Defence secretary Healey: UK and Norway are negotiating new defence pact
The UK and Norway have started negotiations on a new defence pact aimed at what the countries perceive as a threat from Russia in the Arctic.
Defence secretary John Healey and his counterpart, Tore Sandvik, started the talks as they met at Norwegian Joint Headquarters, PA Media reports.
PA is carrying some pre-released quotes attributed to Healey, which were embargoed until 13.45. In them, the defence secretary, who earlier this week announced a significant reform of the Ministry of Defence and armed forces in the UK, said:
Kickstarting work on a deep, ambitious new defence agreement with Norway shows the UK promise to step up on European security in action.
Norway remains one of the UK’s most important allies. We will create a new era of defence partnership to bring us closer than ever before as we tackle increasing threats, strengthen Nato, and boost our security in the high north.
Key events
The chancellor has said no one should be in any doubt about the government’s commitment to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence.
Speaking to broadcasters at Warner Bros studios near Watford, she said:
I am absolutely committed to spending 2.5% of GDP on defence.
I’m really clear that a strong economy depends on strong defences and our national security being protected, so we will set out that pathway to 2.5% of GDP.
We will do it in the proper way, but no one should be in any doubt about my commitment to spend 2.5% of GDP on defence.
She also said she wants to create “a culture… of retail investing” to achieve “better returns for savers” in the UK amid reports she is considering cutting the limit on tax-free ISA savings.
Asked about the reports, Reeves told broadcasters:
It’s really important that we support people to save to achieve their aspirations.
At the moment, there is a £20,000 limit on what you can put into either cash or equities (ISAs) but we want to get that balance right.
I do want to create more of a culture in the UK of retail investing like what you have in the United States, to earn better returns for savers.
Not-for-profit appears to own Reform UK despite Farage’s ‘democratisation’ pledge
Rowena Mason
Nigel Farage has declared he has handed over Reform UK to its 200,000 members, but the party now appears to be owned by a not-for-profit company controlled by its leader and chair.
Farage announced last year that he would “democratise” the party after receiving criticism for it being a private company majority controlled by the leader, not a members’ association like other parties.
The company that owns Reform now appears to be owned by a new not-for-profit company, Reform 2025, which so far has just two members and two directors: Farage and Zia Yusuf.
It was previously owned by a limited company majority controlled by Farage but with stakes also held by Yusuf, Richard Tice, the deputy leader, and Mehrtash A’zami, the party secretary.
It is understood this is the permanent new structure of Reform and that Farage and Yusuf are guarantors for the company, and would be replaced if new people took on those roles. The party’s filings to Companies House says there is no person in overall control.
You can read the full report here:
At the press conference in Norway, Healey was asked, following comments by Donald Trump, whether it could be trusted that the US still has Europe’s best security interests at heart.
He said:
Europe’s best security interests and America’s best security interests are satisfied by an end to this war in Ukraine and by a strong, unified Nato.
That’s an argument that we are having and have discussed with the Americans and will continue to make.
Healey said that he had seen Ukrainian leader Mr Zelenskyy’s “commitment to his country”.
He later added:
This was a man who, stuck in his country, led his country, and still does. He was elected.
He’s the elected leader of Ukraine, and he’s done what Winston Churchill did in Britain in the Second World War, suspended elections while at war.
And our job is to stand with the Ukrainians, support the Ukrainians, support them in their fight.
And if they choose to talk, support them in the negotiations as well.
Britain will support Ukraine on the ‘battlefield and the negotiating table’ – John Healey
We have more from PA Media from the defence secretary, John Healey, in Norway.
Healey said that Britain will support Ukraine on the “battlefield and the negotiating table”.
But said talks about peacekeeping forces were “jumping ahead of ourselves”, PA Media reports.
Formal negotiations were still yet to start, he said, despite initial talks between the US and Russia taking place. He repeated that Ukraine needed to be involved in final talks.
He said:
In many ways we’re jumping ahead of ourselves. Our prime minister had made the commitment that if we reach a ceasefire, we reach an end to the fighting, security guarantees will be needed and Britain is ready to play a full part in that and we’re leading some of the detailed discussions about what may be needed, but I am certainly not going to give you any detail that is going to make president Putin the wiser.
He added:
Fundamentally though, the war is still being fought. Russia is still bombing, firing on, launching drones, not just on Ukrainian troops but on Ukrainian cities.
The Ukrainians are still fighting and our job is to support them in that fight, to keep them as strong as they can be when they come to the negotiating table. Support them on the battlefield, support them at the negotiating table when they choose to do so.
Russia’s threat to Europe stretches beyond its war in Ukraine – John Healey
More from the press conference earlier with defence secretary John Healey.
Russia’s threat to Europe stretches beyond its war in Ukraine, John Healey said.
The defence secretary said the reason for his visit to Norway, during which he met with his Norwegian counterpart Tore Sandvik, was to present a united front against Vladimir Putin’s forces.
He said:
One of the reasons that I wanted to join Tore here in Norway was also to remind people that we look at the Russian war in Ukraine, but Russia remains a threat beyond Ukraine, and Russia’s aggression is not confined to Ukraine and we have to meet that challenge and confront that together.
UK and Norway ‘will step up further the support we give to Ukraine’ – John Healey
We have more on defence secretary John Healey speaking about the UK’s defence agreement with Norway.
Discussing the declaration that both countries have signed, Mr Healey told a press conference earlier:
This is a now, a once-in-a-generation opportunity, the chance to deepen further that military, industry and nation partnership between our two countries.
So we have, today, signed an agreement, a declaration that we will work now to forge a deep, ambitious new defence agreement and we’ll do that by the summer.
Mr Healey also said that Norway and the UK will “step up further” the support to Ukraine, PA Media reports.
He later added:
We’ve said as two European nations that we will step up further the support we give to Ukraine. Ukraine is still fighting. We must keep them in the fight. We must try and keep them strong to secure that peace for the long-term.
Ed Davey: Farage ‘sounds like like a spokeman for Trump’
Commenting on Nigel Farage’s response to Donald Trump calling President Zelenskyy a “dictator”, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey said on X:
So Nigel Farage has chosen to explain away Trump’s outrageous remarks about President Zelensky instead of doing the right thing and condemning them. Deeply disappointing but not at all surprising.
He sounds like a spokesman for Trump. He certainly doesn’t speak for Britain.
Farage criticises media over issue of UK suspending elections during wartime
Nigel Farage has attacked people suggesting that the UK did not hold elections during the second world war, and said that it was “about time the British media woke up to the truth of that.”
Put to him on GB News that his suggestion Ukraine have a timeline for elections during wartime contradicted the UK’s own wartime history of suspending them, Farage disputed the claim that there was no general election during the second world war.
The 1945 United Kingdom general election was held on 5 July 1945, 58 days after victory in Europe was declared on VE-day in May 1945, but prior to the surrender of the Japanese in the Pacific theatre of war.
Speaking from Washington, the MP for Clacton told viewers back in the UK:
As you well know, I’m a keen student of history, so let’s get this on the record, very clearly, the United Kingdom held a general election during world war two in the summer of 1945. We were still at war with Japan …. the nuclear bomb had not been dropped. There were British soldiers dying in large numbers every single day in Japanese camps. There was vicious fighting going on.
Farage was interrupted by a presenter interjecting with “there was peace in Europe,” to which Farage replied:
We were at war. World war two was still going on. So just as a matter of historical fact, I think it’s about time the British media woke up to the truth of that.
The UK went from November 1935 to July 1945 without an election, and during the first world war period went from December 1910 to December 1918 without a general election.
Farage compares cancellation of local elections in England to situation in Ukraine
The leader of Reform UK has compared the cancellation of local elections in England to the situation in Ukraine in an attempt to explain why Donald Trump has labelled Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator”.
Having said that Trump’s wods should be taken “seriously” but not “literally”, Nigel Farage said “Let’s be clear, Zelensky is not a dictator, but, but it’s only right and proper that Ukrainians have a timeline for elections.”
Speaking to GB News from Washington, the MP for Clacton then continued:
I mean, after all, I recently said that I thought Keir Starmer was behaving like a dictator because he’s cancelled the vote of five-and-a-half million people in local elections on 1 May. So no, he’s not a dictator, but there needs to be a timeline so that the Ukrainian people can vote on a peace deal.
Ukrainian martial law, which the country has been under since Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022, prevents elections taking place. It is unclear how Ukraine, during wartime, would manage the practicality of allowing a large number of refugees to vote from overseas, or administrate elections in the four regions which Russia has claimed to annex and partially occupies.
Farage said “I’m not suggesting Ukraine has an election tomorrow. But once we see the shape of a peace deal, then of course there should be an election.”
Local elections in nine areas of England have been delayed while Labour devolution reform causes reorganisation from two-tier council areas into authorities with regional mayors. At the time the election suspension was announced Angela Rayner said the government was not in the business of holding elections for local councils that would no longer exist, as it would be a waste of taxpayer money.
Farage: ‘Zelenskyy is not a dictator’ but ‘only right and proper Ukrainians have a timeline for election’
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has broken his silence on Donald Trump’s comments that Volodymyr Zelenskyy, saying “Let’s be clear, Zelenskyy is not a dictator, but it’s only right and proper that Ukrainians have a timeline for elections.”
Speaking from Washington to GB News, the MP for Clacton explained the delay in commenting was down to him being on a plane to the US, saying:
You should always take everything Donald Trump says seriously. You shouldn’t always take things that Donald Trump says absolutely literally. And I think that applies very much in this case.
There’s a lot of bad blood between president Trump and previous Ukrainian leaders. You know, the impeachment that happened was all because of a relationship between the Ukrainian government and the Biden family. So let’s be clear. Zelensky is not a dictator, but, but it’s only right and proper that Ukrainians have a timeline for elections.
Trump’s first impeachment was moved after he was accused of “a betrayal of his oath of office, a betrayal of our national security and betrayal of the integrity of our elections,” by pressuring Zelenskyy to state in public an investigation was being opened against Joe Biden in the run-up to the US election, which Trump repeatedly disputed he lost.
Defence secretary Healey: UK and Norway are negotiating new defence pact
The UK and Norway have started negotiations on a new defence pact aimed at what the countries perceive as a threat from Russia in the Arctic.
Defence secretary John Healey and his counterpart, Tore Sandvik, started the talks as they met at Norwegian Joint Headquarters, PA Media reports.
PA is carrying some pre-released quotes attributed to Healey, which were embargoed until 13.45. In them, the defence secretary, who earlier this week announced a significant reform of the Ministry of Defence and armed forces in the UK, said:
Kickstarting work on a deep, ambitious new defence agreement with Norway shows the UK promise to step up on European security in action.
Norway remains one of the UK’s most important allies. We will create a new era of defence partnership to bring us closer than ever before as we tackle increasing threats, strengthen Nato, and boost our security in the high north.
Earlier today both Andy Burnham and Ed Davey were among those asking why Reform UK MPs had been so silent on social media about recent developments between Donald Trump and Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with the US president calling the Ukrainian president a “dictator” causing a diplomat rift between the US and Europe. Zelenskyy has responded by saying Trump lives in a “disinformation bubble.”
The Reform MP for Great Yarmouth, Rupert Lowe, has just posted to social media. He said “Zelensky is not perfect, but he is not a dictator. Suspending elections, with the aim to hold a vote as soon as possible, during a war the Ukrainians did not start is fair. Trump is right – this cannot go on for ever. We need a long-term settlement tolerable to all involved.”
Carla Denyer, the co-leader of the Green party of England and Wales, has also spoken. She said “Trump sank to new depths with his tirade of disinformation about President Zelenskyy. Ed Davey is right, all of the UK must stand firmly with Ukraine against Trump’s dangerous propaganda, taken direct from Putin’s playbook.”
Former chair of the defence select committee Tobias Ellwood has warned the Britain risks being in direct conflict with Russia within five years, and said that current discussions about possible peace in Ukraine had descended into what he called “foghorn diplomacy” and that US president Donald Trump’s positioning had taken “everybody by surprise.”
Speaking on GB News, the former Conservative MP said:
I’m really sorry to see that the focus on Ukraine has escalated to this public level of so-called foghorn diplomacy. I attended the US inauguration, and many there, and indeed here, I think welcome Trump’s return to the White House, knowing he’d shake things up a little bit, not least in Ukraine and Gaza. Everyone willing to give Trump some latitude, given his very different style of doing business.
But the extent to which he’s been willing to court the enemy, to parrot the very words that Putin uses to blame Zelenskyy for the war, calling Zelenskyy, not Putin, a dictator. On top of which he’s ruling out any future Nato involvement in Ukraine’s long-term security, and dialling back a US military footprint in Europe, it’s taken everybody by surprise.
As well as his moves over Ukraine, in recent weeks Trump has announced a plan for the US to seize the territory of the Gaza Strip and “own” it, forcibly displacing the Palestinian population. During his election campaign, Trump said he would end the war in Ukraine saying “I’ll have that done. I’ll have that done in 24 hours.”
Ellwood said:
Let’s not forget that Vladimir Putin was in a very poor place just a week ago. His economy is heading for recession. The gruelling war that he’s paid a heavy price for with over 800,000 casualties was beginning to damage him politically, and now he’s been thrown a lifeline by America.
This will have huge repercussions for European security, because Putin, who’s increasingly backed by China, is now able to rebuild and fight another day, which he will.
And it’s clear to me that Trump’s view of Europe, that we must try and correct, is currently not one of a friend and an ally, but purely contractual, even as a competitor. That’s Trump’s approach. It’s always been about the deal.
He continued by saying “The world’s getting more dangerous, not less. Putin is on the advance. He wants to go back to Ukraine, get the rest of it and move further west as well. And I’m sorry to say this but, we are likely to be in some form of conflict. Conflict will come to us in the next five years or so, unless we sort Russia out now.”
The former soldier, who was MP for Bournemouth East from 2005 to 2024, also backed the return of a form of national service, saying that critics often misunderstood what was intended when people use the phrase.
He told viewers:
When you mention national service, you’ve got these ideas of the Carry On movies or sending 18-year-olds to the front line. That’s not what it’s all about.
This is about our ability to improve the nation’s security readiness, developing a latent level of resilience, right across the board. Yes, in the army, navy and air force, but in these other areas, the coast guard, the ambulance, fire service, mountain rescue, the defence industry, and particularly cyberskills, AI skills, air traffic control.
It is basically everybody doing a skill set they learn for a number of months, which can be tapped into at a later date, if required, if a crisis emerges.
Council tax rises of almost 20 per cent needed in Scotland to keep pace with England
Local authorities in Scotland will need to increase council tax bills by almost a fifth if they are to keep pace with increases to local government funding in England, a thinktank has found.
A report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) noted “core spending power” for local government and schools in England is set to increase by 7.4% in real-terms between 2023-24 and 2025-26.
With schools in Scotland funded by local councils, the IFS said: “To match this, Scottish councils would need to increase their council tax by an average of 18-19%.”
After council tax charges were frozen by the Scottish government for 2024-25, East Lothian council has already voted to increase bills for its residents by 10% in 2025-26 – with other local authorities expected to impose similar rises, PA Media reports.
David Phillips, associate director at the IFS, said:
If you look at the funding the Scottish government is providing to councils in Scotland and you compare that to what is being provided in England, the increases in England over the last two years, the core funding from the Scottish government isn’t keeping pace with what has been happening in England in the last two years.
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey is continuing to question the absence of comment on Ukraine from senior leadership in Reform UK in recent days.[see 10.30]
In a post on social media Davey said:
There’s a rumour that Nigel Farage is keeping his head down because he’s off to a Trump cheerleading conference over the weekend. I’m afraid I’m being proved right – Farage is far more interested in Trump’s success than British security. He is a bootlicker and a plastic patriot.
Defence secretary John Healey spent Thursday morning holding bilateral talks with Norwegian defence minister Tore Sandvik deep within a mountainside fortress.
Healey and his counterpart held their discussion at Norwegian Joint Headquarters, the command centre for Norway’s military, which is tunnelled into the side of a mountain near the town of Bodø in the north of the Scandinavian country.
They discussed shared security priorities, including Ukraine and defending the high north from Russia, PA Media reports.
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy says she will be “discussing” a Gaza documentary with the BBC after it emerged the film’s narrator was the son of a Hamas deputy minister.
Gaza: How To Survive A War Zone, which aired on Monday on BBC Two, is narrated by 13-year-old Abdullah Al-Yazouri, who speaks about what life is like in the territory amid the war between Israel and Hamas.
It later emerged that he is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.
The BBC apologised “for the omission of that detail from the original film”, and has edited the programme.
When asked about the controversy, Nandy told LBC: “It’s something that I will be discussing with them, particularly around the way in which they sourced the people who were featured in the programme.
“These things are difficult and I do want to acknowledge that for the BBC, they take more care than most broadcasters in terms of the way that they try to portray these things.
“They’ve been attacked for being too pro-Gaza. They’ve been attacked for being anti-Gaza.
“But it is absolutely essential that we get this right.”
She added that she is “about to have” a discussion with the BBC about its reporting guidelines, after a consultation which ended last year.
