Starmer Goes On The Defensive Before Trump Showdown
Newscast
BBC
4.3 • 6.6K Ratings
🗓️ 25 February 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today, we look at the news that the UK will increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027.
The surprise announcement from Sir Keir Starmer comes ahead of his meeting with US President Donald Trump later this week. The increase will come at the expense of the UK’s foreign aid budget which will be cut by 0.2%. James and Alex explain how it will work.
Plus, James and Alex are joined by the former CEO of Music UK and political advisor Jamie Njoku-Goodwin and composer Max Richter to discuss the government’s proposals on AI in music.
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New episodes released every day. If you're in the UK, for more News and Current Affairs podcasts from the BBC, listen on BBC Sounds: https://bit.ly/3ENLcS1 Newscast brings you daily analysis of the latest political news stories from the BBC. It was presented by James Cook and Alex Forsyth. It was made by Jack Maclaren with Anna Harris and Teodora Agarici. The technical producer was Phil Bull. The assistant editor is Chris Gray. The editor is Sam Bonham.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:04.4 | We must now change our approach to national security. |
| 0:08.6 | So we are ready to meet the challenges of our volatile world. |
| 0:13.7 | The reason for this is straightforward. |
| 0:17.9 | Putin's aggression does not stop in Ukraine. |
| 0:21.5 | Russian spy ships menace our waters. |
| 0:25.0 | Russian planes enter our airspace. |
| 0:28.4 | Russian cyber attacks hit our NHS. |
| 0:31.6 | And just seven years ago, there was a Russian chemical weapons attack in broad daylight on the streets of Salisbury. |
| 0:40.8 | So that was the Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, who was giving a press conference in Downing Street, |
| 0:46.9 | flanked by the Union Jack Flags, podium, slogan, the kind of thing they do when it's really |
| 0:52.6 | quite a moment. But actually what he was doing |
| 0:54.5 | was announcing an increase in defence spending. And he's doing that. No coincidence, surely, |
| 1:00.7 | just before he heads to the United States to meet President Donald Trump, who wants European |
| 1:06.1 | nations, including the UK, to do that. It felt like one of these moments where it was the eve of |
| 1:10.5 | a war. I mean, it's not the eve of a war as far as we know. It is like one of these moments where it was the eve of a war. |
| 1:10.9 | I mean, it's not the eve of a war, |
| 1:12.0 | as far as we know. |
| 1:12.9 | It is the eve of a battle, though, |
| 1:14.5 | a battle between the music industry. |
| 1:17.1 | This is a change of gear. |
| 1:19.4 | A battle between the music industry |
... |
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