Week in Westminster 17191l

To discuss the government's U-turn on taking winter fuel allowance from all but the poorest pensioners, Caroline is ed by the Conservative peer, David Willetts - president of the Resolution Foundation, which focuses on people on lower incomes; and Claire Ainsley, former policy director to Sir Keir Starmer, now at the Progressive Policy Institute. Also this week, the UK and the EU struck a trade deal. Caroline speaks to the EU Ambassador to the UK, Pedro Serrano about it. Reform UK’s newest MP Sarah Pochin, who served as a magistrate for twenty years and the Labour MP and barrister Catherine Atkinson discuss plans by the former Conservative Justice Secretary David Gauke for the biggest shake-up of sentencing in England and Wales for more than 30 years. And, this week marks the first anniversary of a public inquiry report into the infected blood scandal. The former Health Secretary, now Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham has campaigned on behalf of victims and came into the studio with Lee Moorey, who was given contaminated blood.

Radio 4's assessment of developments at Westminster

George Parker of the Financial Times assesses the latest developments at Westminster. To discuss the Chancellor's trip to Washington to try to secure a trade deal with the US, George is ed by Labour MP and Chair of the Business and Trade Committee, Liam Byrne, and former Conservative government Trade Minister, Greg Hands. Also this week, London hosted the global energy security conference. To discuss the green energy transition, George is ed by Green Party MP Ellie Chowns and Gary Smith, the General Secretary of the GMB union. Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine and Conservative MP Dr Caroline Johnson George to discuss the recent Supreme Court ruling that a woman is defined by biological sex. And, in the week of St George's Day, the Prime Minister hosted the first ever Downing Street reception to mark the occasion. To discuss the meaning of 'patriotism', George speaks to Tom Baldwin, a former Labour adviser and the author of a biography of Keir Starmer and Samuel Kasumu, who worked as an adviser to former Prime Minister Boris Johnson.

Sonia Sodha of The Observer assesses the latest developments at Westminster. This week the Prime Minister kickstarted a mission to remake the state which he describes as "overstretched" and "flabby". He started by announcing he would abolish the arms-length body, NHS England. But there was ongoing disquiet in the Labour party about possible cuts to welfare spending which could be coming down the track. Sonia discusses all of this with former Conservative minister, Lord Willetts, who now chairs the Resolution Foundation, and Claire Ainsley, former director of policy for Keir Starmer. After a week of intense diplomatic manoeuvring, could a ceasefire in Ukraine be on the horizon? Sonia brings together Bronwen Maddox, director of the foreign policy think tank Chatham House, and Johnny Mercer, former Conservative MP and Minister for Veterans, who has just returned from a trip to Ukraine. Splits within Reform UK deepened this week following the party’s suspension of one of its five MPs, Rupert Lowe, after allegations of bullying and threatening violence. Professor Jane Green of Oxford University analyses whether the ongoing row will halt Reform's surge in . And, MPs who like to use TikTok are regularly flouting parliamentary rules on filming videos for social media. So do the rules need to change? Former Deputy Speaker, Nigel Evans, and Daily Mail political sketchwriter, Quentin Letts, discuss whether it's really a good idea.

Caroline Wheeler from The Sunday Times assesses the latest developments at Westminster. To discuss the announcement this week, by the US government, that there would be a pause in all military aid to Ukraine and a pause in intelligence sharing, Caroline is ed by former Cabinet Secretary and National Security Adviser, Lord Sedwill and Air Chief Marshal, Lord Peach, the former head of the UK Armed Forces who was also chair of NATO's military committee from 2018 to 2021. Lord Peach has just stepped down as U.K. special envoy to the Balkans. The Chancellor will deliver her Spring Statement later this month at at time of limited financial headroom. To discuss the impact of possible cuts to the welfare bill Caroline is ed by the former Conservative Party leader and architect of the Universal Credit system, Sir Iain Duncan Smith and former Labour MP Rosie Duffield who now sits as an Independent Member of Parliament. Labour's Baroness Hayter and Lord Howard, the former Conservative Party leader, Caroline to discuss the Hereditary Peers Bill which is currently in the House of Lords. The landmark legislation will remove the right of the remaining 92 hereditary peers to sit and vote in the House of Lords. US President Donald Trump has been invited to the UK for a second state visit by the King. To discuss state visits and the so-called 'soft power' of the Monarchy, Caroline is ed by Edward, now Lord Young, of Old Windsor, who was Private Secretary and key adviser to The late Queen. He was with Her Majesty for 20 years until her death in 2022 and oversaw the smooth transition to the start of The King’s reign.

George Parker of the Financial Times assesses the latest developments at Westminster To assess the impact of two completely contrasting Oval Office meetings between President Trump and Sir Keir Starmer and then the US president and President Zelensky this week, George is ed by Peter Ricketts, crossbench peer and Britain's first National Security Adviser. And Labour’s Baroness Cathy Ashton, who was the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, leading its response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea back in 2014. To discuss Sir Keir Starmer's plans to increase defence spending to 2.5% of national income by cutting the foreign aid budget, George spoke to the Labour MP for Hartlepool, Jonathan Brash and the Greens’ Ellie Chowns, who represents North Herefordshire, and spent her career before Parliament working in overseas development. David Gauke, who was Justice Secretary in Theresa May’s government and is now leading a review into prisons for Keir Starmer, has been in Texas this week to look at what the UK can learn from prisons there. Rishi Sunak's former chief whip, Simon Hart has just published his diaries spanning his fifteen years in the Commons - in which he saw five prime ministers, four general elections, and plenty of scandals. He discusses this era with The Spectator's Isabel Hardman.

Pippa Crerar, the Political Editor of The Guardian, assesses the latest developments at Westminster. Following President Trump's announcement of his plans for peace in Ukraine, Pippa brings together Lord West, the former Head of the Navy and Labour peer and Lord Dannatt, the former head of the Army and a now crossbench peer to discuss what this means for Ukraine and Europe. This week, the government made numerous announcements on its housing policy, including its plans for the next generation of new towns. To discuss the Prime Minister's promises to build more homes, Pippa was ed by the chair of the Housing, Communities and Local Government Select Committee, Labour MP Florence Eshalomi and Conservative peer Lord Gavin Barwell, who is a former Housing Minister and was Downing Street Chief of Staff to Theresa May. To discuss the challenges that Reform UK poses for the government and the Conservative Party, Pippa is ed by Gawain Towler, Reform UK's former director of communications and Scarlett Maguire, director of the polling firm JL Partners. And, are political slogans such as 'Take Back Control', 'Fix the NHS' and 'Smash the Gangs' effective in delivering their messages? Pippa asks to political commentator and former Conservative government adviser Salma Shah and Jonathan Ashworth, the former shadow cabinet minister, now chief executive of Labour Together for their take.

Caroline Wheeler from The Sunday Times assesses the latest developments at Westminster. Following Rachel Reeves' speech setting out a series of major announcements on infrastructure projects, including backing plans for a third runway at Heathrow Airport, Caroline speaks to Labour MP, Josh Simons and crossbench peer, Richard Harrington, who chairs the manufacturers organisation Made UK about how to achieve growth in the UK economy. On the fifth anniversary of the UK’s official departure from the EU, the chair of the Foreign Affairs select committee Emily Thornberry and the former Conservative MP and leader of the House of Commons, Penny Mordaunt discuss the state of play in EU-UK relations. The Conservative peer, Charlotte Owen is campaigning to stop the rise of deep fake online pornography and she discusses this with Caroline and "Jodie", a victim of deep fake porn. And, the Speaker of the House of Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle explains the importance of marking Holocaust Memorial Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau in parliament.

Caroline Wheeler, political editor of The Sunday Times, assesses the latest developments at Westminster. To discuss whether there should be a national inquiry into grooming gangs, Caroline is ed by Labour MP Paul Waugh who represents Rochdale, and former Conservative MP Laura Farris, who served as Safeguarding Minister in Rishi Sunak's government. Following the announcement of the government's plans to reducing waiting lists in England, Caroline speaks to surgeon and former Labour Health Minister Ara Darzi who now sits in the House of Lords as an independent peer. He is the author of the recent government review into the NHS in England. As the Chancellor Rachel Reeves visits China, Caroline brings together the chair of the business and trade select committee, Liam Byrne, and Conservative MP, Tom Tugendhat, who is a former Security Minister. And, finally, the beginning of the Westminster week was dominated by political interventions made by the owner of the social media platform X. To discuss how the Prime Minister should handle such interventions, Caroline brought together Katie Perrior, former Downing Street Director of Communications for Theresa May and David Yelland, a former newspaper editor who is co-presenter of Radio 4's ‘When It Hits the Fan’.

Pippa Crerar, political editor of The Guardian, assesses the latest developments at Westminster. To discuss the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, Pippa is ed by Sir Simon Fraser who was Permanent Secretary of the Foreign Office during the Arab Spring and now chairs the foreign affairs think tank Chatham House, and Sarah Champion, Labour MP and chair of Parliament's International Development Select Committee. Labour MP Dan Tomlinson and Conservative MP Greg Smith debate the government's reforms to the planning system which it hopes will help deliver 1.5 million more homes over the course of this Parliament. As the House of Lords debates the government's Hereditary Peers Bill for the first time, Pippa speaks to Charles Hay, Earl of Kinnoull, convener of the independent crossbenchers and a hereditary peer himself, about his ideas for reforming the upper chamber. And, to discuss the 5 year anniversary of the 2019 election, Pippa brings together former Conservative MP, Dehenna Davison, who won the seat of Bishop Auckland in that election, and Jane Green, professor of politics at Oxford University and co-director of the British Election Study.

Caroline Wheeler of The Sunday Times assesses the latest developments at Westminster. Following the publication of the assisted dying bill, Caroline speaks to one of its ers, the Labour MP and former surgeon, Peter Prinsley, and the palliative care expert and long-time campaigner against assisted dying, Baroness Ilora Finlay. To discuss what the election of Donald Trump means for the war in Ukraine, Caroline brings together the former Conservative Defence Secretary, Grant Shapps, and Nato's former Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in Europe, General Sir John McColl. Dale Vince, founder of the green energy company Ecotricity and one of Labour's biggest donors, discusses the COP29 summit in Azerbaijan and the UK's drive for net zero. And, as Donald Trump appoints Elon Musk to look at ways to cut trillions from US government spending, Caroline asks if the UK could benefit from a similar endeavour with Labour MP, and chair of the Treasury Select Committee, Meg Hillier, and the former Director General of the Institute of Economic Affairs, Mark Littlewood.

Ben Riley Smith of The Daily Telegraph looks back on the week in Westminster. In the week of the election of Donald Trump as the next US President, Ben discusses the implications of the result with Stewart Woods, Labour peer and former adviser to Gordon Brown and Sir Liam Fox, the former Conservative Defence Secretary - and International Trade Secretary during Donald Trump's first presidency. To discuss the impact of the changes to inheritance tax on farms Ben is ed by Liberal Democrat MP Sarah Dyke and the Deputy Director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Helen Miller. The former Universities Minister and Conservative peer, Jo Johnson, discusses the government's announcement, earlier this week, that tuition fees for students in England would rise next year. And, as the new Conservative party leader, Kemi Badenoch, faced Sir Keir Starmer for the first time at Prime Minister's Questions, Quentin Letts, political sketchwriter for the Daily Mail and Jessica Elgot, Deputy Political Editor of the Guardian give us their verdict.

Radio 4's weekly assessment of developments at Westminster

Pippa Crerar, political editor of the Guardian, is ed by a range of guests. To look ahead to the Budget on 30 October, she speaks to Labour MP and parliamentary aide to the Cabinet Office Torsten Bell and the shadow housing minister Baroness JoJo Penn. With the foreign secretary David Lammy heading to China this week, Labour peer, Helena Kennedy, who co-chairs the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China and the former Conservative MP Richard Graham, who, until recently, chaired the all-party parliamentary group on China assess UK-China relations. Former cabinet minister and Conservative MP, Sir Gavin Williamson MP explains why he wants to remove all 26 bishops from the House of Lords. And to discuss how the Taylor Swift row has been handled, Pippa spoke to Tom Baldwin, a former Labour party communications director and biographer of Keir Starmer and Katie Perrior, the founder of the public relations firm iNHouse.

George Parker of the Financial Times analyses the week's political developments at Westminster. In the week of Sir Keir Starmer's 100 days in Number Ten, the former deputy chief of staff to David Cameron, Baroness Kate Fall, and Tony Blair's former director of political operations, John McTernan, discuss the political fallout of the resignation of the Prime Minister's chief of staff, Sue Gray. To discuss the forthcoming budget George is ed by former Treasury minister and crossbecnh peer, Lord O'Neill and the Head of Bloomberg Economics, Stephanie Flanders. Following his retirement from the House of Lords, the Labour politician and founding member of the Social Democratic Party, Lord Owen, discusses his life in politics. Two former Conservative MPs, David Gauke and Miriam Cates discuss the latest in the Conservative leadership contest.

George Parker of the Financial Times analyses the week's political developments at Westminster. Following the Prime Minister's visit to Washington, the former UK Ambassador to the US, Lord Darroch, and Sir Keir Starmer's former director of strategy, Deborah Mattinson, assess the global security situation and what impact the US election will have on Western foreign policy. To discuss the state of the NHS following a damning report from former minister Lord Darzi, George is ed by former Labour Health Secretary, Patricia Hewitt, and former Conservative Chair of the Health Select Committee Steve Brine. Professor Richard Davies of the LSE, presenter of a new radio documentary about the Port Talbot steel works, explains what this week's government announcement about the plant means for the future of steel-making in Britain. And, as the Spending Review gets underway, George brings together two former Treasury ministers, Danny Alexander and David Gauke, to lift the lid on how departments can wring money out of the exchequer.

Pippa Crerar, political editor of The Guardian looks back at the political week in which the new Labour government presented its first KIng's Speech in fifteen years. To discuss the government's legislative programme Pippa is ed by former Conservative Minister George Freeman MP and by Labour MP Mary Creagh, who was re-elected to Parliament earlier this month - having lost her seat in the 2019 election. Former EU High Representative for foreign affairs and security policy, Baroness Cathy Ashton and Lord Kim Darroch, who was Ambassador to the United States during the Obama and Trump presidencies, discuss the foreign policy challenges facing Sir Keir Starmer. Following the announcement, in the King's Speech, that the government will remove the right of hereditary peers to sit and vote in Parliament's upper chamber, Pippa Crerar speaks to Charles Courtenay, the Earl of Devon, about his thoughts on the plan. And, what books should a new Prime Minister read? Conservative peer, journalist and author Daniel Finkelstein and Helen Lewis, author and staff writer at The Atlantic magazine, offer their selection of books.

Steve Richards analyses the results of the local elections - and what it means for a general election - with a of journalists: George Parker, political editor of the Financial Times; Sonia Sodha, chief leader writer at The Observer and Iain Martin from The Times.

George Parker of the Financial Times is ed by a range of guests to analyse the latest developments at Westminster. To discuss the boost to defence spending pledged by Rishi Sunak, he speaks to Labour peer and former head of the navy, iral Lord West and former soldier and the chair of the defence select committee, Conservative MP Tobias Ellwood. Labour MP, Bell Ribeiro-Addy and Conservative MP, Sir Edward Leigh discuss Parliament's approval of the controversial Rwanda deportation bill and consider what happens next. Twenty years on from a near-fatal car crash, dotcom entrepreneur and crossbench peer, Martha Lane-Fox explains what her 'mountain mission' is and discusses technology and artificial intelligence. And, to reflect on the life of former Labour minister and crossbench peer Frank Field who died this week, he is ed by Labour MP Dame Angela Eagle whose constituency bordered his and former Work and Pensions Secretary, Conservative MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith

Sonia Sodha of The Observer is ed by a range of guests to analyse the latest developments at Westminster. To discuss the confrontation between Israel and Iran she speaks to former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith and former British diplomat Sir William Patey. Following newspaper allegations about Conservative MP Mark Menzies she looks at how parties deal with such issues with Francis Elliott, editor of The House magazine, and Anne Perkins, a former political correspondent for The Guardian. Paul Johnson of The Institute for Fiscal Studies explains some new research looking at the success of SureStart and discusses how future governments can do meaningful social policy in an era of fiscal restraint. And, to reflect on the release of Liz Truss's book and her opposition to Rishi Sunak's smoking ban, Sonia is ed by Mark Littlewood, director of the Truss-ing 'Popular Conservatism' group, and Anna Soubry, a former Conservative MP and public health minister.