Hello and welcome to Inside Briefing, the podcast from the Institute for Government. I'm Hannah White.

Well, we have made it to February recess after a month and a half of busy politics.

There have been a lot of policy

announcements, plenty of speeches, a few ministerial sacking, and over the other side of the Atlantic

a new president in the White House, with plenty to say and not all of it helpful. The honeymoon

period that followed Labour's general election win barely lasted.

In fact, as we reach Valentine's Day, there doesn't seem to be a great deal of love for Kier Starma and his government.

So, as MPs depart for their constituencies and Parliament temporarily winds down,

we're going to take stock of the government's latest policy blitz, this time on immigration.

Then we'll take a look at the economy and what seems to be ever-increasing pressure on

Chancellor Rachel Reeves.

And after that, we'll turn our attention to the latest series of jaw-dropping proclamations

from Donald Trump and what they might mean for the UK, including our Defence Secretary

and the Armed Forces.

Joining me throughout is IFG Director of Impact, Joe Owen. Hi, Joe.

Hello.

And I'm delighted that we are joined again by commentator, podcaster, author and I paper columnist

Ian Dunn. Hi, Ian.

Hello.

How are you in?

You know, terrible, deep in the depths of existential despair and abject horror at the state of the world.

It's pretty standard for the last few weeks, really.

...