👉Listen to Politics at Sam and Anne's on your podcast app👈 The morning political podcast which gives you all need for the day ahead in 20 minutes, usually with Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy. But, for this episode, Anne is somewhere over the Atlantic travelling back from the US so Sam is joined by Politico’s Tim Ross. Mark Carney’s Liberal Party has won the Canadian election. It’ll give Keir Starmer a centre-left ally at G7 but how will the PM position himself now in the Trum...
Apr 29, 2025•21 min
As Trump’s 100 days in office edges closer, Anne checks in from DC to bring us all the latest on a domestically difficult week for the President. Also, will the upcoming Canadian elections be a referendum on Trump from its biggest neighbours? Sam and Anne discuss what the global ramifications of that result might be. And back in Blighty, local elections are nearing and Sam explains how they might shine a light on a tension in Labour between Home Secretary Yvette Cooper and Chancellor Rachel Reev...
Apr 28, 2025•19 min
The podcast is transatlantic for this episode – with Politico’s Anne McElvoy now in a hotel cupboard in Washington and Sky News’ Sam Coates still in his kitchen in London. Anne’s headed to DC to cover Rachel Reeves’ visits to the States and wonders how the Chancellor will fare on the MAGA-favoured TV channels when she does interviews today. And with a week to go, it’s a chance to look at how the local election campaigning is shaping up – and what this set of results might change, if anything. To...
Apr 24, 2025•22 min
With news overnight that a peace conference in London today would be going ahead without UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy or US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, are peace talks over Ukraine going backwards? Sam and Anne discuss what’s going on. And Rachel Reeves is landing in Washington today for what promises to be one of the most important IMF spring meeting in years – will she make any progress on a trade deal for the UK? Also, Sam has obtained a leaked recording of former Tory leadership cont...
Apr 23, 2025•21 min
Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy look at the day ahead in British politics. Returning from an Easter break for a new season, Sam and Anne begin by discussing how British and global politics will react to the death of Pope Francis. They discuss the Pope's own role in politics around the world and the legacy he leaves behind. Meanwhile, Rachel Reeves is heading to Washington ahead of her first IMF spring meetings, amid pessimistic predictions for the UK's ow...
Apr 22, 2025•22 min
It's the Monday after a dramatic weekend in the House of Commons and Sam and Anne are here to bring you up to speed on the race to keep the furnaces on at the British Steel plant in Scunthorpe. So what happens now after emergency legislation was passed on Saturday to give the government control of the plant and stop its Chinese owners from shutting it off? And does the UK have a future as a serious manufacturing country? Also, a new report from MPs hits back at claims of "two-tier policing" duri...
Apr 14, 2025•21 min
It’s the final episode before recess so Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy wonder, given the turbulent times, who’ll be the first to call for Parliament to be recalled? And talking of the Lib Dems, there's some new polling which might put a spring into the step of Ed Davey – is his party’s position on Trump and trade doing them some favours? Of course, there’s plenty of time to talk about the onslaught of US tariffs and implications for the UK – watch out what if the PM is asked ab...
Apr 08, 2025•22 min
Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy look ahead to the day in British politics. It's the day Sir Keir Starmer is due to deliver a speech which answers if globalisation as we know it is over, as financial markets plummet for a third day in a row following the announcement of Donald Trump’s trade tariffs. Sam and Anne discuss what to expect from the speech following the prime minister’s weekend at Chequers with other world leaders discussing how to avoid an all-out trade war and the fi...
Apr 07, 2025•20 min
Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy present their guide to the day ahead in British politics. As the world scrambles to react to the biggest single shift in US economic and foreign policy in decades, why are some in No10 feeling ‘vindication’ over Donald Trump’s new tariffs? As leaders across the world scramble to pick up the pieces this morning and understand what it means politically as well as economically, Keir Starmer will tell a group of business leaders to keep calm and carry...
Apr 03, 2025•20 min
Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy present their guide to the day ahead in British politics. It’s a big day and nobody quite knows how it’ll end. President Trump will share the details of his tariff plan about 9pm UK time. As we record, the message from the UK government stays the same – it’s a cool and calm approach, talks continue and no retaliation immediately. But is tonight’s Rose Garden moment really about economics - or more about international power dynamics? Also today, it...
Apr 02, 2025•21 min
Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy look ahead to the day in British politics. There's a cabinet meeting this morning - so it's a good time to discuss the dynamics around that table and why who is in what WhatsApp group matters. And what are the potential repercussions of one gang being in favour and another being out of favour? Meanwhile, as Donald Trump's tariffs 'liberation day' looms, what sort of expectation management is the UK government conducting?Are ministers having to wat...
Apr 01, 2025•22 min
Your morning politics digest with Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy. Ahead of “liberation day”, when Trump’s new tariffs come into effect, how can and will the UK respond? And what does it mean for Starmer’s broader relationship with the US president? And as Donald Trump appears to be changing his messaging on Putin, how much credit can the UK take? And what does it all ultimately mean for a Ukrainian peace deal?
Mar 31, 2025•21 min
Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy debrief on Rachel Reeves's spring statement - with the added twist of Donald Trump's 25% tariffs on all imported cars. The chancellor has planned to get her fiscal headroom back to £9.9bn with warnings that her buffer looks too small against global events - and, right on cue, the US president has upped his trade war. So is the economy stuck in a "doom loop" or is there a narrative that things could still "go okay" for Labour? Sam and Anne also dis...
Mar 27, 2025•22 min
It's spring statement day – a bigger day than the Treasury probably ever wanted it to be – but definitely not a budget. With Chancellor Rachel Reeves on course to break her own fiscal rules, she'll lay out how she intends to find billions of pounds of extra savings. At the eleventh hour, it looks like welfare cuts will be tougher than first thought – with a hit on Universal Credit. Sam and Anne outline what the calculations are likely to be and how the chancellor will handle the day. And beyond ...
Mar 26, 2025•20 min
Your morning politics digest with Sky News’ Sam Coates and Politico’s Anne McElvoy. The countdown to Trump’s tariff ‘Liberation Day’ continues with the UK looking at its options ahead of announcing any trade deal. Is abolishing Britain’s digital services tax still one of the most likely moves? That’d mean missing out on hundreds of millions from the likes of Meta and Amazon. Elsewhere, with Rachel Reeves struggling to shake off the story about her Sabrina Carpenter tickets before the Spring stat...
Mar 25, 2025•20 min
Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy present their guide to the day ahead in British politics. With two days to go until the Spring Statement, Chancellor Rachel Reeves has been fighting off talk that she is taking Britain back to austerity. Over the weekend she confirmed plans to cut Civil Service running costs by 15% and her statement is expected to unveil further savings. Reeves could also be on course to break the foundational promise of her Chancellorship - her own fiscal rules. ...
Mar 24, 2025•21 min
Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy present their guide to the day ahead in British politics. As Kemi Badenoch launches her local election campaign, is Nigel Farage right, would a stint on I’m A Celebrity help the Tories' chances? And, why Keir Starmer is continuing to market himself as the securocrat PM.
Mar 20, 2025•20 min
Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy present their guide to the day ahead in British politics. Keir Starmer’s team spend the day trying to work out how the Trump-Putin phone call really went down. Could the UK end up sending more military support to Ukraine before any pause in fighting? The idea of an ice hockey game apparently came up on the call – Anne has an important history lesson on that. Around Westminster, it’s PMQs but the Labour charm offensive to convince its backbenchers ...
Mar 19, 2025•19 min
Sky News' Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy present their guide to the day ahead in British politics. It’s a big day for more than one reason. We know the details of the government’s welfare reforms will finally come this afternoon. Before that, this morning, Kemi Badenoch will say the UK’s target of hitting net zero by 2050 is ‘impossible’. How will Labour make their arguments in response – and will that be a new test for the Keir Starmer-Ed Miliband dynamic? On welfare, Sam and Anne go th...
Mar 18, 2025•21 min
Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy have their guide to the day ahead in British politics. With Chancellor Rachel Reeves's spring statement fast approaching, Labour faces a major challenge from its own backbenchers ahead of an announcement to restrict some sickness and disability benefits. Sam and Anne discuss the stakes for Sir Keir Starmer and the plausibility of a party rebellion. Plus, it's classroom war over schools and academies, as Education Secretary ...
Mar 17, 2025•21 min
Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy have their guide to the day ahead in British politics. It’s crunch time for Keir Starmer’s government. With rumours of a cabinet reshuffle rife - when might it take place? And who’s on the chopping block? This at a time when a rebellion over planned cuts to the welfare budget is brewing. Sam and Anne also explain how the subject of civil service reform is in fact very interesting – Keir Starmer will want to take note. Today...
Mar 13, 2025•21 min
Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy have their guide to the day ahead in British politics. Tariffs are back on the agenda for this morning’s episode – the US has put them on all steel and aluminium imports, including those from the UK. How do ministers respond now? Does it go any further than the stiffly worded statement from business secretary Jonathan Reynolds? And as the US and Ukraine await Russia’s response to the proposal for a 30 day ceasefire, what is...
Mar 12, 2025•22 min
Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy have their guide to the day ahead in British politics. Bats, pylons, and planning reforms - how far is Keir Starmer willing to go to achieve the growth and infrastructure he’s promised, and will Labour’s new reforms help the UK get there? And what has the fallout been after Mike Amesbury announced his resignation, triggering a by election in Runcorn? And over in Riyadh, ahead of peace talks over the war in Ukraine, how sign...
Mar 11, 2025•20 min
Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy have their guide to the day ahead in British politics. With Zelensky heading to Saudi Arabia to join US sponsored peace talks in Saudi Arabia, Sam and Anne assess the UK’s response to any concessions Ukraine might be made to make to Russia. And with Mark Carney waiting in the wings to take over from Prime Minister Trudeau in Canada, how will his premiership differ and how will he respond to Trump’s threat of tariffs? Domest...
Mar 10, 2025•22 min
Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy have their guide to the day ahead in British politics. As Matt Wrack, a former hard-left firefighter is endorsed as the the next leader of one of the two main teaching unions Sam and Anne discuss the fall out for the government. Mr Wrack who is the preferred candidate for the NASWT is a former general secretary of the fire brigade's union, but he has no professional educational background. They also discuss the ongoing conv...
Mar 06, 2025•19 min
Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy have their guide to the day ahead in British politics. The domestic agenda is key today with some hints starting to emerge about what Chancellor Rachel Reeves is planning in her Spring statement in three weeks' time. Sam reveals details of a four-point plan to get big government announcements out there before the statement itself. Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, may or may not help her preparations when ...
Mar 05, 2025•20 min
Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy have their guide to the day ahead in British politics. President Donald Trump has just pulled the plug on US military aid to Ukraine, leaving Sir Keir Starmer and European leaders scrambling to respond. Just yesterday, the prime minister was praised in the House of Commons for his diplomatic efforts, will he now be forced to rethink his approach? In today's episode, Sam and Anne unpack the decision, the ripple effects on Eu...
Mar 04, 2025•19 min
Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Anne McElvoy have their guide to the day ahead in British politics. After an extraordinary 96 hours on the world stage, Sir Keir Starmer faces his next challenge: a grilling from MPs in the Commons. In today's episode, Sam and Anne break down how the prime minister positioned himself at the heart of the Ukraine crisis, seizing the moment as mediator between Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Donald Trump, hosting a major European summit, and shapi...
Mar 03, 2025•20 min
Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Tim Ross have their guide to the day ahead in British politics. Keir Starmer is in Washington today to meet Donald Trump to discuss Ukraine and Europe’s long-term security. Tim and Sam assess what Keir’s approach might be and what he might actually be able to do. Will he - can he - take Macron’s recent approach of flattery and charm, or will he take a firmer line? Also, ahead of European leaders meeting at Lancaster House on Sunday, Sam...
Feb 27, 2025•21 min
Sky News’ Sam Coates and Poltico’s Anne McElvoy hold their hands up on this episode – that they didn’t see Keir Starmer’s big defence announcement coming yesterday morning. The plan to shift defence spending to 3% of GDP (and a new Downing Street podium slogan) is a pivot for the PM. Sam and Anne discuss the reasons behind it - is this all about having enough to say to Donald Trump in Washington this week? Or is there a glimmer of the vision for Blue Labour Starmer showing through too? They also...
Feb 26, 2025•21 min
