Category Archives: Politics

Families of IRA victims in England told new Troubles bill could revive path to justice

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Security minister Dan Jarvis says scrapping immunity scheme would give relatives a renewed chance for answers

The families of more than 70 people killed by the IRA and other paramilitaries in unsolved attacks on English soil can once again hope for justice under the new Northern Ireland Troubles bill, the UK government has claimed.

As MPs in the House of Commons prepared to debate the bill for the first time on Tuesday, the Home Office said there remained 77 unsolved killings, including 39 British armed forces personnel in English towns and cities, from the time of the Troubles. It said more than 1,000 people were injured in the attacks.

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Shabana Mahmood tells MPs asylum system is ‘out of control and unfair’ amid Labour backlash over proposals – UK politics live

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Labour MP calls government’s asylum plans ‘dystopian’ as home secretary announces measures in Commons

Momentum, the leftwing Labour group, has also denounced the government’s asylum plans. In a statement it says:

The home secretary’s new immigration plans are divisive and xenophobic.

Scapegoating migrants will not fix our public services or end austerity.

Draconian, unworkable and potentially illegal anti-asylum policies only feed Reform’s support.

The government has learnt nothing from the period since the general election.

Some of the legal changes being proposed are truly frightening:

Abolishing the right to a family life would ultimately affect many more people than asylum-seekers.

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Shabana Mahmood plans to remove more families from UK in asylum shake-up

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Home secretary will also consult on ending financial support for those with children if refused asylum, document shows

The government has failed to show the “necessary toughness” to enforce the removal of families whose asylum claims have been refused, Shabana Mahmood has claimed.

In a policy document published on Monday as the government sets out plans for the biggest shake-up of asylum laws in 40 years, the home secretary also set out plans to consult on measures to allow the removal of financial support for families with children under the age of 18 if they have been refused asylum.

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Shabana Mahmood warns Labour MPs ‘dark forces are stirring up anger’ over migration

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There is understood to be growing unease in party over home secretary’s sweeping overhaul of refugee rights

Shabana Mahmood has warned Labour MPs that “dark forces are stirring up anger” over migration, amid growing alarm among senior party figures over the most sweeping overhaul of refugee rights in a generation.

On Monday, Mahmood will announce controversial new laws to overhaul refugee status, which must be reassessed every two years, as well as curbing asylum appeals and toughening the approach to rights to family life.

Restricting asylum seekers to one single appeal rather than different appeals on multiple grounds.

Creating a new body for fast-tracking cases for dangerous criminals and those with little hope of success.

Legislating to restrict last-minute modern slavery claims

Joining other countries in seeking reform of ECHR article 3 rights, to more narrowly define the risk of torture and degrading treatment.

Changing the Home Office’s duty to provide support to asylum seekers to a discretionary power, enabling them to potentially be removed from accommodation.

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Angela Rayner condemns Labour infighting but does not rule out running for leader

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Home secretary Shabana Mahmood calls past week of leadership speculation ‘deeply mortifying’

Angela Rayner has condemned the “arrogant tittle-tattle” and Labour infighting dominating the past week in her first major interview since her resignation.

The former deputy prime minister, often considered as a potential successor to Keir Starmer, declined to rule out running for the job or returning to frontline politics, saying she had “not gone away”.

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Illegal migration is ‘tearing our country apart’ and system is broken, says Shabana Mahmood – as it happened

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Home secretary says it is ‘moral mission’ for her to tackle asylum system. This live blog is closed

Ukrainians are in the UK on a “bespoke scheme”, Mahmood says, and it is on a temporary basis.

If Ukraine becomes a safe country again and the conflict ends, “the principle of the new reforms are that if your country becomes safe then you will return,” she says.

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Asylum system in UK ‘out of control’ and dividing country, home secretary says

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Shabana Mahmood to unveil new proposals modelled on Denmark’s controversial system

Refugees who have established lives with homes and families in the UK – including Ukrainians – will still face having to return if their home countries become safe, the home secretary has said.

Shabana Mahmood said the asylum system was “out of control and putting huge pressure on communities” as she announced plans to end the permanent status of refugees, who would need to reapply to remain in Britain every two and a half years.

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Nature not a blocker to housing growth, inquiry finds

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Commons committee report challenges ‘lazy narrative’ used by ministers that scapegoats wildlife and the environment

Nature is not a blocker to housing growth, an inquiry by MPs has found, in direct conflict with claims made by ministers.

Toby Perkins, the Labour chair of the environmental audit committee, said nature was being scapegoated, and that rather than being a block to growth, it was necessary for building resilient towns and neighbourhoods.

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Treasury won’t cut threshold for higher rate income tax, say sources – UK politics live

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Fallout continues over budget income tax U-turn, with Treasury saying expected fiscal gap has dropped to £20bn

This is from Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, on the market reaction to the chancellor’s reported budget U-turn.

Investors will have 2 broad concerns about news that Chancellor won’t increase income tax rates

1. Does it signal less willingness to do politically difficult things

Britain’s long-term borrowing costs were sent soaring as reports suggested the latest U-turn would leave Rachel Reeves scrambling to fill a gaping black hole in the nation’s finances just two weeks before the 26 November budget.

Yields on 30-year UK government bonds, also known as gilts, jumped as much as 14 basis points in early trading, and the yield on 10-year gilts also shot up 12 basis points – rising the most since July.

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Satisfaction with democracy below 50% in eight out of nine western countries, poll finds

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Ipsos survey reveals fake news, lack of accountability, extremism and corruption seen as biggest threats

Satisfaction with democracy is below 50% in eight out of nine western countries surveyed in a poll, and majorities in all but one fear for its future, with fake news, lack of political accountability, extremism and corruption seen as the biggest threats.

An Ipsos survey of almost 10,000 people in Croatia, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden, the UK and the US found satisfaction with democracy low in all except Sweden, with deep concerns about the future state of electoral politics.

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Mahmood to unveil anti-migration measures modelled on Danish system

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Home secretary to set out sweeping plans to deter people from coming to the UK and make deportations easier

The home secretary is due to announce sweeping changes next week aimed at making the UK less attractive for migrants and modelled on the Danish system.

Shabana Mahmood is expected to set out plans to deter migrants from coming to the UK and make it easier to deport those who do, in a statement to MPs on Monday.

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Rachel Reeves to abandon plans to raise income tax rates in budget

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Labour had laid the ground to break a manifesto pledge on taxes for working people but has now made a U-turn

Rachel Reeves is set to abandon a plan to raise income tax in her budget with the chancellor reportedly “ripping up” the main measures in the wake of turmoil in the party.

A source told the Guardian that plans to break the manifesto pledge on income tax had been ditched by the prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the chancellor.

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Your Party receives ‘small portion’ of withheld supporters’ donations

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Row continues between camps of Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, whose company holds hundreds of thousands of pounds of party funds

The leftwing Your Party, set up by Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, is embroiled in another public row over donations to the party.

A statement from Corbyn along with Shockat Adam MP, Adnan Hussain MP, Ayoub Khan MP and Iqbal Mohamed MP states that hundreds of thousands of pounds were donated to the party “by supporters in good faith, but have since remained beyond its reach”, which they describe as being “extremely frustrating and disheartening”.

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If No 10 briefer is found Keir Starmer will sack them, Miliband says

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Cabinet minister says PM would not have backed attacks on Wes Streeting but briefing is ‘longstanding aspect of politics’

Ed Miliband has said he was certain Keir Starmer would sack whoever had briefed against Wes Streeting, after a chaotic 48 hours in which No 10 launched an operation to shore up the prime minister against an anticipated leadership challenge.

The prime minister apologised to the health secretary in a phone call with him late on Wednesday. Starmer is facing mounting calls to sack his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, over the row.

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Ed Miliband urges Labour to move on after Starmer apologises to Streeting for hostile briefings from No 10 – UK politics live

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Fallout from extraordinary briefing operation against Wes Streeting continues as calls grow for Starmer to sack his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney

Haroon Siddique is the Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent.

Five UN experts have written to ministers criticising the ban on Palestine Action as something that would be expected in an authoritarian regime rather than a liberal democracy.

In the work of UN experts in monitoring counter-terrorism laws globally, abuse of laws to proscribe organisations as terrorist that are not genuinely so has more commonly occurred in states that are authoritarian and lack legal and political cultures of respect for human rights, legality, due process and independent judicial safeguards, in order to target civil society organisations, human rights defenders, political dissidents and minorities.

It is deeply concerning that such practices appear to have spread to a number of liberal democracies. Organisations must never be listed as terrorist for engaging in protected speech or legitimate activities in defence of human rights.

We are concerned that proscription and its consequences result in unnecessary and disproportionate restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and the rights to take part in public affairs and to liberty.

The Scottish government’s tax decisions enable us to deliver higher investment in the NHS and policies like free tuition not available anywhere else in the UK.

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Housing secretary tells Labour MPs to vote down planning bill amendment

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Amendment restricts protection for animals to allow faster house building

Housing secretary Steve Reed has told Labour MPs to vote down an amendment to the new planning bill intended to protect British wildlife and its habitats from destruction.

The amendment, which was passed with a large majority in the House of Lords, restricts the most controversial part of the draft bill by removing protected animals such as dormice, badgers, hedgehogs, otters and nightingales, and rare habitats such as wetlands and ancient woodlands, from new rules which allow developers to sidestep environmental laws to speed up house building.

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Starmer says any attack on his cabinet is ‘completely unacceptable’ and adds Streeting is doing a great job – UK politics live

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Kemi Badenoch probes Starmer over ‘toxic culture’ at Downing Street as PM denies authorising briefings against potential challengers

The No 10 briefing row is not the only story around this morning. Amy Sedghi is writing a live blog about the ongoing turmoil at the BBC and she has details of Donald Trump saying he has an “obligation” to sue the BBC.

In a related development, Reform UK has pulled out of a BBC documentary about the party amid a row over the broadcaster’s editing of the Trump speech. Robyn Vintner has the story.

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Keir Starmer says any No 10 briefings against ministers ‘unacceptable’

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Starmer defends Wes Streeting at PMQs but dodges question on his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney

Keir Starmer has condemned as “completely unacceptable” any briefings against cabinet ministers from inside Downing Street as he tried desperately to close a rift at the top of government.

Questioned by Kemi Badenoch at prime minister’s questions, Starmer defended Wes Streeting, the health secretary, who was the apparent target of a pre-emptive No 10 push against a feared imminent leadership challenge against the prime minister.

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Thin majorities and chaotic strategy push Labour MPs toward regime change

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Frustration with Starmer’s lack of visibility unlikely to be quelled by No 10 efforts to show up leadership challengers

For an operation that used to pride itself on its political instinct, Keir Starmer’s No 10 has been repeatedly caught off-guard.

There was the plunge in popularity in the immediate aftermath of the winter fuel decision, the decimation of loyalty among Labour MPs that led to the welfare vote catastrophe and the audacity of Andy Burnham’s open campaign for the leadership leading up to Labour conference.

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Starmer allies say ousting PM would be ‘reckless’ as fears grow over leadership challenge

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Exclusive: No 10 said to be in ‘full bunker mode’ over fears of challenge after this month’s budget or May local elections

Downing Street has launched an extraordinary operation to protect Keir Starmer amid fears among the prime minister’s closest allies that he is vulnerable to a leadership challenge in the wake of the budget.

Starmer’s most senior political aides warned that any attempt to oust the prime minister over tanking poll ratings would be a “reckless” and “dangerous” move that could destabilise the markets, international relationships and the Labour party.

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