Dear John,

In the week where NHS England received its marching orders, the Ukrainian and American delegations took a vital step toward a ceasefire in Jeddah and Mark Carney is now running the Canadian government, here is your Weekend Wire…

More cuts than a hairdressers

This week in Westminster the big story has been Keir Starmer’s war on bureaucracy. It is clear that after eight months at the top of the state apparatus, the Prime Minister believes that there is ‘too much stodge and regulation’ in the system. Project Chainsaw, as the move has been dubbed by some in SW1 is about rewiring the British state, improving efficiency and slimming what Labour see as a bloated civil service. A crucial part of the reforms is the mandate that one in ten civil servants will be employed in a digital or date role by 2030 as Starmer seeks to modernise Britain’s governance.

The move has not been without controversy, Prospect Union have pushed back on the announcement, criticising what they see as the continuation of ‘the tradition of treating the civil service as a political punching bag’. The headline news on Thursday and Friday was the decision made by Health Secretary Wes Streeting and Starmer to cull the largest quango (a semi-public administrative body) of them all - NHS England.

Abolishing NHS England and absorbing the body into the Department of Health and Social Care has certainly raised eyebrows, it is hoped that the move will save around £500 million and free up funds for more front-line NHS staff. The move was praised by former Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt amongst others, including many Tories. However, the move is likely to lead to half of those who currently work at NHS England losing their jobs - with up to 10,000 likely to receive their P45’s over the next two years. Three of the most influential health think tanks; the King’s Fund, the Health Foundation and the Nuffield Trust have all expressed concerns about the pressure on resources that such changes will require, but defending his policy, Streeting was firm saying ““I tell people now who resist this reform out of love for the NHS, do not kill it with kindness”.

Cabinet revolt

In a remarkable story that broke on Thursday evening in Bloomberg, over half of the cabinet are unhappy with Reeves’ recently announced cuts to welfare and have pleaded with the Chancellor to rethink her spending cuts. The cabinet’s unhappiness stems from the £6 billion cuts to welfare spending that were announced early in the week, and comes fresh off the heels of the Government’s decision to slash foreign aid to increase defence spending. Discontent has been brewing on the Labour parliamentary benches as more and more MPs have seemingly become disillusioned with the decision by the government to enact what they see as Austerity 2.0. 

Indeed, the news of further cuts by the British government comes shortly after the soon-to-be German Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced a stunning Keynesian spending package which could unlock up to  €1 trillion in additional spending, including a €500 billion infrastructure fund. The move by more traditionally fiscally conservative parties across Europe towards a more extensive economic policy and Keynesian principles may well place additional pressure on Reeves to revoke her own self imposed fiscal rules. 

Apparently there are some cabinet members who are now on resignation watch, keep an eye out for anyone jumping ship this weekend...

Putin it all on the table

It is increasingly challenging for your writer to have any semblance of confidence in whether what I write in the weekly section on American politics will be even remotely accurate by the time you read this newsletter on a Saturday morning. But here we go…

On Tuesday the Ukrainian and American delegations met in Saudi Arabia and agreed on the terms of a 30-day ceasefire deal. Shortly after the agreement  between the delegations was announced, the U.S. restarted the sharing of vital military aid and intelligence with Ukraine having paused both a week prior.

The delegations discussed the importance of humanitarian relief efforts as part of the peace process, the release of prisoners of war and the return of the kidnapped Ukrainian children. Meanwhile, both Presidents expressed their desire to swiftly conclude the long awaited Ukraine-US rare minerals deal, a move which Ukraine hopes will tie America into protecting the country from future attacks. 

The breakthrough in the negotiations has been credited in a large part to the actions of both the British and French governments, who acted as conduits between the at times less than friendly Ukrainian and American contingents. In particular, Jonathan Powell the UK’s  national security advisor has received high praise, the Labour veteran and former Chief-of-staff during Tony Blair’s premiership is said to have orchestrated the talks and played a key role in designing the ceasefire deal.

But Putin made clear at a press conference on Thursday that any peace deal would have to be on his terms. The Russian government has made it clear that there is still much work to do before any agreement can be signed. On Thursday night, the U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff visited the Kremlin to discuss terms of a future agreement. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Mr Trump and Mr Putin would have a phone call very soon to discuss the next steps of the embryonic peace process. America has also placed additional sanctions on Russia in an attempt to tighten the screws on Putin.

E-U do it to me, I’ll do it to you!

The other big news on the other side of the Atlantic and the American stock market has been in a state of freefall as investors begin to lose faith in the economic plan of the Trump administration. As Teslas are set on fire, Trump tries his hand  at car salesmanship, and the Dow Jones falls 8-9% lower than last month, it is fair to say that it is never dull in the land of the free; although just how free is up for debate after the arrest this week of a Palestinian activist for peaceful protest…

In part, the slow deterioration of business-confidence in America has been inspired by the ever more ferocious nature of Trumpian tariffs, the trade spat with Canada continues with increasing urgency and consequences,  whilst tariffs on the EU and UK steel and aluminium came into effect earlier this week to the alarm of many in the British, European and American manufacturing sectors. In response to the tariffs, the EU announced counter-tariffs of around £22 billion including on American whiskey, a move which has led chief-man-child to threaten counter-counter-tariffs of 200% on all EU alcohol. It is hard to keep up!

Carney-da

Speaking of our North American commonwealth friends, Canada, there is a new sheriff in town, former Bank of England Governor anti-Brexit hero, Mark Carney. The known anglophile won the race to become the leader of the Liberal Party in resounding fashion, replacing the outgoing Justin Trudeau. Mr Carney now faces an intense campaign against Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Canadian Conservatives, to see who will win the upcoming 2025 General Election. Carney has so far proved remarkably popular with the Canadian public and is leading a Lazarusian comeback in the polls. Watch this space…

Who would Truss-t her?

Although, you cannot please everyone can you? Liz Truss, on her seemingly endless North American grifting tour, found the time to criticise Carney’s economic management, pot calling kettle black and all that? Maybe Liz can take a leaf out of Donald’s book and start flogging Teslas?

On Friday the ONS announced a 0.1% fall in GDP in January. The best way to fix Britain’s sluggish economy and stagnant growth stats is deeper alignment on goods and services between the UK and the EU. It really is the easiest and cheapest way to unlock Britain’s growth potential, potentially boosting the economy by a mammoth 2.2%. Our landmark research also found that deeper alignment can shield both the EU and UK from new US tariffs.

Naomi Smith Chief Executive of Best for Britain said,

"Continued stagnation is a bad omen for our economy which is yet to feel the impact of current US tariffs, let alone others Trump has up his sleeve.

“The Government must pull every lever to deliver growth and nothing will shift the economic dial or protect us from US tariffs more, than alignment with the EU on goods and services, delivering a boost of up to 2.2% across the country according to independent analysis”

International day to combat Islamophobia

Today marks the third International Day to Combat Islamophobia, introduced by the UN to mark the date of the 2019 Christchurch terrorist attack in which 51 Muslims were killed during Friday prayer. Last year, anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain hit a record high. 

The Islamophobia reporting service Tell MAMA  (Measuring Anti-Muslim Attacks) reported that 2024 saw anti-Muslim incidents in Britain reach a record high. The service said that it had received 9,600 verified reports of hate incidents against Muslims last year and that both incidents on the street and in online spaces had increased dramatically during and after the riots over the summer. 

Since Elon Musk took over X (formerly Twitter), hate speech on the platform has prospered with monitoring ineffective at best and complicit at worst. The speed at which misinformation spreads online and the failure of social media platforms to monitor hate speech has almost certainly stoked anti-Muslim hatred in the UK. Zara Mohammed, Secretary-General of the Muslim Council for Britain, has said that Islamophobia has been "exacerbated" by the thread of far-right extremism, "as evidenced by the terrifying riots targeting Muslims and mosques, fueled in part by misinformation campaigns further perpetuating Islamophobia.”

Alongside today's International Day to Combat Islamophobia, March also marks Muslim Heritage Month in the UK. Muslim Heritage Month celebrates the contributions of the 3.9 million British Muslims who help to make the United Kingdom the vibrant country that it is. So whilst we must recognise and call out the damaging scourge of Islamophobia in Britain and globally today, let us all also take the opportunity to celebrate the endless contributions of our British-Muslim friends who make Britain, Britain. 

Cringe Column 

On Monday it is St Patrick's Day! Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh agus ádh mór ar fad! ☘️

As always a pleasure,

Joshua Edwicker

Content Officer

Best for Britain