Category Archives: Politics

Rishi, Keir and Ed triumphant as all three parties win byelection day | John Crace

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All the leaders concluded that things had panned out just as they had hoped, if not better

And the winner is … Absolutely everyone. It was the morning after the night before and – slowly, slowly – the leaders of all political parties began to emerge from their bunkers to face the media. And what a tale they had to tell. They had had time to reflect on the results of the three byelections and – amazingly – had all concluded that things had panned out just as they had hoped. Better even. Everyone was on course to win the next general election in 2024 and everyone else was facing an electoral wipeout.

Rishi Sunak was first to show his face in a cafe. “This is an historic day for the Conservatives,” he said. “And also for me. By holding – where am I? This part of London all looks the same to me – Oh, yes, Uxbridge and South Ruislip, I have avoided becoming the first prime minister since Harold Wilson to lose three byelections on the same night. So by only losing two safe seats, I have shown I am on course to win a general election.

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Byelection results: Labour in historic Selby win, Conservatives retain Uxbridge, Lib Dems sweep Somerton and Frome

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Byelection results come in for the constituencies of Somerton and Frome, Uxbridge and South Ruislip, and Selby and Ainsty

Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine said her party was “quietly confident” about victory in Somerton and Frome.

The party is tipped for victory in the byelection and Jardine told BBC Newsnight that success would be “huge”.

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UK byelection results: Labour routs Tories in Selby and Ainsty but falls short in Uxbridge

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Keir Mather, 25, is Selby’s next MP, as Labour narrowly fails to take Boris Johnson’s old seat of Uxbridge and South Ruislip and Liberal Democrats romp to victory in Somerton and Frome

The Labour party has won its biggest ever byelection victory by overturning a 20,000-vote Conservative majority in Selby and Ainsty, sending a 25-year-old to parliament.

But Keir Starmer’s party failed to win Uxbridge and South Ruislip, Boris Johnson’s old constituency. The Conservatives held on to the outer London seat with a majority of 495, the only bit of good news in an otherwise miserable night for Rishi Sunak.

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Battle over two-child benefit cap looms at Labour policy event

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Keir Starmer will face discontent from unions and MPs at the National Policy Forum in Nottingham

Keir Starmer faces battles over the two-child benefit cap and other flashpoints at a key Labour policy gathering this weekend where trade union delegates will cite new evidence of the mounting cost of living crisis facing their members.

Discontent at all levels of the party over his resistance to pledging to scrap the cap if Labour wins power forms the backdrop to potentially stormy negotiations behind closed doors at the National Policy Forum (NPF).

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Rishi Sunak criticises EU for calling Falkland Islands ‘Islas Malvinas’

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Prime minister says choice of words ‘regrettable’ as Brussels insists it has not changed its stance on disputed islands

Rishi Sunak has criticised the EU for its “regrettable choice of words” after it appeared to endorse the name that Argentina uses for the Falklands.

Downing Street was reacting after EU leaders attending a summit in Brussels supported an Argentinian-backed declaration that used the name Islas Malvinas alongside Falkland Islands.

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Voters head to polls in three byelections seen as test of Rishi Sunak’s premiership – UK politics live

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Voters are picking new MPs in the constituencies of Somerton and Frome, Uxbridge and South Ruislip, and Selby and Ainsty

A senior Conservative MP has apologised and deleted a video in which he praised the Taliban and credited them with improving safety in Afghanistan.

Tobias Ellwood said he was “sorry for my poor communication” after his actions outraged fellow Tory MPs and military veterans, and an attempt was launched to challenge his role as chair of the Commons defence select committee.

The last couple of days have probably been the most miserable as a member of parliament. I got it wrong.

It’s not just our members, we’d like him to show that he supports the trade unions, that he supports working people who are struggling, and we think some of the stuff that we’re hearing is a dilution of traditional Labour positions and even the positions that he himself adopted when he was elected as leader.

So the stuff about the two-child cap is not really good enough; it’s taking the side of the Conservatives, it’s taking the side of austerity.

I’m hoping that we’ll get a new deal for workers, the repeal of many of these anti-trade union laws that restrict our rights and our freedoms and that he shows that in terms of funding public services like education, health, care for our elders and addressing the housing crisis that we’ve got in this country that he can do something positive in favour of working people.

If he does that then more people will support him, if he doesn’t then some people might conclude... they may as well have the Tories because there’s not much difference between them.

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Nigel Farage praises ‘swift’ intervention by ministers over closed Coutts account

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Ex-Ukip leader welcomes prospect of law to stop bank account closures due to customers’ political views

Nigel Farage has praised a “swift” intervention by ministers after reports that new laws could be drawn up to stop banks closing customers’ accounts because they disagree with their political views.

The former Ukip leader said MPs were “beginning to realise that this system is coming for them as well” after his bank accounts were closed by Coutts, he says because his views “did not align with” its values.

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Tory MP Tobias Ellwood apologises for video praising Taliban

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MP ‘sorry for poor communication’ after he credited group with improving safety in Afghanistan

A senior Conservative MP has apologised and deleted a video in which he praised the Taliban and credited them with improving safety in Afghanistan.

Tobias Ellwood said he was “sorry for my poor communication” after his actions outraged fellow Tory MPs and military veterans, and an attempt was launched to challenge his role as chair of the Commons defence select committee.

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Byelection polls open with Rishi Sunak forecasting ‘tough’ fight to save seats

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Opposition parties hope to overturn government majorities in three constituencies vacated by Tory MPs amid controversy

Polls have opened in three parliamentary seats where byelections are being held, with Rishi Sunak braced for an electoral test of his premiership.

The Conservative-held constituencies are being targeted by Labour and the Liberal Democrats, who hope to overturn large majorities and send Tory MPs off into the summer recess nervous about their own political futures come the general election.

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‘Even hanging on to one would be a win’: Tories brace for byelection results

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Votes in the three very different seats could indicate general election swings and prompt cabinet reshuffle

The Conservatives are braced for painful byelection results in a vote on Thursday that could become a damning verdict on Rishi Sunak’s ability to win a broad enough coalition of voters at the next election to retain his party’s majority.

The party could lose all three of the constituencies that are up for grabs – which each have significantly different demographics that the Tories would need to win – with the prospect of hanging on to just one being touted by senior ministers as a victory.

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Siân Berry to be Green candidate for Caroline Lucas’s Brighton seat

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Green members select the party’s former co-leader to stand in Brighton Pavilion at next election

The Green party has selected Siân Berry as its candidate to stand in Brighton Pavilion to replace Caroline Lucas MP.

Berry, Emily O’Brien and Dan Rue were vying to be the Green’s candidate in the Sussex constituency which Lucas, the former leader of the party, has represented in parliament since 2010.

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James Cleverly makes public appeal to keep job as foreign secretary

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Departure from normal ministerial practice adds to speculation of an imminent reshuffle by Rishi Sunak

James Cleverly has issued an unusual public appeal to Rishi Sunak to keep his job as foreign secretary in the next reshuffle, as speculation mounts that the prime minister could change his frontbench team in the coming days.

The foreign secretary told the Aspen Security Forum on Wednesday he would have to be dragged out of his job “with nail marks down the parquet flooring”, after speculation he could be moved to the defence brief to replace Ben Wallace.

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Sunak, Braverman and City regulator wade into Farage banking row

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FCA chief says banks cannot ‘discriminate’ against political views, but chair argues it’s up to Coutts ‘who they do business with’

The City regulator has said it has contacted the owner of Coutts bank amid a growing row over its decision to close Nigel Farage’s accounts, but told MPs that while lenders cannot discriminate against customers, it is ultimately up to firms to decide who to do business with.

It came as the prime minister, the home secretary and the City minister waded in to the growing debate over the rights of lenders to shut or refuse accounts based on concerns over customers’ political views.

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UK must label Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as terror group, says thinktank

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Report from rightwing thinktank calls for tougher sanctions on Iran as October expiry of UN sanctions looms

The October expiry of UN sanctions limiting Iran’s missile programme must become a hard deadline for the UK to adopt a tougher policy that includes proscription of the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), a rightwing thinktank has warned.

The report from the Henry Jackson Society (HJS) is the second from a right-of-centre thinktank in two days demanding tougher action on Iran, and suggests that the UK ministers’ preferred strategy of introducing an Iran-specific sanctions regime that could lead to sanctions for activities outside Iran has fallen flat with Tory hawks.

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Tony Blair sought to avoid reports of ‘snuggling up’ to Berlusconi, files show

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Envoy urged No 10 to exploit opportunities presented by tycoon’s premiership while ‘holding our noses’, archives reveal

Tony Blair sought to avoid unwelcome headlines suggesting he was “snuggling up” to Silvio Berlusconi by not inviting media lobby correspondents to a UK-Italy summit in Rome, newly released documents reveal.

Before the February 2002 bilateral, Britain’s ambassador to Rome, John Shepherd, told the government it had a “real opportunity” to exploit the Italian prime minister’s “orientations in Europe in support of UK interests, holding our noses and staying alert to the risks as we do”.

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Jeremy Corbyn says Labour MPs are ‘seething with anger’ about Keir Starmer’s stance on the two-child benefit cap – UK politics live

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Former Labour leader says ‘even the Blair government’ helped lift children out of poverty

Labour MPs are “seething with anger” about Keir Starmer’s decision to say the party would not get rid of the two-child benefit cap, Jeremy Corbyn said this morning.

Corbyn, Starmer’s predecessor as leader, told LBC that he had spoken to “quite a lot of Labour MPs” about this issue. He went on:

They are seething with anger, particularly as commitments have been made regularly by the party that we would take children out of poverty. Even the Blair government, which Keir Starmer often quotes, did do a great deal to lift children out of poverty by not having a two-child policy …

Even in areas like mine, there are high levels of child poverty – probably 40% of the children in my constituency. All across the north-east, which Jamie [Driscoll] represents – a third of all children across the whole of the region are living in poverty. That has got to go and got to change.

This is not a shock – it is what I and my team expected.

None of my fellow Bernie Grant leadership programme alumni have been selected.

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Asylum barge docks after Lords passes ‘shameful’ UK illegal migration bill

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Rishi Sunak’s legislation faced challenges from peers including the archbishop of Canterbury

A barge that will be used to house 500 asylum seekers has belatedly arrived in a port on England’s southern coast after voting in the House of Lords paved the way for the government’s small boats and migration bill to become law.

The arrival of the Bibby Stockholm, which was pulled by a tug into Portland port in Dorset on Tuesday morning, coincided with condemnation of the previous night’s drama in which the Conservative frontbench saw off five further changes to the bill peers were seeking, including modern slavery protections and child detention limits.

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Labour may not be able to afford to ditch ‘bad policies’– shadow minister

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Lucy Powell defends Starmer over resistance to scrapping two-child benefit cap amid growing discontent

Labour may not be able to afford to reverse “lots of bad policies”, a member of the shadow frontbench has said as she defended Keir Starmer’s resistance to scrapping the two-child benefit cap amid growing discontent from party MPs and others.

The Conservatives were “waiting” for Labour to commit to uncosted spending commitments, the shadow culture secretary, Lucy Powell, said, as Starmer faced potential opposition at a meeting of his shadow cabinet on Tuesday morning.

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Tory MPs condemn delay to ban on LGBTQ+ conversion practices

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Letter from cross-party MPs and campaigners says slow progress on legislation is a ‘moral failing’

Senior Conservative MPs have accused the government of a “moral failing” for delaying the long-promised ban on conversion practices that they say damage the lives of LGBT+ people.

In a letter to Rishi Sunak, a cross-party group of politicians and campaigners criticised the slow progress in bringing forward new legislation since the pledge was made five years ago.

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Grant Shapps appears to row back on supermarket petrol prices law

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Energy secretary backs voluntary price comparison scheme in meeting with supermarket bosses rather than new law

The energy secretary, Grant Shapps, appears to have rowed back on plans for a law to force supermarkets to make fuel prices more transparent, instead backing a voluntary price comparison scheme in a meeting with supermarket bosses.

Shapps on Monday endorsed the non-mandatory scheme, which had been suggested by the competition regulator, after a summit with retailers that he had promised would involve him holding “rip-off retailers” to account.

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