Day: February 23, 2025

As the education secretary announces the first primary schools to offer free breakfasts, Labour MPs question the commitment to fighting poverty

The government is trumpeting its policy of introducing free breakfast clubs into all primary schools in England as key to its efforts to cut child poverty, as ministers appear to have ruled out meeting the estimated cost of £3bn a year to end the two-child cap on benefits.

Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, announced the first 750 schools that will become “early adopters” of breakfast clubs, saying that 67,000 of the 180,000 pupils set to benefit come from the most dis­advantaged areas of England. Continue reading…
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The UK leader has been advised to choose his words carefully at this week’s crucial White House meeting

• Keir Starmer lays down Ukraine peace demand ahead of Trump talks

When Keir Starmer is advised on how to handle his crucial meeting with Donald Trump at the White House on Thursday, he will be told by advisers from Downing Street and the Foreign Office to be very clear on his main points and, above all, to be brief.

“Trump gets bored very easily,” said one well-placed Whitehall source with knowledge of the president’s attention span. “When he loses interest and thinks someone is being boring, he just tunes out. He doesn’t like [the French president, Emmanuel] Macron partly because Macron talks too much and tries to lecture him.” Continue reading…
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ICYMI: Zero Day is 1 of 24 new additions to the Netflix UK library this week.
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Catch up with the most important stories from around Europe and beyond – latest news, breaking news, World, Business, Entertainment, Politics, Culture, Travel.
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The first round of negotiations in Riyadh on Tuesday prompted European allies to rally around Volodymyr Zelenskyy, nervous about Trump’s perceived pivot to Moscow and fears that talks would take place without Ukraine’s direct involvement and favour Russia.
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