Category Archives: UK news

Nigel Farage says ‘there’s every chance of general election in 2027’

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Reform UK leader criticises Angela Rayner’s ‘entitlement’ and vows to ‘stop the boats’ within two weeks if elected

Nigel Farage has said there is every chance of a general election in 2027, declaring he will run on a pledge to “stop the boats” within two weeks of entering No 10.

Speaking at the Reform UK conference in Birmingham, he said the chaos in government and Angela Rayner’s resignation as deputy prime minister meant the party needed to be “ready” to fight a contest two years early.

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Damage to Labour from Rayner’s resignation is only just beginning

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Deputy leader election campaign will distract from Starmer’s reset and winner may well come from left of party

At 9.30am on Monday morning, as MPs made their way back to Westminster, Keir Starmer gathered the entire staff of No 10 in the Pillared Room of Downing Street to tell them they were about to enter the next, delivery, stage of government.

“We go into phase two in good spirits, confident and with conviction,” he told them, as some of those gathered shuffled awkwardly. His remarks, after all, followed a difficult summer during which Labour vacated the pitch to Reform UK and ahead of what is likely to be an even more turbulent autumn.

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US and UN discuss Gaza reconstruction plan before general assembly

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Talks aimed at preventing row at UN conference, where several countries plan to recognise state of Palestine

A potential UN-endorsed reconstruction plan for Gaza, including a one-year technocratic government, an international stabilisation force, disarmament of Hamas and a rejection of mass deportation of Palestinians, is being discussed with the US to prevent the UN general assembly descending into a bitter row about the symbolic recognition of Palestine as a state.

It is almost certain that the UK, France, Canada, Belgium and Malta will recognise the state of Palestine at a UN conference on 22 September to be held on the sidelines of the general assembly, in the week when world leaders deliver major speeches.

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Thousands in England unable to access weight loss jabs via GP, figures reveal

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Doctors say NHS rollout not fit for purpose with fewer than half of commissioning bodies prescribing Mounjaro

Thousands of patients in England are unable to access weight loss jabs via their GP, figures reveal, as doctors warn that the NHS rollout is “not fit for purpose”.

Family doctors got the green light to prescribe the drugs for the first time in June. About 220,000 people with “greatest need” were set to receive Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide and made by Eli Lilly, on the NHS over the next three years.

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UK failing Gaza by allowing jets with British parts to bomb hospitals, says surgeon

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It is ‘inconceivable’ that Hamas is using hospitals as command centres, Prof Nick Maynard tells independent Gaza tribunal

An Oxford University surgeon accused the British government of failing the people of Gaza by allowing F-35 jets with British parts to bomb the children on which he was operating, an independent Gaza tribunal heard at its opening session on Thursday.

The two-day tribunal in London, which is independent of government and parliament, is seeking to amass evidence of Britain’s failure to distance itself from what the tribunal organisers regard as Israeli war crimes amounting to genocide.

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Starmer must not meet Israeli president during UK visit, say Labour MPs

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Exclusive: Isaac Herzog to visit London for expected talks with ministers, with UK on brink of recognising Palestinian statehood

The president of Israel will travel to London next week for a controversially timed trip amid outcry from Labour MPs who have urged Keir Starmer not to meet with the visiting delegation.

The arrival of Isaac Herzog is fraught with complication for ministers, with the UK government on the brink of recognising the state of Palestine at the UN general assembly.

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Home Office wins right to challenge Palestine Action’s terror ban appeal

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Court of appeal ruling means Yvette Cooper can try to block move by protest group to have its proscription overturned

The Home Office has won a legal decision which means it can attempt to block a move by Palestine Action to have its ban under terror laws overturned.

The latest legal twist in the battle between the government and the protest group – now proscribed as a terror organisation - saw the court of appeal rule that Yvette Cooper can challenge the decision to grant a judicial review of the organisation’s proscription that was due to be heard in November.

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Nadine Dorries defects to Reform, saying Conservative party ‘is dead’

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Former cabinet minister’s move on eve of Reform conference is further boost for party that took almost £1m in donations from ex-Tory donors

Nadine Dorries has defected to Reform on the eve of its conference, saying the Conservative party “is dead”.

The former Tory cabinet minister, a close ally of Boris Johnson when he was prime minister, served as culture secretary until 2022 before resigning a year later when blocked from getting a peerage.

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Reeves has ‘full confidence’ in Rayner, and thinks deputy PM can keep her job – UK politics live

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Chancellor offers unequivocal backing to colleague following stamp duty error

Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, was also asked in her Sky News interview if the Rayner controversy showed that the stamp duty regime was “way too complicated”. Reeves sidestepped the question, saying:

Well, look, Angela tried to do the right thing, and of course it is incumbent on all of us to try to properly understand the rules, and she is now working to make sure that the correct tax is paid.

Well, the definitive advice came in on Wednesday morning, and that’s when Angela put out the statement.

On Tuesday as well some court injunctions were lifted related to her disabled son and those circumstances, and that’s why Angela was able to make a full statement on Wednesday.

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Ministers urged to digitise adoption records to help reunite families

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As ITV’s Long Lost Family airs, campaigners say retaining archives is crucial for those separated by forced adoptions at unmarried mothers’ homes

Ministers have been urged to digitise records essential to reuniting families separated by the UK’s unmarried mothers’ home scandal by campaigners who fear they could be lost in Angela Rayner’s local government reorganisation project.

Hundreds of thousands of British women were coerced to give up babies at church-linked homes, which worked alongside statutory agencies, between the 1940s and 1980s.

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Scrap two-child benefit cap to help lift 4m people out of poverty, government urged

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Exclusive: Cross-party Poverty Strategy Commission says abolishing limit would be part of its ‘once in a generation’ plan

A cross-party commission including former welfare ministers is urging the government to scrap the two-child benefit limit as part of an ambitious “once in a generation” plan to lift millions of people out of poverty.

The Poverty Strategy Commission said billions of pounds of investment – including a boost to the rate of universal credit – was needed to reverse record levels of poverty in the UK, and tackle longstanding failures over rising hardship and destitution.

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Scotland bans arms companies that supply IDF from receiving financial aid

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Devolved government says contractors seeking support must prove products will not be used by Israeli military

The Scottish government has banned arms companies which supply the IDF from getting grants and investment support, and will freeze support for trade with Israel.

John Swinney, the first minister, said on Wednesday any defence contractors who wanted financial help in Scotland would have to prove their products would not be used by the Israel Defense Forces.

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Farage a ‘Putin-loving, free speech impostor’ says Democrat before Reform head’s US speech – UK politics live

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Jamie Raskin says Farage is ‘a Trump sycophant’ before UK politician addresses the House judiciary committee in Washington

Kemi Badenoch is probably hastily redrafting her PMQs script in the light of Angela Rayner’s statement about underpaying her stamp duty. She has got less than half an hour to craft the right questions. And she will probably want to ask about the economy, and hate speech laws, too.

Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.

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Can Keir Starmer afford to sack Angela Rayner over her stamp duty error?

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Prime minister has a track record of firing errant ministers – but will her power within the party protect his beleaguered deputy?

Keir Starmer has a hard-won reputation for ruthlessness when it comes to dispensing with ministers who cause the government embarrassment. But the future of his deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, is the toughest call of its kind.

Every time Starmer has been confronted with this kind of decision since the very early days of his leadership, his instinct has been to cut loose.

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The death of the wallet: how our pockets suddenly got a lot lighter

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A new survey finds less than half of British people now carry a wallet – even though 80% own one

Name: The wallet.

Age: The word originates from the late 14th century, meaning something like knapsack. That’s how Shakespeare uses it in Troilus and Cressida, when Ulysses says: “Time hath, my lord, a wallet at his back.”

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Resale ‘subterfuge’: Viagogo sent fan his tickets along with a stranger’s passport

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Experiences of booking for big London gigs underscore the opaque practices of some online platforms

When Danny bought tickets to see Deftones in Crystal Palace Park he was not expecting to be initiated into an apparent subterfuge.

Yet shortly before the south London gig, Viagogo, the resale platform that sold him the tickets, sent him a scanned copy of a passport ID page belonging to a Dutch man he had never met.

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Manneken Pis gets new uniform to honour soldiers who liberated Brussels

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Gift comes 8o years after Welsh guards first left replica uniform for Belgian statue to commemorate end of Nazi occupation

When British forces commemorated the liberation of Brussels for the first time in 1945, they left a unique gift – a replica Welsh guards uniform for the Belgian city’s emblematic “peeing boy” statue, the Manneken Pis.

Now 81 years after the Welsh guards freed Brussels from Nazi occupation, the gift has been renewed: the Manneken Pis has a new regimental uniform, including scarlet jacket embroidered with gold lace, gleaming white belt and authentic bearskin hat.

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More than 7,300 Afghans to be resettled in UK after MoD data leak, says National Audit Office

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Watchdog’s report says government is unable to calculate exact cost of response to data breach, raising doubt over £850m estimate

More than 7,300 Afghans are expected to be resettled in the UK as a result of a major government data breach, according to a National Audit Office report that raises doubts over officials’ claims of a £850m cost.

The accidental leak by an MoD official in 2022 of 18,700 Afghans’ details who had worked with or for the British government led to the opening of a new route by which those endangered could seek relocation to the UK from their home country.

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‘No place in children’s hands’: under-16s in England to be banned from buying energy drinks

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Government to ban sale of energy drinks with more than 150mg of caffeine, citing concerns over obesity and lack of concentration

Under-16s in England will be banned from buying energy drinks such as Red Bull and Monster because they fuel obesity, cause sleep problems and leave them unable to concentrate.

Health experts, teaching unions and dentists welcomed the ban and said it would boost children and young people’s health. It fulfils a pledge Labour included in its manifesto for last year’s general election.

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What are Labour’s new asylum policies? And what are the political risks?

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Yvette Cooper has announced several tough policies after a summer dominated by Farage and Reform UK

After a summer recess dominated by headlines about Reform UK’s hardline immigration proposals and protests outside hotels housing asylum seekers, the home secretary returned to parliament seeking to wrest back control of the narrative.

Yvette Cooper has announced a flurry of tough asylum measures including suspending refugee family reunion applications, and even floated the idea that refugees could be moved out of hotels and into warehouses instead.

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