>> good afternoon britain. it's 1:00 on wednesday the 12th. >> of. >> of. >> march and i'm miriam cates. >> march and i'm miriam cates. >> i'm nana akua. so sir keir starmer and kemi badenoch. clash over the economy during pmqs. and the prime minister says the uk will keep all options on the table to respond to donald trump's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. we'll be bringing you the latest. and are we on the cusp of peace. >> in ukraine? donald trump challenges vladimir putin to tango. >> and accept a ceasefire. deal that has already been agreed with the ukrainians. but it comes as russia launches a fresh wave of blistering strikes overnight. we'll be hearing from our security editor. and it's day two of the cheltenham festival known as style wednesday. we've sent jack carson to soak in the atmosphere. jack, how is it

going there. >> style day here at cheltenham? day two. all the excitement expected to get underway in about 20 minutes time. and her majesty the queen has arrived at the racecourse. >> well. >> well. >> as always. >> as always. >> we want to. >> we want to. >> hear from you what you think about all the things we're going to be discussing today. gbnews.com/yoursay. but nana this this news on ukraine is fascinating, isn't it? donald trump is certainly changing the way that we see the world. do you know what i think he's doing? he's doing the thing that vladimir putin and i actually had somebody on the radio say that his dad slightly resembles putin. so it's like a parenting. i don't think so. this new psychologist would have a field day. that was a psychologist. oh, well, there you go. i think what he's doing is he's doing the unpredictable thing that he is known for, which is why he sort of wrongfoots his enemies or people who he's working with.

and he's thrown it all up in the air. isn't he? literally. and we need that, don't we? >> yeah. and if. >> yeah. and if. >> you just think just a couple of weeks ago that extraordinary press conference and everybody said, this is it, there's no chance for peace now. and yet there have been more movement towards peace in the last 24 hours than there has for three years. so we'll see. anyway, lots more on that later. but first of all, your headlines with tatiana sanchez. >> nana. miriam, thank you very much. the top stories. well, donald trump's top diplomat, marco rubio, has ramped up pressure on the russian president to accept a ceasefire deal with ukraine, who agreed to a 30 day ceasefire organised by the us during talks with saudi arabia. rubio says the us hopes to have a positive answer from russia, adding he would urge vladimir putin to end all hostilities so people will stop dying. mr rubio told reporters the ball is now in russia's court and speaking today, he said there's no military

solution to the conflict, to the conflict and that the us will speak with russia today. president zelenskyy hailed what he called constructive talks and says he wants to use a potential 30 day ceasefire with russia as a chance to draft a permanent peace plan, which could include security guarantees. sir keir starmer hailed ukraine's backing for us ceasefire proposals as a remarkable breakthrough, as the defence secretary heads to paris for talks to cement european peacekeeping efforts. exchequer secretary to the treasury james murray welcomed the news. >> well, i think it's a remarkable breakthrough and it's testament to the work between president trump and president zelenskyy in recent days. and it now really means the ball is in russia's court. it's to russia to now respond to the ceasefire proposal. russia to agree to that deal that's on the table. and we will continue to play our role as an honest broker. so the prime minister is looking to convene world leaders this saturday to continue playing the

role the uk has been playing, to try and move us towards peace in the war between ukraine and russia. >> prince william will travel to estonia next week to visit british troops involved in nato operations there, as part of britain's drive to show solidarity with its allies and highlight its commitment to the defence of the alliance's eastern flank. during the two day visit, which begins on the 20th of march. the prince of wales will also carry out engagements in the capital, tallinn. to learn more about how the country has responded to the ongoing conflict in ukraine. elsewhere, sir keir starmer says the uk would keep all options on the uk would keep all options on the table to respond to the us president's decision to impose tariffs on steel and aluminium imports. the business secretary earlier described donald trump's decision to impose the global tariffs as disappointing. the industry has also warned president trump's tariffs on uk steel couldn't come at a worse time. the european union announced it would be implementing counter tariffs on £216 implementing counter tariffs on £21.6 billion worth of goods,

starting on the 1st of april. sir keir starmer told the commons today the uk would keep open the option of retaliatory measures after donald trump hit steel and aluminium imports with 25% tariffs. >> like everyone else, i'm disappointed to see global tariffs in relation to steel and aluminium, but we will take a pragmatic approach. we are, as he knows, negotiating an economic deal which covers and will include tariffs if we succeed. but we will keep all opfions succeed. but we will keep all options on the table. >> former scottish first minister nicola sturgeon has announced she will not seek re—election to holyrood next yeah re—election to holyrood next year. ms sturgeon, who represents the glasgow southside constituency, made the announcement today in a letter to local snp members. she said i am writing to let you know that ihave am writing to let you know that i have decided not to seek re—election to the scottish parliament next year. she says she'll be with the snp every step of the way towards independence. despite stepping down as an msp. sturgeon resigned as first minister in march 2023 after eight years in

the role and the arrested captain of the stowlawn, the container ship involved in the crash in the north sea, is a russian national, according to the vessel's owners. the rest of the vessel's owners. the rest of the crew were russian and filipino nationals. according to shipping company ernst russ. it comes after police said a man had been arrested on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter in connection with the monday's collision. humberside police said a 59 year old is in custody to allow enquiries to take place, and officers are talking to those involved to find out what happened. the force added investigators have started a criminal probe into the cause of the collision between the stena immaculate and solingen, off the coast of east yorkshire, on monday, and are working with the maritime and coastguard agency. those are the latest gb news headunes those are the latest gb news headlines for now. more from me in half an hour. >> seven minutes after 1:00, it was yet another feisty pmqs.

today, the conservative leader kemi badenoch, choosing to lead on the economy, criticising sir keir starmer's handling of the country's finances. >> and that's why in two weeks, the chancellor will come to this house to present an emergency budget. the prime minister said we would not need. they will try and make out it's because of global events. but the truth is they trashed the economy with their bad choices. they said. they said they'd look after pensioners, then they snatched winter fuel payments. they said that they would be pro—business, but they hiked taxes on jobs and he. mr speaker, he promised. to freeze council tax, but it's going up by £100. this is a high tax, low growth, job killing government. >> however, the prime minister hit back, criticising the conservative's record on the economy when they were in

government. >> inflation under them 11% £22 billion black hole a mini—budget that made us the laughing stock of the world. and they want to give lectures on the economy to us. no, thank you very much. >> well, to react to that exchange and everything else that went on at pmqs, we're now joined by gb news political correspondent katherine forster. catherine, it was quite a lively pmqs, but quite a predictable set of questioning. >> well, yes, indeed, but i thought it was interesting that kemi badenoch chose to go all on domestic matters, and i think that was a smart move because she had a better outing, and sometimes she doesn't seem to land much of a blow on the prime minister these days. but i think this today, they'll be quite happy with that because she went fundamentally on jobs, didn't she? and the economy and specifically, you know, the measures that the government announced in that budget back in october, the employers national insurance increase, which many

businesses say are hurting them. she is maintaining that up to 300,000 jobs could be lost as a result. she's highlighting things like care homes that result