Its a great pleasure to be in your presence, stephen. People in ukraine know who you are, they follow you, and they appreciate what you do. No, im thrilled to be here. It was extraordinary to visit ukraine almost a year ago, and i still think about it almost every day and follow whats going on in the news with puzzlement, hope, sometimes despair, and often bafflement. Wars are such complex machines, beasts, whatever we want to call them, arent they . And its very hard to understand them. And, you know, youre a journalist, you both have every right to visit and to be embedded amongst military and to, you know, describe the theatre and the Home Front and all the elements of war, but i was very worried whether i would come across as some kind of creepy tourist who was just kind of feasting on the unusual sight and ticking it off on a weird bucket list. That wasnt my intention, i was invited there, but im aware that its a sensitive area, isnt it . Oh, but you can see. I mean, vitaly, im su
Across as some kind of creepy tourist who was just kind of feasting on the unusual sight and ticking it off on a weird bucket list. That wasn t my intention, i was invited there, but i m aware that it s a sensitive area, isn t it? oh, but you can see. . . I mean, vitaly, i m sure, agrees with me that the reaction of ukrainians that you were there, they were very honoured, they were so pleased, because they know you, and also because you have become a well known advocate of what is a growing issue for ukraine, and that is how to deal with mental health. Yeah, yeah. And that s why i went there. Olena zelenska, the first lady, she has, for a few years now, had these special conferences in which she invites other first ladies and, as they call them, first ladies and gentlemen. So the first ladies and gentlemen gather, and discuss things, and use what i suppose you might call the soft power of a presidential or prime ministerial spouse. Their connections and their ability to get things done
Ministers questions. It is always a little different, the pmqs ahead of the budget. He has vacated the chair for the Deputy Speaker. She will be going through some of the notices ahead ofjeremy hunt, the chancellor, delivering his Budget Statement. He will take to his feet shortly and will probably speak for about an hour shortly and will probably speak for Aboutan Hourand shortly and will probably speak for about an hour and then it will be the turn of the leader of the opposition, keir starmer to respond. We will take both of those live and uninterrupted and we will then have reaction from the Chief Secretary to the treasury, laura trott, part of the treasury, laura trott, part of the Treasury Team and her shadow for labour. Here isjeremy hunt. Madam Deputy Speaker, as we mourn the loss of life in israel and gaza, the loss of life in israel and gaza, the Prime Minister reminded us of the Prime Minister reminded us of the need the Fight Extremism and heal divisions. I start today by r
As he prepares to do this again, hes trying to improve his partys fortunes. This morning, jeremy hunt was keeping his cards close to his chest as he toured the tv studios. But he did give this hint. I do want, where its possible to do so responsibly, to move towards a lower tax economy, and i hope to show a path in that direction. But this will be a prudent and responsible budget for long term growth. With roughly £13 billion to play with, thats less than hed hoped for. The chancellor is scrabbling around for ways to find more cash that would allow him to reduce taxes. And labour arent saying whether theyd prioritise tax cuts or not. So would you bring down taxes now . Well, we want to bring the tax burden down in the long run, but were not going to promise anything which is not completely responsible and fully funded and fully costed. And youll see all of our plans in the manifesto for getting the economy growing because that Economic Growth is so crucial to making People Better off,
Chinese economy. Now, normally, this is a kind of rubber stamp session where pre approved decisions are cleared and made official. But that said, because its so organised and because we already know, or at least the government already knows, what its going to announce, then we can get an idea of what theyre thinking. And people are going to want to know what the plan is for the economy. Theres huge pressure on the real estate sector, local government debt, University Graduates are looking for good jobs all these bread and butter issues, just like in other countries. And even though this is a kind of turgid, rubber stamp mass gathering, people will nevertheless be looking for some concrete solutions to come out of it. And just elaborate, if you could, a bit more about the issues or the biggest issues that are on the minds of people youve spoken to. Yeah, its economy, economy, economy this year. I mean, sure, therell be, you know, talk of relations with taiwan and the us and the environm