• About
  • Newsletter
  • Contact us
Advance UK News Diary

March 13-19: AUKUS Summit, Spring Budget and small boats bill in the Commons

Rishi Sunak holding a rocket launcher
March 10, 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 

A heavyweight trilateral takes place in San Diego on Monday (March 13) as US President Joe Biden hosts discussions with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on the AUKUS defence/military agreement. The leaders are expected to announce the next steps in providing nuclear-powered submarines to Australia as the allies seek to counter China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific, with an enhanced role for Britain in the vessels’ construction set to provide a welcome boost to the UK leader on the global stage. Sunak is also expected to use the trip to release the long-awaited update to the Integrated Review, which has been touted as a major refresh of the Boris Johnson-era strategy for the UK’s defence and international policy. The update could also feature a pre-Budget boost to defence spending, which would please Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and go some way to assuaging the fears of MPs on the Defence Select Committee that the UK’s commitments to NATO could be affected by a fall in spending.

Jeremy Hunt

While Sunak is splashing the cash in California, Jeremy Hunt will be putting the final touches on the Spring Budget he’s set to announce on Wednesday (March 15). The chancellor’s last fiscal statement was followed by warnings that the UK faced the biggest hit to living standards for a generation, and while conditions have improved since last November with inflation slightly down and a recession narrowly avoided, the minimum ask will be to reassure households (and markets) that things are not set to get worse in the immediate future. The apocalyptic reactions to the last two fiscal events mean Hunt has a relatively low bar to clear, though the man brought in by Liz Truss to steady the ship is unlikely to produce many surprises this time around. 

Despite public borrowing reaching record levels in December, the OBR is expected to reduce its borrowing forecast for this year in the Economic and Fiscal Outlook which will accompany the Chancellor’s statement on Wednesday. This is unlikely to translate into any spending giveaways, though an extension to the energy support guarantee is likely to have been priced in by the Treasury regardless and there may even be cash allocated to public sector pay as the government attempts to bring an end to the months of strike action that have contributed to the UK’s recent economic woes. While Hunt will almost certainly ignore calls to cancel the planned rise in corporation tax, despite attempts among some Conservative backbenchers to revive Truss-era tax plans, there are likely to be some tax breaks for business announced as ministers seek to fulfil another of the prime minister’s five priorities. 

Border Force boat in the Channel

As if defence plans and a budget weren’t enough, this week’s big story rumbles on as MPs are due to vote on the Illegal Migration Bill for the first time on Monday (March 13). Sunak’s new legislation would give the government the power to swiftly deport anyone crossing the Channel by small boat and would also ban them for life from entering the UK. The bill also imposes a legal duty on the Home Secretary to remove anyone entering the country via small boat to a safe country, such as Rwanda, without having to hear their asylum claim, provisions all designed to act as a deterrent to the rising number of people crossing the channel. 

But the bill will face scrutiny from parliament, where Labour is whipping MPs to vote against it and Conservatives are lining up potential rebellions from both the right and left wings of the party over a potential clash with the UK’s European Convention on Human Rights obligations – not to mention expected pushback once it reaches the Lords. The UN Refugee Agency has said the bill effectively ‘extinguish[es] the right to seek refugee protection’ in the UK, and lawyers claim it amounts to a clear breach of international law and human rights, something the prime minister seems to have anticipated. In a Downing Street press conference, he said that he’s ‘up for the fight’ if the bill is challenged in the courts, but that the Government believes it is lawful.


Looking abroad 

In Beijing, the first session of China’s latest National People’s Congress wraps up on Monday (March 13). Following his re-election today to an unprecedented third term as president, Xi Jinping is scheduled to deliver a speech during Monday’s plenary, which will be followed by a press conference from the country’s new premier, widely expected to be Li Qiang though a formal announcement is not due until tomorrow (March 11). Xi’s address is likely to be one to watch, if the tone of recent comments are anything to go by. On Monday, new Chinese foreign minister Qin Gang gave a fiery press conference on the margins of the NPC, in which he ominously warned of ‘catastrophic consequences’ if the US does not change its stance towards China. That same day, state media reported that Xi used a closed-door meeting to accuse the US and Western countries of having ‘implemented all-round containment, encirclement and suppression’ against Beijing. 

Xi Jinping next to Chinese flag

Sticking with Asia, South Korean president Yoon Suk-yeol, who will pay a state visit to Washington next month, visits Japan on Thursday and Friday (March 16-17) and holds talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. It is the first visit by a South Korean leader to Japan in 12 years amid a long-running dispute over forced labour during Tokyo’s colonial rule, which has hindered closer cooperation on issues of mutual concern such as China and North Korea.

Back in the US, politicians from across the island of Ireland are expected to travel to Washington, DC for the traditional White House-hosted St Patrick’s Day celebrations around Friday (March 17). The celebrations typically involve leaders from Dublin and Belfast and are likely to be particularly closely watched this year for any signs that Joe Biden’s planned visit to Ireland and Northern Ireland in April to mark the 25th anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement is definitely going ahead. The recent announcement of an agreement on post-Brexit arrangements for Northern Ireland, which Biden will have had the chance to discuss with Rishi Sunak earlier in the week, is viewed as removing a potential obstacle to the trip. The US administration is also likely to use the opportunity to press representatives of the DUP and Sinn Fein on efforts to restore the Executive at Stormont.


 

Also look out for...

March 13

Rishi Sunak holds bilateral meeting with Joe Biden 

Strike action by junior doctors  

Ballot opens in SNP leadership election ahead of Sky News TV debate 

Amazon staff in Coventry begin week of strikes 

Supreme Court hearing in Jermaine Baker shooting case 

Commonwealth Day service at Westminster Abbey 

58th session of the IPCC (to March 17) 

March 14

Rishi Sunak invited to committee session on Windsor Framework 

BBC hosts SNP leadership election debate  

Joe Biden remarks in California on gun violence  

Lithuanian President addresses European Parliament 

Manchester City host Leipzig in Champions League round of 16 second leg 

March 15

Strikes by civil servants, London Underground drivers, teachers, university staff and BBC local radio staff 

Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer at PMQs 

Dominic Raab at Lords committee session on the work of the MoJ 

Real Madrid host Liverpool in Champions League round of 16 second leg 

March 16

MPs debate Budget measures in the House of Commons 

Strike action by RMT rail workers at Train Operating Companies 

West Midlands National Express drivers begin all out strike 

Donors' Conference for the people of Türkiye and Syria  

Pensions reform bill returns to French National Assembly 

FIFA Congress 

March 17

OECD publishes interim Economic Outlook report 

Lib Dem spring conference opens 

Strike ballot for Heathrow Airport staff closes 

Sentencing of Met Police officer guilty of child sex offences 

Cheltenham Gold Cup 

Comic Relief Red Nose Day 

March 18

Deadline for extension of Black Sea Grain Initiative agreement 

Vladimir Putin typically marks Day of Crimea's 'Reunification' with Russia  

Strike action by RMT rail workers at Train Operating Companies 

Micheál Martin discussion in Boston on the Irish-US relationship 

Delayed gubernatorial elections in Nigeria 

Final round of the Six Nations 

FA Cup quarter-final round 

March 19

Mothering Sunday 

Elections in Kazakhstan and Montenegro 

Saudi Arabia Grand Prix 

Finals of Indian Wells tennis tournament 

Statistics, reports and results

March 13

ONS publishes updated inflation ‘shopping basket’ of goods and services 

Results from: Direct Line 

March 14

UK labour market statistics 

Universal credit statistics 

US consumer price index 

OPEC Monthly Oil Market report 

Results from: TP ICAP 

March 15

HMRC release on VAT gap 

IEA Monthly Oil Market report 

Ifo economic forecast 

G20 quarterly growth data 

China’s monthly economic data 

Results from: E.ON, Inditex, Ferrexpo, Prudential, BMW, Foxconn 

March 16

UK regional trade statistics 

Figures on pupil absences in schools in England 

UK wild bird population statistics 

Results from: Audi, FedEx 

March 17

ALVA figures on visitor numbers to UK tourist attractions 

BoE/Ipsos inflation attitudes survey 

EU inflation data 

Results from: Prada Group 

Anniversaries and Awareness Days

March 13

Brain Awareness Week (to March 19) 

Safer Sleep Week (to March 19) 

National Napping Day  

Three years ago: Breonna Taylor was killed 

Ten years ago: Pope Francis was elected to lead the Catholic Church 

March 14

Pi Day  

140 years ago: Karl Marx died 

March 15

World Consumer Rights Day 

International Day Against Police Brutality 

Young Carers Action Day 

Swallowing Awareness Day 

12 years ago: Syrian uprising began 

March 16

Nine years ago: Crimea Referendum 

March 17

St Patrick’s Day 

World Sleep Day 

English Tourism Week (to March 26) 

The Great British Spring Clean (to April 2) 

March 18

National Child Sexual Awareness Exploitation Day 

Martyr's Day (Turkey) 

Global Recycling Day 

Biodiesel Day 

March 19

World Monopoly Day 


Foresight News is an intelligence tool for media, government, PR and public affairs professionals to plan editorial coverage and media engagement.

If you'd like to receive this newsletter by email, you can click here to sign up for free.

If you’d like to speak to us about a subscription, email enquiries@foresightnews.com for a free demo and trial access.

Tags

  • AUKUS
  • Budget
  • illegal migration
  • Integrated Review
  • Jeremy Hunt
  • Joe Biden
  • Rishi Sunak
  • small boats
  • Cookie Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Website terms & conditions

Designed by Interconnect. Powered by Standfirst.