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
We’re not going to jinx it, but it’s worth noting that if England triumph over Spain at Sunday’s Euro final in Berlin, coverage next week will be dominated by plans for celebrations. Either way, Gareth Southgate’s side are expected to return to the UK on Monday (July 15) to frenzied discussions over team selection, tactics, and the manager’s future.
After an opening week in the Commons which saw Labour MPs overflowing from the government benches, Nigel Farage’s debut speech, and the re-election of Lindsay Hoyle as Speaker, attention now turns to the first major domestic milestone of Keir Starmer’s premiership: the State Opening of Parliament on Wednesday (July 17). While the event is enjoyed around the world for the heavy-duty pomp and ceremony, this year’s King’s Speech, setting out the government’s legislative priorities for the new Parliament, will be among the most heavily-scrutinised in recent memory. The speech should reflect Labour’s manifesto commitments on energy security, border control and the NHS, while bills to reform planning laws and protect renters, nationalise the railways and establish a national care service are also likely to be prominent. One of the key issues for the party to address is employment rights, with its newfound business credentials likely to be tested if it’s perceived to be giving too much ground to unions and workers in its legislative programme.
The early scrutiny of Starmer’s leadership continues on Thursday (July 18), this time from an international perspective as the prime minister hosts the latest meeting of the European Political Community. The gathering of leaders from the continent, including those both in and out of the EU bloc, will again be closely watched for indications of the new prime minister’s foreign policy objectives and any potential shifts in allegiance with our near neighbours. Starmer committed to maintaining the UK’s support for Ukraine at the NATO Summit this week and is likely to return to the theme at the EPC meeting; he’s also expected to discuss his plans smash the gangs (Rishi Sunak’s stop the boats redux), and may use the opportunity to respond to domestic criticism of his failure to commit to a timeframe for increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP.
After nearly two years of public hearings, controversial witness statements, and very public rows with the government over access to evidence, the UK Covid-19 inquiry is set to finally publish the first of its reports on Thursday (July 18). The inquiry’s Module 1 report focuses on the UK’s pandemic preparedness and resilience in the run up to and during the pandemic. Prominent political figures at the module’s public hearings included David Cameron and George Osborne, and the evidence exposed deep frailties in the UK’s pandemic preparation, with former Health Secretary Matt Hancock admitting that the government’s approach to pandemic planning was ‘completely wrong’. The report can also be expected to weigh in on the circumstances surrounding the PPE shortage the UK faced at the onset of the pandemic in 2020, as well as the haphazard way the government sought to replenish stockpiles, which saw hundreds of millions of pounds lost to fraud.
Looking abroad
The Republican National Convention kicks off in Milwaukee on Monday (July 15), running through Thursday (July 18) when Donald Trump will deliver his acceptance speech as the party’s presidential nominee. Beyond a brief controversy over Trump reportedly calling Milwaukee a ‘horrible city’, one of the main stories heading into the convention has been the question of who Trump plans to choose as a running mate. Reports suggest that the shortlist includes Florida Senator Marco Rubio, who Trump previously derided as ‘Little Marco’, as well as Ohio Senator JD Vance, whose beard Trump likes, and outgoing North Dakota Doug Burgum. Traditionally, the vice presidential nominee would give a speech on the penultimate day of the convention on Wednesday (July 17).
Meanwhile, in a move likely designed to put to rest suggestions Joe Biden was reconsidering his candidacy following that debate performance, the White House had already announced a busy schedule for the still just about presumptive Democratic nominee next week before he accidentally introduced Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy as President Putin yesterday. On Monday (July 15), Biden will be in Texas for an event marking the 60th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act at the LBJ Presidential Library in Austin, before heading to Las Vegas for speeches at the NAACP’s annual convention on Tuesday (July 16) and the Latino civil rights group UnidosUS’s annual conference on Wednesday (July 17). NBC will also be airing an interview with Biden on Monday night.
The European Parliament will meet on Tuesday (July 16) for its first session since June elections that saw candidates affiliated with the conservative European People’s Party bloc win 188 seats, followed by the Socialist and Democrats with 136 seats. But the third largest bloc is the new far-right Patriots for Europe bloc, which will have at least 84 members and is headed by Jordan Bardella from France’s Rassemblement National. The Patriots will be one of three hard-right groupings in the new parliament alongside Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and the Europe of Sovereign Nations grouping that includes Germany’s far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) MEPs.
In addition to the expected re-election of Malta’s Roberta Metsola as the parliament’s president on Tuesday, a vote is also scheduled for Thursday (July 18) afternoon on European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s bid for a second five-year term from December. Von der Leyen, who has been on a charm offensive in the run up to the vote, is due to deliver a statement in the morning before a potentially fractious debate ahead of the election itself at 1pm. While she has the backing of national leaders from the bloc, she still needs the votes from at least 361 MEPs, teeing up a tense moment when results are announced. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s recent rogue diplomacy is likely to come up on Wednesday (July 17) when outgoing European Council President Charles Michel addresses parliament, amid widespread outrage at Orban’s decision to visit Moscow for talks with Vladimir Putin earlier this month.