‘Don’t squander it’: Can Labour hang on to the Burnham bounce?

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Conference delegates grateful ousting Starmer has paid off, but relief tempered by fiscal headwinds ahead

Even Andy Burnham’s closest allies accept that deposing Keir Starmer to install their man as leader was a huge political gamble. But if the mood at the Labour party conference in Liverpool is anything to go by, it is one that – so far – has paid off.

The contrast with last year, when Starmer retained his grip on the party and Burnham slunk away from Liverpool early, could not be more stark. Their relief at their turn of fortune is tempered only by the fiscal headwinds ahead.

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UK to open new refugee resettlement routes for Afghan women and Palestinians

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Exclusive: Move by Shabana Mahmood comes after closure of Afghan scheme last year but experts say numbers too small to deter Channel crossings

Shabana Mahmood will announce a new legal route for refugees that prioritises Afghan women and girls and Palestinians, unfreezing a scheme that will put the most vulnerable refugees on a faster path to permanent status.

The change marks a shift in Mahmood’s approach to asylum seekers after the abrupt closure of the Afghan resettlement scheme last year and changes that will keep refugee status under constant review for two decades.

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UK politics live: Pat McFadden tells Labour activists they should not defend benefits system ‘status quo’ because it ‘writes off’ claimants

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Work and pensions secretary says the current system is flawed because it consigns too many people to a life on benefits when they would be better off working

‘I can deliver’: Burnham pledges radical change on eve of Labour conference

Kuenssberg puts it to Burnham that, according to the Health Foundation, a system offering adult social care free at the point of delivery (like healthcare delivered by the NHS) would cost £18bn.

Burnham says the cost is “not that high” (ie, not as high as £18bn).

Not that high.

But can I directly deal with this issue of the costs?

Louise Casey is still doing an official review for us, so I will set out the vision, if you like, on Tuesday [in his speech to the conference].

Louise will then help us with the how. How do we make this happen? When can we make it happen?

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Swiss reject tighter neutrality rules in referendum backed by right-wing populist party – PBS

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  1. Swiss reject tighter neutrality rules in referendum backed by right-wing populist party  PBS
  2. Swiss voters reject stricter neutrality rules that would have curbed Nato cooperation  The Guardian
  3. Switzerland rejects stricter interpretation of its neutrality  bbc.com
  4. Is Switzerland's neutrality at a crossroads?  NPR
  5. Swiss neutrality and food security initiatives suffer hefty defeat  SWI swissinfo.ch
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UN ambassador Waltz says Iran was not negotiating ‘in good faith’ to end war

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Waltz says Trump rejected Iran’s proposal to end war because they ‘were asking for everything up front’

The Trump administration’s ambassador to the United Nations said the US rejected Iran’s proposal to end the ongoing war there because Iranian negotiators “were asking for everything up front”.

Echoing comments by Donald Trump on Saturday, the president’s UN ambassador Mike Waltz told CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday that Iran had asked for relief “from billions and billions of sanctions that are going into place” as part of an economic blockade on Iran. The blockade is aimed at putting pressure on Iran to stop its attacks ‌on vessels in the strait of Hormuz.

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Afghanistan says 28 fighters killed as Islamabad, Kabul trade accusations – Al Jazeera

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  1. Afghanistan says 28 fighters killed as Islamabad, Kabul trade accusations  Al Jazeera
  2. Info ministry rejects Afghan Taliban's 'frivolous' claims linking Pakistan to reported Nuristan violence  Dawn
  3. 28 'fighters', mostly former Afghan security personnel, killed after crossing from Pakistan: Kabul  The Times of India
  4. Afghanistan says it killed 28 fighters, wounded 32 after group crosses over from Pakistan  The Jerusalem Post
  5. Pakistan-supported armed groups heavily defeated in Nuristan’s Kamdesh: MoD  Pajhwok Afghan News
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