News diary 1-7 April: Johnny Mercer deadline to name sources in Afghanistan inquiry, Netflix Newsnight film airs

A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News.

Screen grab taken from the Independent Inquiry Relating to Afghanistan of Minister for Veterans' Affairs Johnny Mercer giving evidence to the inquiry in London on 21 February 2024. Picture: Afghanistan Inquiry/PA Wire

A look ahead at the key events leading the news agenda next week, from the team at Foresight News.

Leading the week

The delivery of NHS services for trans children and youth is set to transform next week after the Tavistock Gender Identity Development Service (GIDS) closes its doors on Sunday (March 31). The closure of the clinic was ordered in 2022 after an interim report from the Cass Review found it had not responded adequately to the rapid increase in the number of children needing support. It is set to be replaced by two new gender services at Great Ormond Street in London and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool, which are due to become operational on Monday (April 1).

The transition to the two new regional hubs has already attracted criticism after families expressed concerns earlier this month about the lack of clarity over the future of their children’s care. The changeover coincides with a new ban on the prescription of puberty blockers to children on the NHS, ordered by NHS England in early March and implemented from Monday. The decision to ban the blockers, which pause physical changes associated with puberty such as breast development or facial hair growth, came after an NHS public consultation concluded there was ‘not enough evidence’ they were safe or effective.

Public debate surrounding questions of transgender identity will be heightened further by legislative changes taking place north of the border, as the controversial Scottish Hate Crime and Public Order Act also comes into effect on Monday. The Act extends protections against the offence of ‘stirring up hatred’ to minorities who are not already covered by existing law, including those who identify as transgender. Critics including JK Rowling and Elon Musk have claimed the new law erodes free speech, amid fears it will be used to target so-called gender critical feminists who advocate for the precedence of biological sex over gender identity. But Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf has countered that the threshold for charges under the new law will be ‘incredibly high’ and that mere statements of opinion will not result in prosecution.

The Afghanistan Inquiry has given Veterans’ Affairs Minister Johnny Mercer until Friday (April 5) to name the source of his claims that members of the SAS had unlawfully killed Afghan civilians between 2010 and 2013. Mercer, an ex-British Army officer, told Lord Justice Sir Charles Haddon-Cave that he had been told multiple stories of the murder of Afghan civilians and cover-ups, but refused to name the ‘multiple officers’ he said had made the allegations when he was a backbench MP. Haddon-Cave has ordered the MP for Plymouth Moor View to hand over the names of his sources to the inquiry or potentially face jail, branding his earlier refusal ‘disappointing…surprising…and completely unacceptable’, and accused him of having an ‘inappropriate sense of loyalty’. Mercer has until Wednesday (April 3) to appeal the Section 21 order, though is said to be seeking consent from the whistleblowers to pass on their identities.

Looking abroad

Africa’s youngest president could be sworn in on Tuesday (April 2), when 44-year-old Bassirou Diomaye Faye takes over from Macky Sall in Senegal. Faye had just days to campaign after being unexpectedly released from prison less than two weeks before the March 24 polls, which were controversially delayed from February after a dispute over the final candidates’ list. His surprise victory in the first round, confirmed in provisional results released yesterday, looks set to usher in an era of change in the west African country following decades of rule by ‘insiders’ from the APR, PDS and PSS parties. The former tax collector has pledged to reform the CFA Franc currency in a bid to steer Senegal away from its colonial past and into a more pan-African future, and has promised to increase transparency and tackle corruption following years in which opposition politicians and journalists were jailed. Suggestions that Sall could stay on past the end of his mandate on Tuesday were met with widespread protests, but a smooth transfer of power is still dependent on final certification of election results, which is operating on a tight timeline given the election delay.

NATO foreign ministers meet in Brussels on Wednesday and Thursday (April 3-4) amid calls for increased international efforts to speed up weapons and ammunition supplies to Ukraine. Ministers will meet privately on Wednesday afternoon before discussing the requests directly with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba on Thursday during a session of the NATO-Ukraine council, but they’ll be looking to get on the same page after French President Emmanuel Macron’s refusal to rule out Western ground troops in Ukraine caused an uproar last month. Macron and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will discuss support for Ukraine ahead of the meeting, with Blinken scheduled to visit Paris on Monday and Tuesday (April 1-2). The gathering will also mark NATO’s 75^th anniversary on Thursday with a wreath-laying ceremony and speeches from Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg and many of the bloc’s Baltic and eastern European members.

The Israeli Knesset is due to rise for a six-week recess on Sunday (April 7) despite an ongoing row over new legislation to exempt ultra-Orthodox Jews from military service which is threatening to tear apart Benjamin Netanyahu’s unity government. The Supreme Court ruled blanket exemptions illegal in 2017, and the current government resolution instructing the IDF not to conscript yeshiva students is due to expire on Sunday (March 31). Plans to bring forward new legislation faltered this week amid criticism from all sides over reported proposals to retain the exemption while providing for limited gradual Haredi recruitment targets. War cabinet minister Benny Gantz threatened to leave the government if exemptions continue, while ultra-Orthodox coalition parties demanded they remain in place.

The government is due to respond by this afternoon to petitions filed in the Supreme Court claiming the current law is illegal, and is hoping its plans will be enough to warrant another extension until the end of June. If it fails, Attorney General Gali Baharav Miara has warned that the state will be obligated to begin conscripting yeshiva students from Monday (April 1), absent any legal framework for exemption. The Knesset has faced criticism for taking their spring break while the war in Gaza rumbles on and around 130 hostages remain in Hamas hands – Sunday (April 7) also marks six months since the October 7 attacks.