Category Archives: Politics

Keir Starmer says Labour will tackle obstacles holding back housebuilding as protester interrupts conference speech – as it happened

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Labour leader says party has ‘plan to get Britain building again’ after security breach where protester threw glitter on him at start of speech

Labour has published fresh details of how the community policy guarantee (see 9.43am) will work.

On community policing

On Starmer, told that after Reeves’ reassurance over economy, his speech designed to paint a ‘picture of hope’ & it ‘emotive rather than a big policy drop’> the word cloud on what Starmer’s about peppered with don’t know and even ‘nothing’. This his chance to hammer home values

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Key points from Keir Starmer’s speech at the Labour conference

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What can be learned from the Labour leader’s keynote address?

In what could be his final conference speech before the next election, Keir Starmer has set out his case for why voters should back Labour to run the country. Here are the key points he made:

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Tuesday briefing: The global impact of UK supreme court’s ruling on Rwanda deportation plan

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In today’s newsletter: A complicated legal battle over whether the UK government plan to send thousands of migrants to Rwanda could cause a fundamental shift in how asylum seekers are treated

• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First Edition

Good morning. Five supreme court judges are this week deciding whether the UK government plan to deport tens of thousands of asylum seekers to Rwanda should go ahead.

The decision of the UK’s highest court will be life-changing for more than 24,000 asylum seekers issued with letters warning them that they are being considered for forcible removal. It will also either make home secretary Suella Braverman’s “dream” come true or poleaxe a key part of Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “stop the boats”.

Israel | The leaders of the UK, US, France, Germany and Italy have released a joint statement expressing “steadfast and united support” for the state of Israel and “unequivocal condemnation” of Hamas. Earlier, Israel declared a “complete siege” of Gaza, cutting off water, food and power supplies.

Environment | The damage caused by the climate crisis through extreme weather has cost $16m (£13m) an hour for the past 20 years, according to a new estimate.

Transport | A list of transport projects to be funded using HS2 money, which included schemes that had already been built or were swiftly deleted, was intended only to be “illustrative”, the prime minister has said.

Labour | A new Labour government would give all towns and cities in England new powers and funding to boost local economies, Keir Starmer will announce, in the biggest expansion of devolution since Labour was last in power.

Scotland | A hoard of coins linked to a Highland chief – which may have been stashed away as he tried in vain to escape the Glen Coe massacre – has been discovered underneath a fireplace.

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Rwanda accused of broad campaign of repression against dissidents

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Human Rights Watch report detailing alleged abuses at home and abroad raises questions over UK government’s asylum plan

Rwandan authorities are coordinating a systematic campaign of repression at home and abroad against political activists, suspected dissidents and their family members, according to a Human Rights Watch report, raising questions about plans by the UK government to send asylum seekers there.

The US-based rights group details an alleged campaign of extraterritorial killings, kidnappings and intimidation, as well as arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances on Rwandan soil.

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Peter Mandelson calls for Labour caution in improving workers’ rights

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Peer warns party against over-zealous labour market reforms while dismissing former leaders as ‘weak, weak, weak’

Peter Mandelson has warned Labour not to go too far in bringing in labour market reforms to benefit workers and hit out at Unite’s Sharon Graham, while describing the past decade of party leaders as “weak, weak, weak”.

The Labour peer, a former business secretary and architect of the 1997 election victory, gave a combative speech to a City of London Corporation dinner at the party conference, where he warned against making labour market reforms that swung towards the “other extreme”.

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Labour will set up ‘young futures’ youth programme to tackle knife crime

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Yvette Cooper will announce scheme that will also offer mental health support

Yvette Cooper will set up a £100m “tough love” youth programme to help tackle a knife crime epidemic and a mental health crisis among UK teenagers if Labour is elected, she will announce.

On Tuesday, the shadow home secretary will tell the Labour party conference in Liverpool that the “young futures” programme will target 92 communities under a Keir Starmer-led government that are blighted by youth crime and violence.

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Keir Starmer to promise new powers for all of England’s towns and cities

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Exclusive: Labour leader to pledge biggest expansion of devolution since party was last in power

A new Labour government would give all towns and cities in England new powers and funding to boost local economies, deliver thousands of new homes and create high-quality jobs, Keir Starmer will announce.

In the biggest expansion of devolution since Labour was last in power, he will pledge that councils and combined authorities would get more control over housing and planning, skills, energy and transport of the kind currently held by London, the West Midlands and Greater Manchester.

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Rishi Sunak says UK is ‘poised’ to offer Israel military help if required

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UK prime minister will chair Cobra meeting as death toll continues to rise after Hamas’s surprise attack

Rishi Sunak has pledged to provide diplomatic, intelligence or security support to Israel if requested after attacks by Hamas, as he chaired an emergency meeting of Cobra.

No 10 said the UK stood “poised” to help Israel militarily if it asked for assistance and is not ruling out evacuating some British citizens from affected areas, saying keeping them safe was the “utmost priority”.

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Rachel Reeves says Labour will get rid of ‘obstacles created by antiquated planning system’ – UK politics live

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Shadow chancellor will tell party conference that Labour wants to be the party of building and infrastructure

In normal circumstances, Labour conference would be front-page news, but this week’s event has being overshadowed by the war between Israel and Hamas. Rachel Reeves has been taking questions on this in her morning interviews and she stressed Labour’s support for Israel. In an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, asked about claims that the “occupation of Palestine” had provoked the attacks by Hamas, Reeves replied:

Gaza is not occupied by Israel.

The real cause of what is happening now is a terrorist attack. If Britain or any other country was attacked by terrorists, we would believe, and rightly so, that we have every right to defend ourselves, to get back hostages and to protect our citizens.

Speeding up the planning for critically important infrastructure by updating all national policy statements – which set out what types of projects the country needs – within the first six months of a Labour government.

Fast-tracking the planning process for priority growth areas of the economy, such as battery factories, laboratories, and 5G infrastructure.

If we want to spur investment, restore economic security, and revive growth. Then we must get Britain building again.

The Tories would have you believe we can’t build anything anymore. In fact, the single biggest obstacle to building infrastructure, to investment and to growth in this country is the Conservative party itself.

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How Tories’ green hostility will hinder a future Labour government

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Experts say current policies will make it tougher for Keir Starmer to mend UK’s economy and climate goals

The Conservative government’s hostility to net zero and environmental policy will make it tougher for Labour to pursue green growth and mend the damage to the UK’s economy and climate goals if elected, experts have warned.

Anti-green rhetoric was one of the strongest themes of the Tory party conference last week, with the prime minister, Rishi Sunak, warning about the costs of net zero policies as his ministers took even stronger attack lines.

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England’s university free speech tsar says role is not to conduct ‘culture wars’

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Arif Ahmed pledges to remain politically neutral in his role and to ensure academic freedoms are maintained

England’s newly appointed university free speech tsar says his role is not to conduct “culture wars” and has pledged to be politically neutral in his efforts to combat threats to academic freedom.

Arif Ahmed, a former philosophy professor at Cambridge University, said he would measure his success or failure by surveys of students and by the number of complaints made under procedures being created by the Office for Students (OfS), England’s higher education regulator.

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Businesses are turning to Labour in droves, says Darren Jones

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Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury says multinationals are ‘crying out for stability and competence’

Businesses are “crying out for stability and competence” and are turning in droves to Labour after losing hope with the government the shadow chief secretary to the Treasury has said.

Speaking to the Guardian before a speech by his boss, Rachel Reeves, at the Labour conference, Darren Jones said the scale of renewed corporate interest in Labour meant he was spending almost the entire event meeting business leaders.

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Working class deserting Tories in droves under Rishi Sunak, poll finds

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But report says Labour lead is much narrower among working-class voters than electorate as a whole and urges focus on fairness

Working-class people who were a key part of the coalition of voters that delivered the Conservatives’ 2019 general election win have been deserting the party in droves under Rishi Sunak’s leadership, polling has found.

Only 44% of working-class voters who voted for the Tories in 2019 say they will back the party next time, according to research by YouGov released as Keir Starmer prepares to make what will probably be his last pitch for support at a Labour conference before a general election.

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Labour’s Wes Streeting interviewed at Labour party conference – UK politics live

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Shadow health secretary questioned by Guardian editor-in-chief, Katharine Viner

Q: You oppose the Rwanda policy because you don’t think it will work. If the supreme court rules it is legal, and deportations start and it is seen to be working, would you still reverse it.

Yes, says Starmer. He says it is the wrong policy. It is very expensive, and it only affect only a small number of people. And the policy does not deal with the problem at source.

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Ed Miliband to announce Labour plan to boost energy independence and cut bills

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Exclusive: Party says bill would enable UK electricity system to be fully based on clean power by 2030

Ed Miliband is to unveil Labour’s plan for an energy independence act, which would boost Britain’s energy independence and cut bills for families.

The party says the bill will enable a Labour government to establish a UK electricity system fully based on clean power by 2030, with the largest expansion of renewable power in Britain’s history, and establish “GB Energy”, a publicly owned energy company announced by Keir Starmer last year.

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Starmer warns Labour: ‘Don’t get giddy over prospect of election victory’

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In an exclusive interview, the party’s leader says it is on course for Downing Street, but must not repeat past opposition mistakes

• Keir Starmer interview

Keir Starmer on Sunday warns his party not to become “giddy” about the prospect of power, as he declares that Labour is “bang on schedule” to win the next general election.

After his party’s stunning win over the Scottish National party in the Rutherglen and Hamilton West byelection, the Labour leader uses an exclusive interview with the Observer to spell out how a Labour government will “power” economic growth across the country by training up hundreds of thousands of workers in a new nationwide network of skills colleges, geared to the needs of local economies and industries of the future.

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Labour’s stunning Scottish byelection win means there may be little need to bargain with the SNP

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A decade of SNP dominance will be swept away in Scotland if Labour can repeat its Rutherglen success at a general election

Thursday was a big day for Scottish Labour. Within minutes of the declaration that Labour had retaken Rutherglen and Hamilton West from the SNP, phones and social media lit up with triumphant messages from the winning party. And with good reason. This was the best result for Labour in a Scottish byelection since the second world war, and the worst for the SNP since the independence referendum upended Scottish politics.

Some caveats apply. This was one of the SNP’s most marginal seats, where Labour prevailed as recently as 2017. A cloud of scandal hung over a contest triggered after the sitting MP Margaret Ferrier was sanctioned for repeatedly breaking Covid rules. As Boris Johnson has learned, voters judge such behaviour harshly.

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Poll predicts landslide Labour election victory with 12 cabinet ministers losing their seats

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Dramatic findings point to Conservatives losing every red wall seat that they secured at the last election

Labour is currently on course to win a landslide victory on the scale of 1997, according to dramatic new modelling that points to the Conservatives losing every red wall seat secured at the last election.

The Tories could also lose more than 20 constituencies in its southern blue wall strongholds and achieve a record-low number of seats, according to a constituency-by-constituency model seen by the Observer. Deputy prime minister Oliver Dowden, defence secretary Grant Shapps and leadership contender Penny Mordaunt are among those facing defeat. Some 12 cabinet ministers face being unseated unless Rishi Sunak can close Labour’s poll lead.

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Chris Grayling joins list of Tories standing down at next election

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MP since 2001, nicknamed ‘Failing Grayling’ for fraught record as transport secretary, says time for a change after cancer treatment

Chris Grayling, the former transport secretary, has become the latest Conservative MP to announce he is standing down at the next general election.

Grayling said he had been successfully treated for prostate cancer this year and the diagnosis had led him to decide it was “time for a change”.

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Rishi Sunak ‘responsible for biggest income tax rise in at least 50 years’

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Resolution Foundation analysis claims stealth move of freezing tax thresholds will raise £40bn a year

Rishi Sunak’s government is responsible for the biggest income tax rise for decades in a stealth move that will raise £40bn a year, according to new analysis.

Taxpayers in the higher bracket will be handing over £3,700 a year more in tax as a result of a six-year freeze to income tax thresholds by 2027-28, the Resolution Foundation calculated.

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