special educational needs and disabilities (Send) support being withdrawn amid reports that under school reforms for England children with education, health and care plans (EHCPs) will be reassessed after primary school from 2029.
The education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, vowed that Send reforms will “transform support for children and families” and said the government would not be withdrawing “effective support” from children with special educational needs and disabilities under its proposals, which will be unveiled in full tomorrow in the schools white paper.
Phillipson pledged that under the government’s overhaul of the Send system it will take weeks for children to get access to support, not months or years.
The schools white paper, which could face major opposition from Labour MPs, is also expected to set a target to halve the disadvantage gap by the time children born in this parliament finish secondary school.
The government is under growing pressure to alter what is widely seen as unfair system regarding “plan 2 loans” affecting millions of people who took out the loans between 2012 and 2023 and are now saddled with huge interest-laden debts. Bridget Phillipson insisted she wanted “fairer” arrangements for graduates but warned the government was dealing with “a question of priorities” when asked whether the burden would be eased.
Searches are continuing at Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s previous home as the government did not rule out a judge-led inquiry into the former prince’s links with Jeffrey Epstein following police investigations.
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Updated
UK in talks with US over ‘best possible deal’ for British firms amid higher tariffs threat
High-level talks with the US administration over the threat of increased tariffs are under way as the UK government says it wants “the best possible deal” for UK companies.
Business leaders said they expected the UK to “double down” on the existing Economic Prosperity Deal (EPD) – announced by Donald Trump and Keir Starmer in May last year – rather than walk away.
Trump’s deals with about 20 countries, including the UK, the EU, Switzerland, Japan, Lesotho and others, were put in doubt on Friday after the US supreme court ruled that the president’s existing “reciprocal” tariffs were illegal.
The ruling infuriated Trump, who on Saturday announced a 15% global tariff on all foreign imports, under the 1974 Trade Act, a different legal framework to the one investigated by the US supreme court.
It would potentially mean a 5% increase in the existing 10% tariff for UK exporters and a possible rise for EU exporters, too, as the 15% deal it secured was “inclusive” of previous tariffs and the new tariff is not.
The UK education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, admitted on Sunday that UK businesses faced “uncertainty” after the latest developments but insisted in an interview on Sky News that the UK expected its “preferential” trade arrangements with the US to continue. You can read the full story here:
