The Fourcast

The Fourcast breaks down a huge day for the UK economy and British politics, as Rachel Reeves delivers her Spring Statement with cuts to welfare and a new forecast from the OBR slashing the UK’s prospect for growth.

 Krishnan Guru-Murthy was joined by our Economics Correspondent Helia Ebrahimi and our Senior Political Correspondent Paul McNamara to explain what this means for you and explore the political fallout.

Produced by Giris...

Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin have spoken on the phone for over 90 minutes thrashing out a deal to halt the bloodshed in Ukraine, and Russia has now agreed to a 30 day energy and infrastructure ceasefire as well as negotiations on the implementation of a maritime ceasefire in the Black Sea.

In this episode of the Fourcast, Krishnan Guru-Murthy speaks to Russia’s Ambassador to the UK, Andrei Kelin, about ...

The ceasefire between Hamas and Israel has been broken, as Israel launched overnight air strikes on Gaza that Hamas says has killed more than 400 people - sparking fears the region could be plunged into all out war once again.

Francesca Albanese is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and her opinions have sparked controversy in the past. 

Israel offici...

President Zelenskyy has signed up to Donald Trump's proposal for a 30-day ceasefire with Russia and in return American arms and intelligence have started flowing into Ukraine again, but the question now is whether Vladimir Putin will agree to a pause in hostilities.

The Russian President knows every KGB trick in the book and is likely to resist giving up territory and prisoners. How does Donald Trump get him on board for a peace de...

Donald Trump has read out a letter from Volodymyr Zelenskyy saying Ukraine is ready to negotiate and the president says he's getting strong signals from Russia that it is also ready for peace, but - if that deal boils down to Ukraine surrendering territory, American mining companies extracting minerals from Ukraine, and no security guarantee - is that real peace? And would a deal like that hold?

In this new world of strong man poli...

Donald Trump has suspended all military aid to Ukraine, in another move that has shocked Europe, thrilled Vladimir Putin and Russia and dismayed Ukraine, but Volodymyr Zelenskyy has now reached out to the US president in a bid to heal relations damaged by the bust up in the Oval Office last week. 

Will it work? Will Donald Trump change his mind, again? And what does Vladimir Putin really think of it all?

Keir Starmer has met Donald Trump at the White House but will his flattering words and invitation from the King be enough to persuade America not to turn its back on Europe and help Ukraine in its fight against the army of Vladimir Putin - or will President Zelenskyy need to give up all his country’s mineral wealth too? 

In this special episode of the Fourcast, Matt Frei is joined at the White House by Cha...

As the war between Russia and Ukraine hits its 3 year mark, Germany elects a new government to join its beleaguered neighbours in trying to get Europe – and President Zelenskyy - out of the mess caused by an aggressive President Putin on its East flank, and an antagonistic President Trump on its West. More money, for more troops, actually on the ground in Ukraine? It’s a move most of Europe seems reluctant to make, but...

America’s Marco Rubio and Russia’s Sergey Lavrov have met in Saudi Arabia for Ukraine war peace talks. The US says a peace deal must be "fair, enduring and acceptable to all the parties involved" - not that all the parties - like Ukraine or the Europeans - were invited by Donald Trump to the first round of the talks.

So what do Russia and the US really want to get out from it? And will Russia be brought in...

As Trump is invited to Moscow and praises Putin after a call with the Russian leader about peace negotiations, his defence secretary Pete Hegseth says American troops will not go to Ukraine as peacekeepers as part of any future deal with Russia. He also announced Ukraine will never be part of NATO and needs to say goodbye to territory seized by Russia.

In this episode of the Fourcast, Matt Frei discusses a...

Donald Trump has spent the week turning the world upside down again - launching a trade war with China and claiming America will take over the Gaza Strip - and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer is scrambling to work out how best to respond to the American president.

Sir Keir met with EU leaders earlier in the week for post-Brexit reset, but the prospect of closer ties comes just as Donald Trump has the EU in...

Donald Trump, with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at his side, has said the US should take over Gaza, own it, and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East", but within hours of these comments Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Palestinians have rejected the suggestion outright.

So what is Donald Trump really up to? Is this a serious proposal, a negotiating position or the dreams of a reality show star...

Donald Trump’s long promised trade war has begun, sort of - the US president threatened to slap tariffs on America’s biggest trading partners, before backtracking and striking a deal with Mexico and Canada. But a 10% tariff on Chinese goods has come into force and Beijing has retaliated by imposing hefty levies on a range of American imports and vowing to inves...

In a major speech on growing the UK economy, Chancellor Rachel Reeves says she will make Cambridge and Oxford the “Silicon Valley of Europe” and build a third runway at Heathrow Airport - which is now backed by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer even though he opposed it in the past. So will Labour deliver? Can Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves really get the economy firing again? And will it be enough to turn around their r...

In Donald Trump’s speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos he said, again, that he wants a peace deal with Vladimir Putin over the war in Ukraine, again suggested Canada could become part of America and again raised the spectre of tariffs that economists say could devastate the global economy, so what is the new American president...

Hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th president of the United States of America, he signed executive orders to take the US out of the World Health Organisation and the Paris Climate Accords; around 1,500 January 6 rioters were freed; a national emergency at the US-Mexico border was declared, he made the designation of two genders an official government policy and the TikTok ban was paused - and that’s befor...

Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as President of the United States of America for the second time - but, from TikTok and the southern border, to Ukraine and the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza - he faces even bigger challenges than he did eight years ago.

Will he really end the Ukraine war on day one, pardon the January 6 rioters in the “first hour” and potentially bring back TikTok?...

Israel and Hamas have finally reached a ceasefire deal over the war in Gaza days before Donald Trump takes over from Joe Biden as the next US president - but Benjamin Netanyahu’s government hasn't signed it yet - and while Palestinians in Gaza are celebrating, there’s still a chance it could be derailed.

Yet, if the deal holds, it will be a historic moment, but why has it taken so long and what’s next for ...

Amid turmoil in the bond market and a plummeting pound, Sir Keir Starmer has had to defend his chancellor Rachel Reeves while dealing with the resignation of the former anti-corruption minister Tulip Siddiq. So, can Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves turn it around?

The Prime Minister says it will take 10 years to solve some of the chronic issues facing the UK, but will he even get a second term with Labour's ...