Category Archives: Politics

Sunak faces prospect of fresh byelection defeat after Scott Benton loses appeal against Commons suspension – UK politics live

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Scott Benton loses appeal against recommendation he should be suspended for 35 days for offering to lobby for gambling industry

Here is an extract from the independent expert panel’s report explaining why it has rejected Scott Benton’s appeal against his 35-day Commons suspension.

For the purpose of deciding the appropriate sanction for breaches of the code, the [standards] committee is well-placed for these purposes as an informed and expert body. We will not lightly interfere with their decision on sanction. Under the procedural protocol, we will do so only if the committee’s decision is unreasonable or disproportionate. We do not find that to be the case here.

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I have your back, Rishi Sunak tells farmers at NFU conference

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Sunak becomes first PM to address conference since Gordon Brown in 2008, as Tories court farming sector

Rishi Sunak has told farmers “I have your back”, at the National Farmers Union conference, as he promised to “change the culture” in government around farming.

Sunak was the first prime minister to address the NFU conference since Gordon Brown in 2008, and took three Defra ministers with him to put the Conservative case to farmers.

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Tories may face Blackpool byelection as Scott Benton loses suspension appeal

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MP for Blackpool South, who offered to lobby for gambling industry, loses appeal against 35-day Commons suspension

Rishi Sunak may face another difficult byelection after an MP lost his appeal against a 35-day suspension from parliament for lobbying ministers on behalf of the gambling industry.

Scott Benton, the MP for Blackpool South, formerly a Conservative, had asked for a reconsideration of the standards committee verdict that he had committed an “extremely serious breach of the rules”.

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Minister says government working on sanction options for those involved in Alexei Navalny’s death – UK politics live

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Leo Docherty, Foreign Office minister, says government ‘working at pace’ to hold those responsible for Russian opposition leader’s death to account

No 10 has declined to repeat Kemi Badenoch’s claim that the former chair of the Post Office gave an interview “full of lies” about the conversation she had when she sacked him.

At the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson would not adopt the language used by Badenoch in a post on X yesterday and instead claimed that Badenoch believes that the account of what she said given by Henry Staunton is a “misrepresentation”.

Obviously this referred to a conversation that she had with Henry Staunton, and you’ll have seen her words on this; she’s very clear that the interview that he gave was a misrepresentation of her conversation with him and the reasons for his dismissal.

And the government has being clear, and will refute the allegations [that it wanted to slow down compensation to victims]. The government has taken action to speed up the compensation to victims, and we’ve consistently encouraged postmasters to come forward with their claims. Any suggestions otherwise [are] not correct.

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Kemi Badenoch accuses Post Office chair she sacked of seeking revenge

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Business minister criticises Henry Staunton after he claimed the government wanted to stall payouts to scandal victims

Kemi Badenoch has accused the Post Office chair she sacked of a “blatant attempt to seek revenge” after he made explosive allegations about the government’s handling of the Horizon scandal.

The business secretary launched an extended attack on Henry Staunton in the Commons on Monday, and claimed that he was under investigation for bullying when she fired him.

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UK minister rules out swap for Briton Vladimir Kara-Murza jailed in Russia

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Foreign Office says it will not trade Putin opponent for spies in jail in Britain, despite fears for his life after Navalny’s death

A Foreign Office minister has ruled out a prisoner swap for the imprisoned Russian opposition figure Vladimir Kara-Murza, a British citizen, who MPs have expressed concern about after the death of Alexei Navalny.

Kara-Murza’s wife was now adamant that she wanted everything to be done to get her her husband out of Russia, said the Conservative backbencher Bob Seely, who urged the government to countenance swapping imprisoned spies for the pro-democracy activist who was now the most high-profile Russian political prisoner.

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Closure of UK family scheme for Ukrainians described as ‘cruel’ move

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Government defends decision that opposition politicians say could put vulnerable people at risk

A scheme allowing Ukrainians to join family members taking sanctuary in the UK has been unexpectedly closed, in what opposition politicians described as a cruel and “below the radar” move days before the two-year anniversary of Russia’s full invasion.

The Ukraine family scheme is being shut but government officials said a separate Homes for Ukraine scheme would continue to fulfil people’s needs as a way of “simplifying” the process.

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‘I felt like a criminal’: the ruinous effect of the Home Office’s cheating claims

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Sajjad Sohag seeks compensation for false accusation that led to imprisonment and loss of earnings

The morning after Sajjad Sohag returned from his honeymoon, he and his wife were woken by the sound of immigration enforcement officers breaking down the front door of the building in London where they were renting a studio flat.

It was about 6.30am, and he was still half-asleep when officers used a battering ram to force open the door of his first-floor flat. They checked a piece of paper with his photograph on it and said “target identified” when they confirmed it was him. An officer told him he was being detained because he had cheated in an English exam.

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Former Post Office chair says he was told to stall Horizon compensation payouts

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Henry Staunton claims request was made so government could ‘limp into’ the next general election

A former Post Office chair said he was told by a senior civil servant to stall compensation payouts to post office operators so the government could “limp into” the general election.

Henry Staunton, who was sacked by the business secretary, Kemi Badenoch, last month amid anger over the Horizon scandal, said the request came soon after he took up the role in December 2022.

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Sunak is warned spending squeeze could lead to Conservative party wipeout at election

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As fresh party infighting erupts after two byelection losses, the right are targeting public service funding to pay for tax cuts while others urge restraint

Rishi Sunak is being warned he risks taking his party further towards disaster by sanctioning a new public spending squeeze in a desperate pursuit of pre-election tax cuts, as more Tories said they feared an election wipeout.

With more infighting erupting this weekend after two huge byelection losses in former safe seats, Treasury officials are examining cuts to public spending should they be needed to fund tax cuts, demanded most vociferously by the right of the party.

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Starmer allies gripped by fear of Labour complacency amid byelection triumphs

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Despite victory in two Conservative safe seats, a Labour government is not a foregone conclusion, say party hawks

For the past few months, with Labour enjoying a stubbornly large double-digit lead in the polls, close allies of Keir Starmer remained obsessed with the notion that complacency will slip into the mindsets of MPs, advisers and activists.

In a breathless week that saw Labour veer from having to abandon one byelection before scooping previously safe Tory seats in two others, the obsessives were given three opportunities to drive their point home.

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Sunak urges right-leaning voters to unite to keep Starmer out of No 10

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Prime minister makes appeal after heavy byelection losses to Labour and support lost to Reform UK

Rishi Sunak has called on British conservatives to “come together” after two heavy byelection losses to Labour.

The loss of votes to Labour and an emboldened Reform UK party came as a twin blow to the prime minister, and were just the latest in a series of byelection defeats for Sunak.

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Keir Starmer paid £99,400 in UK tax on £404,000 of earnings, Labour reveals

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Details about leader’s finances for 2022-23 come after Rishi Sunak revealed he paid more than £508,000 of tax on £2.2m plus

Keir Starmer paid £99,431 in UK tax on earnings of £404,030 last year, according to a summary released by the Labour party.

The Labour leader’s tax summary for 2022-23 was published a week after Rishi Sunak’s, which revealed the prime minister paid more than £508,208 in UK tax last year on earnings of just over £2.2m.

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Sunak faces conflicting calls over Tory path forward after bruising byelections

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Loudest voices urge further tack to right after Reform UK gains but moderates argue general election can only be won on centre ground

For Reform UK to win 13% of the vote in a byelection is a long way from the heady days of Ukip taking 60% in Clacton in 2014.

However, that share of the vote was still a shock for the Conservatives on Friday morning, given that Reform is a newer party without the draw of Nigel Farage as leader or the rallying cause of Brexit behind it.

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UK politics live: Labour overturns Tory majorities in Kingswood and Wellingborough to secure double byelection win

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Keir Starmer says ‘people are ready to put their trust in a Labour government’, as wins by Damien Egan and Gen Kitchen put further pressure on Rishi Sunak

Gen Kitchen, the new MP for Wellingborough, said she was “ecstatic” at the result, adding that the double byelection win for Labour shows that people are “fed up” and want change.

“The people of Wellingborough have spoken for Britain. This is a stunning victory for the Labour party and must send a message from Northamptonshire to Downing Street,” she said.

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Labour overturns 18,000 Tory majority to win Wellingborough byelection

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Gen Kitchen takes seat for party for first time since 2001 general election to temper fears after testing week

Labour has overturned a Tory majority of over more than 18,000 to secure victory in the Wellingborough byelection, winning the seat for the first time since the 2001 general election.

Labour’s candidate, Gen Kitchen, won with 13,844 votes, beating the Conservatives’ Helen Harrison who received 7,408 votes in the largest swing from the Tories to Labour since 1994 and second largest since the second world war. It was Labour’s fifth byelection gain from the Conservatives overall in this parliament. The party also gained a Tory seat in Kingswood, dealing a double blow to an embattled Conservative party that has lost 10 byelections in a single parliament, more than any government since the 1960s.

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Family of man found dead on Bibby Stockholm calls for independent inquiry

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‘Closed quasi-detention conditions’ mean death of Leonard Farruku should be examined, lawyers say

The family of Leonard Farruku is calling for an independent inquiry into his death on the Bibby Stockholm barge, the Guardian has learned.

The Albanian asylum seeker, 27, was found dead on the barge, moored in Portland, Dorset, on 12 December last year, after a suspected suicide.

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Kingswood byelection: Labour overturns big Tory majority to win

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Blow for Rishi Sunak as former Lewisham mayor Damien Egan elected in South Gloucestershire seat

Labour has overturned an 11,000-plus Tory majority to win the byelection in the South Gloucestershire constituency of Kingswood.

Damien Egan, who resigned as the mayor of Lewisham in south-east London to contest the seat even though it is being abolished at the next general election, is celebrating victory after a professional and energetic Labour campaign. He won with 11,1176 votes, to 8,675 for his nearest rival, the Conservatives’ Sam Bromiley, a majority of 2,501. Labour won on a swing in the share of the vote of 16.4 percentage points – some way above the 11.4 point swing needed.

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Labour accuses Hunt of being ‘out of touch’ on economy as polls open in Kingswood and Wellingborough – UK politics live

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Labour aiming to win two byelections as chancellor defends Sunak’s record, saying ‘economy is turning a corner’

On Sky News this morning Jeremy Hunt claimed that he would “only cut taxes in a way that was responsible” in the March budget, and the chancellor refused to be drawn on specific measures.

He told viewers:

You will know that chancellors don’t talk about budgets just a few weeks before and that is for a very good reason, because I don’t yet know the final numbers that I will receive from the office for budget responsibility.

I would only cut taxes in a way that was responsible, and I certainly wouldn’t do anything that fuelled inflation just when we are starting to have some success in bringing down inflation.

I am a passionate supporter of the NHS and all our public services, but in the long-run the best thing that I can do as chancellor for the NHS is to make sure that our economy is growing healthily. So what you will see in everything I do in the Budget on March 6 is prioritising economic growth.

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Jeremy Hunt ‘considering spending cuts’ to fund pre-election tax giveaway

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Treasury looking at reducing projected rise in public spending from 2025, FT reports citing insiders

Jeremy Hunt is considering making billions of pounds of spending cuts to fund pre-election tax cuts in the next budget, according to a report.

The chancellor is looking at “further spending restraint” after 2025 if official economic forecasts suggest he does not have enough headroom to pay for “smart tax cuts”, the Financial Times reported, citing Treasury insiders.

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