“A new Brexit deal is expected to be announced in the next fortnight after the UK watered down its hardline resistance to European judges ruling on issues in Northern Ireland. Sources close to the talks have indicated to The Telegraph that an agreement to end the row over the Northern Ireland Protocol is set to be revealed within two weeks. Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister, is due to speak to some European leaders later this week, with next week initially pencilled in by UK negotiators as the date for announcement. The broad shape of the deal has now become clear, according to two sources from the European Union and two in the UK, with final sign-off still to come from Number 10.” – Daily Telegraph
“Rishi Sunak insisted he is a ‘proud’ Brexiteer today as No10 suggested he was not aware Michael Gove was attending a ‘secret’ summit on how to improve ties with the EU. The Levelling Up Secretary was a participant at a two-day conference looking at ways of boosting cooperation with Brussels. Others present included shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, Peter Mandelson and Theresa May’s Brexit negotiator Olly Robbins…Downing Street dodged criticising Mr Gove for attending the gathering, which took place during the working week and has prompted fears from Eurosceptics of an attempt to water down Brexit. However, the PM’s spokesman indicated that Mr Sunak had no knowledge of the summit until it was reported over the weekend.” – Daily Mail
“It is true that opinion polls currently show a small pro-EU majority, but they did the same in the run-up to the 2016 referendum. An incoming Labour government won’t want to waste an entire parliament on trying to go back in when it is likely, in the event, to lose the referendum. In any case, a vengeful EU is in no mood to offer concessions. Rejoining would mean even higher budget payments than before and having to join the euro.” – Daniel Hannan, The Sun
>Yesterday: Lee Rotherham on Comment: The difficulties involved in identifying and repealing Brussels red-tape have been exaggerated
“Millions of households are facing an increase in their council tax from April, as local authorities try to balance their books. Research by the County Councils Network (CCN) suggests three-quarters of English councils with social care duties are planning a 5% hike. This is the maximum allowed without a local vote, and would add £100 a year to bills for average Band D properties. The government said councils should consider money pressure on residents. It said the amount local authorities will be able to spend next year was set to rise by £5.1bn, representing an average 9% rise for local authorities.” – BBC
“Regular pay has grown at the fastest rate in more than 20 years, but is still failing to keep up with rising prices, official figures show. Pay, excluding bonuses, increased at an annual pace of 6.7% between October and December 2022, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said. The ONS said the increase was the strongest growth seen outside of the Covid pandemic. However, when adjusted for inflation, regular pay fell by 2.5%.” – BBC
“Rishi Sunak has said the UK will do “whatever it takes” to keep itself safe and that its air force is on standby to take down any unidentified objects or suspected Chinese spy balloons that enter national airspace. The prime minister’s comments on Monday followed the launch of a security review by defence secretary Ben Wallace after US fighter jets shot down an “unidentified object” over Lake Huron on Sunday.” – Financial Times
“Treasury officials have identified billions of pounds of overspending and delays in major projects at the Ministry of Defence during increasingly tense talks ahead of the budget. Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, is attempting to secure between £8 billion and £11 billion extra in defence spending during the next two years to avoid deep cuts to the armed forces. The Ministry of Defence wants to increase the defence budget by as much as a fifth to cover the costs of inflation, foreign exchange fluctuations and the cost of funding Nato and Ukraine. However, the Treasury is reluctant to hand over more money to the MoD given the department’s recent history of wasteful spending. During discussions with counterparts it has identified a number of MoD projects that have failed to deliver value for money.” – The Times
“The Home Office and the Ministry of Defence have led a surge in government spending on management consultants, with the latest including a £4 million contract to handle small boats’ arrivals handed to Deloitte. As ministers dropped controls on spending, contracts to consultants quadrupled in six years to £2.8 billion last year, prompting accusations of waste. Six companies were each handed £100 million or more in deals last year alone, led by Deloitte, which signed contracts with a total estimated value of £278 million.” – The Times
“Iain Duncan Smith has accused the Chinese governor of Xinjiang of murder as he joined Uyghur activists protesting against his reported visit to Britain. Demonstrators gathered outside the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on Monday after it emerged that Erkin Tuniyaz, the chairman of the Xinjiang Uyghur autonomous region, could meet UK officials, a scenario Duncan Smith branded “unacceptable”. Tuniyaz was expected to come to the UK this week, according to the reports, with some speculating he has already arrived.” – The Guardian
>Today: Peter Golds in Local Government: The East End takes on the power of the Chinese Government
>Yesterday: Columnist Benedict Rogers: The Foreign Office has no business playing host to the architects of China’s Xinjiang genocide
“The UK Treasury is under growing pressure to identify the local economic regeneration projects that will be delayed as a result of a crackdown on spending by Michael Gove’s levelling up department. Gove has been banned from signing off any new capital expenditure without Treasury approval in an unusual move that indicates concerns over the ministry’s finances. On Monday, the opposition Labour party wrote to chief secretary to the Treasury John Glen demanding to know which housing and regeneration projects could drift as a result of the ban.” – Financial Times
“Rishi Sunak has declined to say whether he has confidence in the BBC chairman, saying he cannot speculate while an inquiry is held into his appointment. Richard Sharp is under scrutiny after it emerged he had acted as a go-between for a loan guarantee for then-prime minister Boris Johnson. An MPs’ committee has said Mr Sharp made “significant errors of judgement” in doing this while applying for the BBC job.” – BBC
“Nicola Sturgeon has been hit by a fresh hammer blow after new polling suggested support for Scottish independence and the SNP overall has plummeted. The latest polling of 2,100 Scots from Lord Ashcroft for Holyrood magazine indicated the country would vote 56 percent to 44 percent in favour of remaining in the UK. That is almost identical to the failed Scottish independence referendum from 2014, which saw Scots vote by a margin of 55 percent to 45 percent against splitting from Britain.” – Daily Express
>Today: Lord Ashcroft on Comment: My new polling finds Sturgeon waging a losing constitutional battle against Westminster on her gender reforms
“There are real splits in Plaid Cymru following allegations of a toxic culture within the party, one of its MPs has claimed. Hywel Williams praised leader Adam Price but said a party had to be led by a team rather than one person. “Running a party that succeeds and that reaches its goal requires discipline – individually and as a party in general,” said Arfon MP Mr Williams. Plaid Cymru said it was focused on “building” the party.” – BBC
“Britain’s fastest growing far-right group delivered hundreds of leaflets attacking migrants to homes in Merseyside days before a riot outside a hotel accommodating asylum seekers, it can be revealed. Patriotic Alternative has denied being involved in Friday night’s disorder in Knowsley in which a police riot van was torched. However, The Times has uncovered a video filmed during the riot by one of its activists, James Costello, in which he accused the police of deliberately stoking tensions.” – The Times
>Today: Poppy Coburn on Comment: Failure to take action on the migrant hotel crisis is not compassionate. It’s pathological altruism.