News diary 30 Sept – 6 Oct: UK-EU talks, Conservative Party conference, Julian Assange gives testimony

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

Julian Assange looks out of a plane window — Screen grab taken from the X (formerly Twitter) account of Wikileaks of Julian Assange on board a flight to Bangkok, Thailand, following his release from prison. Picture dated Tuesday June 25, 2024. Picture: WikiLeaks/PA Wire

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

Leading the week

After making trips to Paris, Washington and New York in recent weeks, Keir Starmer is off to Brussels on Wednesday (October 2) for talks with Ursula von der Leyen on resetting the UK-EU relationship. The prime minister ruled out the UK rejoining the European single market during this year’s election campaign, but earlier this month said he would be ‘ambitious’ about what could be achieved in a reset of relations despite initially resisting an EU proposal to introduce a youth mobility scheme – though the bloc is reportedly hoping to reach a compromise on the idea. Since entering No.10, Starmer’s met the leaders of Germany, France and Italy to boost bilateral relations with the major European powers, and now attention turns to the head of the European Commission for a meeting which will be closely studied by those on both sides of the Brexit argument.

A Conservative Party in transition will arrive in Birmingham this weekend for its first conference in opposition for 15 years and with its new leader still to be decided. It’s set to be a more muted affair this year: there’s no leader’s address, no Boris Johnson, and the Shadow Cabinet are delivering speeches in the knowledge they may soon be out of a job when the new regime begins next month. The contest to replace Rishi Sunak will overshadow much of the activity at conference as the four remaining candidates jostle to convince members and fellow MPs they deserve to be in the final two later this month.

The agenda has been set up to give Kemi Badenoch, Tom Tugendhat, James Cleverly and Robert Jenrick a couple of opportunities to impress the crowds from the conference stage, but rumours of dark arts and gladhanding among the four suggest the off-stage activity may be more important in the scramble for votes. Each leadership hopeful will take questions from the audience, with Tugendhat and Badenoch first up on Monday (September 30) and Jenrick and Cleverly following on Tuesday (October 1). This is where the pack is likely to be asked about the issues closest to Tory members’ hearts: think economy, illegal migration, border controls, UK membership of the ECHR, and freedom of speech.

Then, as conference comes to a close on Wednesday (October 2), the contenders will each deliver an address from the main stage in a final public pitch before two are eliminated. These speeches will be revealing in terms of whether the candidates aim their pitch squarely at party members or start to look beyond the home crowd with a future election in mind. Elsewhere at conference, Shadow Chancellor Jeremy Hunt, the only survivor of the ancien regíme to get a prime speaking slot, delivers what may be his last major address in the role on Monday. Ahead of the October 30 Budget, he’s likely to have thoughts on the now-notorious public finance black hole and new Chancellor Rachel Reeves’ reported plans to change fiscal rules to open up more public spending.

Britain becomes the first G7 nation to phase out coal power on Monday (September 30) when the country’s last coal-fired power plant ceases operations, bringing an end to an industry that dates back to the late 19^th century and employed over a million people at its peak in the 1920s. The 125 staff working at the power station at Ratcliffe-on-Soar in Nottinghamshire will stay on to decommission the site for the next two years, with plans to turn it into a green energy hub once the iconic cooling towers are demolished. While the UK’s plans for Net Zero have been the subject of heated political debate – former Prime Minister Rishi Sunak was criticised for stalling on Britain’s climate change commitments while Labour’s pledge to have the country running on clean power by 2030 has been criticised by both Conservatives and the GMB union – the coal phase-out is a remarkable success story. As recently as 2012, nearly coal generated nearly 40% of power in the UK, but that had fallen to 2% by 2019 as renewable energy became a cheaper alternative and wind and solar power generation grew. The Paris Climate Agreement calls on all OECD countries to phase out coal by 2030, with non-OECD countries following by 2040.

Looking abroad

Following his dramatic release from British custody and return to his native Australia after pleading guilty to one count of violating the Espionage Act in a Saipan courtroom, WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange is set to appear on Tuesday (October 1) before a Council of Europe panel in Strasbourg. Assange’s testimony at the PACE Committee on Legal Affairs will mark his first public appearance since his release in June, when his wife Stella told reporters that he would need time to recuperate with his family before discussing his years-long ordeal.

His evidence on ‘his detention and conviction and their chilling effect on human rights’ comes ahead of a vote on Wednesday (October 2) by CoE parliamentarians on a draft resolution from the committee which calls on the US, a CoE observer state, to investigate the alleged war crimes and human rights violations disclosed by WikiLeaks and ‘urgently’ reform 1917 Espionage Act to exclude its application to publishers, journalists and whistleblowers aiming to raise public awareness about serious crimes. Assange is expected to observe the session from the gallery.

Claudia Sheinbaum becomes Mexico’s first-ever female president when she takes office on Tuesday (October 1) after storming to victory in June’s elections. A protégé of outgoing president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, Sheinbaum has promised political continuity but inherits significant challenges, including high levels of violence as well as opposition to the controversial judicial reforms passed earlier this month. A number of leaders from the region will attend Sheinbaum’s swearing-in, including Brazil’s Luiz Inácio Lula da and Cuba’s Miguel Díaz-Canel, though big names from elsewhere around the world are conspicuously absent. First Lady Jill Biden is leading the US delegation.

Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte will formally succeed Jens Stoltenberg as NATO Secretary General at a ceremony in Brussels on Tuesday (October 1). Rutte’s years of experience holding together coalition governments will stand him in good stead in his new job, with tensions over the war in Ukraine likely to continue for the foreseeable future. Stoltenberg, for his part, is reportedly set to become chair of the Munich Security Conference, the annual security conference sometimes described as ‘Davos for defence’.

Also look out for…

September 30

UK GDP National Accounts (third estimate)
NEU snap ballot on the Government’s pay offer for teachers closes
Philip Schofield returns to TV in Channel 5’s Cast Away
Prince Harry attends the WellChild Awards in London
Hearing for Trump assassination attempt suspect Ryan Routh
US hosts Global Coalition to Defeat ISIS ministerial
UNRWA head briefs media on the situation in Palestine
Vladimir Kara-Murza addresses PACE session

October 1

Vice presidential debate in the US presidential election
New law on public sexual harassment comes into effect
Energy price cap changes come into effect
Michel Barnier delivers policy address at the French National Assembly
UN Human Rights Council debates human rights situation in Palestine
Louisiana law classifying abortion polls as controlled substances takes effect
Jimmy Carter turns 100

October 2

Pope Francis hosts General Assembly of the Synod
Emmanuel Macron visits Germany
Rory Stewart delivers LSE lecture
Court hearing for six accused of spying for Russia in the UK
Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) begins
Annular solar eclipse in South America

October 3

Laura Kuenssberg interview with Boris Johnson airs
Yvette Cooper attends G7 interior ministers meeting
Sentencing for man convicted in FGM case
BBC documentary The Search for Nicola Bulley airs
ICC Women’s T20 World Cup begins

October 4

Emmanuel Macron hosts the Francophonie Summit
ECJ judgment in Max Shrems case against Meta
ECJ judgement in case over Taliban treatment of Afghan women
Coldplay releases new album
Joker: Folie à Deux released

October 5

Donald Trump returns to Butler, PA for rally after assassination attempt
Palestine Solidarity Campaign holds national demonstration
Colum Eastwood steps down at SDLP Annual Conference

October 6

Isaac Herzog and Benny Gantz speak at the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism World Summit
Presidential election in Tunisia
Kazakhstan referendum on nuclear power plant project
Thames Barrier annual closure