Keir Starmer to seek to bolster defence ties as he hosts New Zealand PM

Keir Starmer will seek to strengthen the UK’s defence ties with New Zealand when he hosts the country’s prime minister on Tuesday.When he meets Christopher Luxon, Starmer will discuss extending a training programme for Ukrainian troops run by the two countries and agree a new £30m weapons deal.The meeting comes before a London gathering of British, French, German, Ukrainian and US officials on Wednesday. The US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, is also expected to attend.French officials said the five countries held an “excellent” day of talks in Paris last week, with Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, urging those present to put pressure on Moscow to end the fighting

Reeves to make case for free global trade at Washington IMF talks

Rachel Reeves will fly to Washington this week to argue for global free trade in the face of Donald Trump’s punitive tariffs, amid continued international economic turbulence.The UK chancellor will use the spring meetings of the International Monetary Fund, which is attended by top finance ministers and central bankers, to make the case that free trade is in both British and global interests.One senior official said: “We’re facing a new economic reality, but we’re a heavily trading country, with the value of our exports the equivalent of 60% of GDP, so it’s always in our own interests to promote free trade.”Reeves will urge the Trump administration to cut punitive tariffs on UK car and steel exports and step up negotiations for a trade deal when she meets the US Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, for the first time, allies said. He is seen as one of the less hardline US voices on trade

One more hard-hat photo opportunity for Rachel Reeves | Brief letters

Your pictures of Rachel Reeves in various hard hats, such as the one in Saturday’s paper, threaten to erase the memory of photos of Theresa and Philip May exiting church. Perhaps you could furnish us with a photo of Ms Reeves explaining to a group of benefit recipients why she proposed to cut their annual incomes by thousands of pounds, an encounter which would produce yet another hard-hat photo opportunity.Roderick MacFarquharEdinburgh Will UK universities follow France’s Aix-Marseille University in offering US-based researchers threatened by Trump’s crackdown on academia a “safe place” to undertake their work (Report, 17 April)? Will the government support such an initiative, or will they worry about upsetting the possibility of a UK-US trade deal?Rhiannon JonesSheffield I’d like the government to explain how we got into a situation where the wronged party pays the fines of those who broke the law (Water companies’ pollution incidents in England increased by 30% in 2024, 16 April).Marc Smith-EvansBagabag, the Philippines Things can get better (The death of customer service: why has it become so, so bad?, 17 April). The Passport Office recently renewed my passport in under a week

Some British MPs spending equivalent of a day a week doing second jobs

A total of six MPs have spent on average one working day a week on second jobs since the start of the 2024 parliament, with additional gigs as TV presenters, lawyers and consultants.A Guardian analysis of self-declared working hours found the six had worked at least 300 hours since July – the equivalent of eight hours a week, in outside employment averaged across the parliament – totalling almost 3,000 hours between them. A further seven MPs had worked at least five hours a week on a second job.Nigel Farage has made more money than any other MP from additional jobs in this parliament so far. The Reform UK leader has declared an average of about 24 hours’ work a week as a cameo creator, GB News presenter, media commentator, public speaker, Telegraph journalist, brand ambassador and social media influencer

Ten assaults a day on asylum seekers in Home Office care, figures reveal

The Home Office is recording an average of 10 assaults a day on asylum seekers in its care, according to internal government data, amid harsh government rhetoric on those crossing the Channel.Figures reveal that there were 5,960 referrals of assaults upon asylum seekers while in the care of the Home Office between January 2023 and August 2024. There were also 380 referrals of victims of hate crimes to their internal safeguarding hub during this period.The data, obtained using freedom of information (FoI) laws, shows that the Home Office received 11,547 reports that people in its care were victims of trafficking and 4,686 reports that they were victims of torture.Ministers have introduced a series of harsh measures against people who arrive in the UK on dinghies, such as increasing forced removals back to their home countries, the deprivation of British citizenship, and exploring returning them to France or to Balkan countries