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Advance UK News Diary

February 6-12: Biggest day of NHS strikes, Supreme Court rules on NI Protocol, and Bishops vote on same-sex blessings

Justin Welby
February 3, 2023
  • Slice 1

A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News. Delivered to your inbox on Fridays.

Leading the week 

Following this week’s coordinated strikes across the education, rail and public sectors, health unions take their turn at mass action next week as RCN nurses and GMB/Unite ambulance workers undertake the biggest day of NHS strikes in history on Monday (February 6), followed by further nurses’ strikes on Tuesday (February 7) and a Unison union ambulance worker strike on Friday (February 10). There remains little chance of a quick resolution to ongoing pay disputes, with union sources claiming the government is currently stonewalling any offers of future talks on pay. 

Sign outside Met Police HQ reading Metropolitan Police

Former Metropolitan Police officer David Carrick appears at Southwark Crown Court on Monday and Tuesday (February 6-7) for a two-day sentencing hearing, in a case which has further disgraced the Met and sparked a major review of its workforce. Carrick is sentenced after pleading guilty to more than 49 sexual offences including 24 counts of rape, in a campaign which targeted more than a dozen women over two decades. Police have admitted missing numerous opportunities to prevent Carrick’s serial offending, prompting senior officials to warn that public trust in policing is now ‘hanging by a thread’.  Met Commissioner Mark Rowley has moved to introduce sweeping reforms to the capital’s police service in response, with a nine-point plan pledging to ‘deliver change and transformation’.  

A potentially significant moment in the Supreme Court on Wednesday (February 8) as justices rule on the legality of the Northern Ireland Protocol arrangements. The measures, introduced as part of the Brexit deal struck with the European Union, are challenged by Unionist politicians who argue they are in breach of both the Acts of Union and the Northern Ireland Act. The Protocol’s implementation prompted the collapse of the Northern Ireland Executive, and the country remains without a power-sharing government as the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement rapidly approaches. Reports have emerged in recent days that the UK and European officials could be nearing an agreement on revisions to the Protocol, though those suggestions have been rebuffed by EU sources and given short shrift by the DUP’s Jeffrey Donaldson. The challenge has previously failed in both the High Court and the Court of Appeal.   

Trucks queue up at ferry docks to Belfast

The Church of England’s General Synod begins in York next week with one item on the agenda which is guaranteed to generate headlines as members consider proposals which would allow priests to bless same-sex unions. The proposals, which had been years in the making, were endorsed by bishops in January and will be put to the church’s governing body on Wednesday (February 8) to decide whether blessings for gay marriages or civil partnerships should be permitted in England’s churches. The plans have split traditionalists and those who want to see the church better reflect life in the 21st century, with Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby acknowledging they ‘go too far for some and not nearly far enough for others’ before reportedly suggesting this week he would rather see the church disestablished than split over the issue.


Looking abroad 

US President Joe Biden delivers his second State of the Union address on Tuesday (February 7), and his first since Republicans regained control of the House of Representatives. As part of a wider focus on his Administration’s economic policies, Biden’s likely to discuss raising the debt limit following talks with Speaker Kevin McCarthy earlier this week. He may also touch on gun violence, given the spate of mass shootings since his last State of the Union, and is almost certain to raise the death of Tyre Nichols at the hands of Memphis police and urge Congress to pass the George Floyd Justice and Policing Act, something Vice President Kamala Harris brought up when she spoke at Nichols’s funeral earlier this week. Nichols’s parents have confirmed they’ll be attending after being invited as guests of the Congressional Black Caucus. Looking abroad, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is sure to loom large ahead of the anniversary of the invasion on February 24, and Biden may also have words on China following Antony Blinken’s trip to Beijing at the start of the week. 

Congress full for the state of the union address

EU leaders hold a special summit in Brussels on Thursday and Friday (February 9-10) with migration and green industry funding top of the agenda. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen signalled a stronger approach on migration in a letter ahead of the summit, touting a pilot scheme to immediately return failed asylum seekers and urging governments to work together to strengthen external border controls. But much of the focus ahead of the summit has been on the bloc’s response to the US Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), which contains $369 billion in green industry subsidies that European leaders fear will drive investment stateside unless they can find a way to compete.

Green Industrial Deal proposals unveiled on Wednesday include loosening state aid rules to allow further government support and repurposing some €250 billion from the EU’s pandemic recovery fund to help smaller countries subsidise investments at the same level as richer nations. But the plan has already come under fire from some quarters, with MEPs and ministers among those who have warned of the negative effects of increased state aid and likened drawing on existing funding and proposals to ‘little more than old wine in new bottles’.


 

Also look out for...

February 6

Home Office Qs in House of Commons and Lords consider EU law revocation bill 

Anneliese Dodds at IfG event on levelling up progress 

French parliament takes up controversial pension reform proposals 

February 7

Richard Sharp at DCMS committee on the work of the BBC 

John Major at committee on the Good Friday Agreement 

Retail bank CEOs at Treasury Committee session 

BP results 

Inquest opens into death of Archie Battersbee 

IAEA head Rafael Grossi delivers speech at Chatham House 

February 8

Northern Ireland and PMQs in the Commons 

Michelle Donelan speech on digital connectivity 

FBU leaders meeting with fire service employers ahead of strike announcement 

MH17 Joint Investigation Team press briefing 

Lockerbie suspect Abu Agila Mas'ud arraignment 

February 9

West Lancashire by-election to replace Rosie Cooper MP 

Andrew Bailey at Treasury committee session on MPC reports 

University staff strike 

Monthly NHS key services data 

Cyril Ramaphosa delivers State of the Nation address

February 10

UK Q4 GDP 

West Lancashire by-election result 

BMA opens consultative strike ballot for NHS consultants 

Joe Biden and Brazil’s Lula meet in Washington DC 

February 11

BRIT awards 

Second round of Six Nations fixtures 

February 12

Labour local government conference 

30 years ago: James Bulger murdered 

Berlin state elections 

Philadelphia Eagles take on Kansas City Chiefs at NFL Super Bowl 

Statistics, reports and results

February 6

UK construction PMI 

February 7

NIESR quarterly economic forecast 

Halifax house price index 

BRC retail sales monitor 

OECD consumer price indices 

Results from: SoftBank, BNP Paribas, Nintendo 

February 8

IEA Electricity Market 2023 

Census 2021 data on disability in England and Wales 

ONS release on terms-of-trade and GDP 

India interest rate decision 

Results from: Total, Uber, Societe Generale, Disney, Barratt Developments, New York TImes 

February 9

Annual stats on homicide in England and Wales 

Quarterly stats on cancelled elective operations in England  

Census 2021 data on living arrangements in England and Wales 

Results from: Toyota, Lyft, Credit Suisse, Unilever, AstraZeneca, Credit Agricole, Siemens, News Corp 

February 10

UK trade stats 

Quarterly estimates of quality of life in the UK 

ONS insights on climate change 

Moody's sovereign review of Ukraine 

Russia interest rate decision 

Results from: Honda, Olympus 

Anniversaries and Awareness Days

February 6

Children’s Mental Health Week (to February 12) 

National Apprenticeship Week (to February 12)  

Sexual Abuse & Sexual Violence Awareness Week (to February 12)  

International Day of Zero Tolerance to FGM  

Waitangi Day (New Zealand)  

National Sickie Day 

February 7

Safer Internet Day 

February 8

Korean Military Foundation Day (North Korea) 

International Scotch Day 

February 9

National Pizza Day 

February 11

Ebrahim Raisi speech to mark anniversary of the Iranian Revolution 

International Day of Women and Girls in Science 

February 12

Myanmar Unity Day 

International Day against the Use of Child Soldiers 

Darwin Day 

International Random Acts of Kindness Week (to February 18) 


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