Category Archives: Politics

Labour condemns Robert Jenrick’s visit to rally attended by far-right activist

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Shadow minister posts picture of himself at protest outside Essex hotel that has become anti-immigration flashpoint

Robert Jenrick has been severely criticised by Labour after the shadow justice secretary was pictured at an anti-asylum rally in Essex attended by a veteran far-right activist.

Jenrick posted photos on X showing himself visiting the protest outside the Bell hotel in Epping, where police have been attacked and police vehicles vandalised by groups of men taking part in the demonstration. The MP met protesters including a woman with a T-shirt bearing the message: “Send them home.”

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Labour needs to ‘pick things up’ after a ‘tough’ first year, says Sadiq Khan – UK politics live

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London mayor says he has ‘confidence we will turn it round’ as he addresses audience at Edinburgh fringe

Conservative MPs have expressed frustration at their party’s “piss-poor” messaging over hotels housing people seeking asylum.

Leaked WhatsApp messages show members are concerned that the party’s leadership is attacking Keir Starmer’s government for policies introduced by the Conservatives.

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UK metals firms threaten to sue government over tariffs on steel imports from Asia

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Companies send letter to business secretary complaining new rules were imposed with 24 hours’ notice

UK metals companies have threatened to take legal action against the government over tariffs on raw steel imports from Asia which they claim have caused a “tsunami” of problems for the industry.

Earlier this summer, the business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, reduced the amount of raw steel from Vietnam and South Korea that can be imported tariff-free in a move designed to protect UK raw steel makers, which face competition from cheap imports.

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Tory MPs complain party attack ad on asylum hotels ‘makes us look silly’

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Backbenchers say party leadership is criticising Labour government for policies introduced by Conservatives

Conservative MPs have expressed frustration at their party’s “piss-poor” messaging over hotels housing people seeking asylum.

Leaked WhatsApp messages show members are concerned that the party’s leadership is attacking Keir Starmer’s government for policies introduced by the Conservatives.

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Scottish ministers face legal action over policies ‘inconsistent’ with UK gender ruling

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Campaign group that won supreme court case brings challenge over transgender guidance in schools and prisons

A campaign group that won a legal victory on the definition of gender is taking action against the Scottish government over policies it says are “inconsistent” with the ruling.

For Women Scotland’s legal battle with Scottish ministers over the definition of a woman ended in the UK’s supreme court, which ruled in April that the words “woman” and “sex” in the Equality Act 2010 referred to a biological woman and biological sex.

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Jack Straw urges Labour not to panic about threat of Nigel Farage

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Former home secretary praises Keir Starmer’s success on world stage and says PM can win over sceptical UK public

Keir Starmer and his ministers must not “panic” about the threat of Nigel Farage, the former home secretary Jack Straw has said, adding that the prime minister had impressed on the world stage and should show more of that side of himself at home.

In an interview with the Guardian, he praised Starmer’s intention to recognise a Palestinian state after an ultimatum to Israel – but defended the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, saying he would also have proscribed the direct action group Palestine Action.

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European leaders including Starmer to join Zelenskyy in Washington for meeting with Trump

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Emmanuel Macron, Friedrich Merz and others will aim to push back against ceding of Ukraine territory in ‘peace plan’

European leaders including Britain’s Keir Starmer will join Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, at a White House meeting on Monday with Donald Trump, in an extraordinary joint effort to push back on a US-backed plan that would allow Russia to take further Ukrainian territory.

As well as the UK prime minister, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, Germany’s chancellor, Friedrich Merz, Italy’s PM, Giorgia Meloni, and the Finnish president, Alexander Stubb, will all accompany Zelenskyy in the Oval Office.

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Keir Starmer hopes to exploit curious relationship with Trump in Ukraine talks

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PM has positioned himself as someone who can get along with US president while stressing Europe’s red lines

Asked behind the scenes at June’s G7 summit if he could explain why Donald Trump seemed to like him so much, Keir Starmer admitted he did not really know. Whatever the reason, when it comes to Ukraine, the UK prime minister is once again hoping to exploit this somewhat curious relationship.

As soon as it was announced that a string of European leaders planned to join Volodymyr Zelenskyy to back the Ukrainian president in crucial talks with Trump at the White House on Monday, it was obvious Starmer would be joining them.

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Anti-racism and anti-immigration protesters in Falkirk face off outside asylum hotel

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Counter-demonstration offers welcome to refugees as anti-migrant protesters gather outside Cladhan hotel

Anti-racism campaigners held a counter-demonstration against people protesting against “uncontrolled illegal immigration” outside a hotel used to house asylum seekers in Scotland.

Stand Up to Racism Scotland, Falkirk Trades Union Council and local people said they organised the gathering in Falkirk on Saturday to show that refugees are welcome in the town.

Organisers described it as a “safely stewarded community event with music, speeches from the local community, the trade union movement, local campaigns, faith groups and others”.

Demonstrators held placards with messages such as “stop the far right”, “refugees welcome” and “migrants make our NHS”.

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Cyprus welcomes resignation of UK trade envoy after visit to occupied north

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Afzal Khan had said visit to Turkish-occupied northern Cyprus was in personal capacity but resigned after furore

Cyprus has welcomed the resignation of the UK’s trade envoy to Turkey, Afzal Khan, saying it sends “a resounding message” amid widespread criticism of the Labour MP’s recent visit to the island’s breakaway Turkish-occupied north.

Khan had defended his trip on 8 August in a letter to the British prime minister, Keir Starmer, claiming it was conducted “in a personal capacity during the parliamentary recess”.

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Labour’s attempt to find successor to Diane Abbott ‘under way’

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Exclusive: Contenders teed up for future contest, which MP says seems ‘to pre-empt results of investigation’

Moves to find a successor to Diane Abbott in the parliamentary seat she has represented since 1987 are under way, prompting concern that her fate has been decided before an investigation into her latest suspension has concluded.

Figures on Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) have spoken to potential contenders, teeing them up for a future contest in her constituency of Hackney North and Stoke Newington, and giving them informal advice on how to prepare, according to a party source.

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Ukraine is fighting for the same values as allies did in second world war, says Keir Starmer – UK politics live

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Addressing reception marking 80th anniversary of VJ Day, prime minister says he spoke to Zelenskyy about allies’ values as Trump prepares to meet Putin

Asylum seekers locked in detention centres as part of Labour’s “one in, one out” deal have said they had not heard of the scheme before arriving in the UK on small boats and were terrified of being returned to their home countries.

The prime minister, Keir Starmer, has said the plan to send one small boat arrival back to France in exchange for accepting another to live in the UK would deter the thousands from crossing the Channel.

We did not understand what was happening to us when the Home Office moved us from Manston [the former military base in Kent] where we were processed, straight to this place which is like a jail.

When we asked why they were bringing some who arrived on the same boat as me here but letting others go free, they did not answer us. They just said it was because we crossed the Channel illegally.

I am very frightened here. There are people who have committed crimes in the UK locked up with us. We have done nothing wrong apart from trying to find a safe place.

Green party (Matt Youde) – 24%

Welsh Labour (Khuram Chowdhry) – 22.7%

Plaid Cymru (Neil Roberts) – 18.7%

Reform UK (Joseph Martin) – 14.5%

Propel (Vincent Yewlett) – 9.6%

Independent (Ahmed Samater) – 4.6%

Welsh Conservative party (James Hamblin) – 4.1%

Welsh Liberal Democrats (Irfan Latif) – 1.8%

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UK rights watchdog warns against ‘heavy-handed’ policing of Gaza protests

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EHRC calls for clearer guidance for officers to avoid a ‘chilling effect’ on freedom of expression

The UK’s official human rights watchdog has written to ministers and police expressing concern at a potentially “heavy-handed” approach to protests about Gaza and urging clearer guidance for officers in enforcing the law.

In the letter to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, and Mark Rowley, the head of the Metropolitan police, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said the perception that peaceful protest could attract disproportionate police attention “undermines confidence in our human rights protections”.

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Suspended Labour councillor found not guilty of encouraging violent disorder

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Ricky Jones was filmed speaking at anti-racism rally after last summer’s far-right riots that followed Southport murders

A suspended Labour councillor who called at an anti-racism rally for far-right activists’ throats to be cut has been found not guilty of encouraging violent disorder.

Ricky Jones, 58, used the phrase “disgusting Nazi fascists” in a speech about last summer’s far-right protests after the Southport murders, his trial at Snaresbrook crown court heard.

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Keir Starmer to host Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Downing Street – UK politics live

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UK prime minister will be joined by Ukrainian president as he says Britain stands ready to ‘increase pressure’ on Russia if necessary

Education secretary Bridget Phillipson has said it is a “day of celebration” for young people ahead of A-level results on Thursday.

Speaking to Times Radio, she said:

I’ll just start by saying that this is a really exciting day for young people. They’ve worked really hard. They’ve had brilliant support from their teachers and parents. It’s a day for celebration for our young people and there are lots of great routes out there.

University is one of them, but for young people who are considering other routes there are apprenticeships and plenty of other opportunities available too, and lots of advice available if you haven’t quite got what you needed, through Ucas and clearing, and also through the National Career Service.

I think it’s a matter of personal choice.

I do think it’s a good thing that more young people are studying subjects like maths. There are often great roots into careers. The same is, of course, true of subjects like languages, and that was my personal passion.

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Putin ready to make Ukraine deal, Trump says before Alaska summit

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US president’s comment that Russian and Ukrainian leaders may have to ‘divvy’ things up likely to raise alarm

Donald Trump has said he believes Vladimir Putin is ready to make a deal on the war in Ukraine as the two leaders prepare for their summit in Alaska on Friday, but his suggestion the Russian leader and Volodymyr Zelenskyy could “divvy things up” may alarm some in Kyiv.

The US president, who left the White House on Friday at 7.30am, implied there was a 75% chance of the Alaska meeting succeeding, and that the threat of economic sanctions may have made Putin more willing to seek an end to the war. “HIGH STAKES!!!” he posted on Truth Social as his motorcade idled outside the White House shortly after sunrise in Washington.

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Next UK protest over Palestine Action ban aims to sign up 1,000 people

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Defend Our Juries believes London protest in September could lead to ban being lifted, after 532 arrests on Saturday

The next mass protest in support of the banned group Palestine Action will aim to be twice the size of the last, organisers have said, as they increase pressure on the government to lift its proscription.

Last Saturday’s protest in Parliament Square was predicated on 500 people signing up but the next one, announced on Wednesday for 6 September in London, is conditional on 1,000 people agreeing to take part.

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Lammy refers himself to watchdog after fishing illegally with JD Vance

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Foreign secretary reports ‘oversight’ to Environment Agency after failing to acquire necessary rod licence

David Lammy has referred himself to the environment watchdog after going fishing with JD Vance without the required licence during the US vice-president’s trip to the UK.

The foreign secretary hosted Vance and his family at Chevening House in Kent last week, where the pair fished from the property’s private lake. Anglers aged 13 and over must hold a rod licence to fish for freshwater species such as carp in England and Wales. Lammy failed to land a catch, but “all of my kids did”, Vance said.

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Treasury targeting inheritance tax reforms to help plug UK deficit

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Exclusive: Chancellor also looking at tweaks to capital gains tax to try to bridge £40bn-plus spending gap before budget

The Treasury is looking at ways to raise more money from inheritance tax amid growing pressure on the country’s finances ahead of the autumn budget, sources have told the Guardian.

Officials have been tasked with examining whether tightening rules on the gifting of money and assets could be one way of addressing a gap between revenue and spending that is estimated to reach more than £40bn.

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UK politics: Pressure grows on Starmer as Channel migrant figures pass 50,000 since Labour’s win – as it happened

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Home Office data shows 474 migrants arrived yesterday in eight small boats bringing the total to over 50,000

Rachel Reeves has been taking questions from journalists in Belfast. She says Northern Ireland is “absolutely crucial” for the UK’s growth prospects, pointing to the nation’s strong TV, film and video game industries.

The chancellor claimed stability has returned to the UK’s economy despite mounting concerns about its ability to respond to shocks amid global uncertainty from Donald Trump’s trade war. Job losses are rising, fewer employers are advertising for staff and inflation remains high.

If you look at the growth numbers in the first quarter of this year, we were the fastest growing economy in the whole of the G7. Whilst the US economy shrunk in the first quarter of this year, the UK economy grew.

We’ll get data for the second quarter of this year later this week. But we are creating more jobs, 384,000 additional jobs compared with a year ago, wages are rising at a faster rate than inflation, putting more money in people’s pockets.

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