Category Archives: Politics

Keir Starmer calls Israel’s recent actions in Gaza ‘appalling and intolerable’

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PM tells MPs he is considering imposing sanctions on Israeli government members but is resisting ban on arms sales

Keir Starmer has called Israel’s recent actions in Gaza “appalling, counterproductive and intolerable”, as the UK government comes under mounting pressure to take stronger action after the killings of dozens of civilians at food points in recent days.

The prime minister told MPs on Wednesday the UK was considering imposing sanctions on members of the Israeli government, but is so far resisting growing calls for a complete ban on arms sales and immediate recognition of Palestine.

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Hungary postpones vote on law to curb foreign-funded organisations

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Orbán’s ruling party delays vote on legislation allowing government to ban organisations with foreign funding

Hungary’s ruling party has postponed a planned vote on draft legislation aimed at organisations that receive foreign funding, following weeks of protests and warnings that the law would “starve and strangle” civil society and independent media.

Viktor Orbán’s rightwing populist party, Fidesz, put forward legislation last month that would allow the government to monitor, penalise and potentially ban organisations that receive any sort of foreign funding, including donations or EU grants.

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France plans to begin intercepting small boats at sea, says UK Home Office

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Officials have agreed to begin offshore interceptions, it is claimed, in change of policy that NGOs say will risk lives

The French government plans to begin intercepting small boats carrying asylum seekers even if they are already at sea, a Home Office source has said.

In a move that NGOs claim will endanger lives, it was claimed that French officials agreed this week to draw up plans to begin intervening in waters close to beaches and inland canals.

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Ministers offer concessions on AI and copyright to avoid fifth Lords defeat

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Exclusive: Data bill faces being shelved amid standoff over plans to allow AI firms to use copyrighted content

Defiant peers have delivered an ultimatum to offer artists copyright protection against artificial intelligence or risk losing a key piece of legislation.

The government suffered a fifth defeat in the House of Lords over controversial plans to allow the AI companies to train their models using copyrighted material.

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100,000 UK taxpayer accounts hit in £47m phishing attack on HMRC

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MPs on Treasury committee hear that those affected were being contacted and would face ‘no financial loss’

HM Revenue & Customs has lost £47m after a phishing scam breached tens of thousands of tax accounts, a group of MPs has heard.

Two senior civil servants at the tax authority told the Treasury committee that 100,000 people had been contacted, or were in the process of being contacted, after their accounts were locked down in what the officials said was an “organised crime” incident that began last year.

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James Cleverly takes on Kemi Badenoch over decision to ditch net zero targets

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Senior Tory to give speech in which he will criticise ‘neo-luddites’ on right for failing to embrace green technology

James Cleverly has taken direct aim at Kemi Badenoch’s decision to ditch net zero targets by criticising what he called “neo-luddites” on the right who seemed scared of using green technologies to protect the environment.

The senior Tory MP, who lost to Badenoch in last year’s Conservative leadership race, said it was a false choice to believe the UK had to choose between economic growth and protecting the environment. Badenoch has argued current net zero targets will harm the economy.

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Rachel Reeves to announce £15bn in transport spending amid questions over police cuts – UK politics live

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Chancellor will give speech in Greater Manchester, while police leaders have written to the PM over potential cuts in next week’s spending review

Good morning. A week today Rachel Reeves, the chancellor, will unveil the outcome of the spending review, which will set spending budgets – day-to-day (“resource”) and capital – covering most of the rest of this parliament. Many departments will get resource budgets that feel like cuts, but the Treasury has a more positive story to tell on capital spending and today Reeves is giving a speech announcing a £15bn spending spree on transport projects, mostly in the north of England.

Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot have all the details in our splash story.

We are deeply concerned that the settlement for policing and the [NCA], without additional investment, risks a retrenchment to what we saw under austerity. This would have far-reaching consequences.

Policing and the NCA have seen a sustained period where income has not kept pace with demand. Often, this has been masked by attempts to defer costs in the hope of more income in future, but that now leaves policing with very limited room for manoeuvre.

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Home Office accused of ‘racist crackdown’ on Nigerians after denial of visit visa

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Officials refused entry to man who runs top security firm in Nigeria and his family to spend holiday with his sister

The Home Office has been accused of a “racist crackdown on Nigerians” after refusing a visa to a man who runs one of the west African country’s top security firms for a holiday to see his family.

Samuel Onyekachi Ibeawuchi runs BKay Security Ltd, which provides close protection for high-profile people in Nigeria and abroad. He and his wife, a successful businesswoman, had applied to come to the UK with their 18-month-old child for three weeks in the summer so they could spend time with his sister, Hope Ibeawuchi-Beales, and her husband, Nick Beales, who is head of campaigning at Ramfel, which supports vulnerable migrants.

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Yvette Cooper quizzed over immigration and prisons crisis – UK politics live

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Home secretary appears to accept early release proposals will put more pressure on police as she is questioned at select committee

Defence sources believe that Britain will be forced to sign up to a target of lifting defence spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035 at this month’s Nato summit after a campaign by the alliance’s secretary general to keep Donald Trump onboard, Dan Sabbagh reports.

Later today the data (use and access) bill will return to the Commons from the Lords in the third round of “ping pong” between the two houses. It is not unusual for “ping pong” to go on for a round or two, as bills which are almost ready for royal assent shuttle between the elected and unelected chamber while they try to resolve matters of dispute. But, in this case, the Lords are digging in a bit more than usual.

The government has been accused of “supporting thieves”, as it suffered a further heavy defeat at the hands of peers pressing their demand for steps to safeguard the creative industries against artificial intelligence.

The fourth and latest setback for the Labour frontbench over the issue in the House of Lords was inflicted despite pleas by a minister for the upper chamber to end its prolonged stand-off over the data (use and access) bill.

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Keir Starmer facing scrutiny over failure to establish new ethics watchdog

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Commons inquiry to examine lack of progress in fulfilling manifesto pledge to set up ethics and integrity body

No 10 is facing scrutiny over its failure to bring in a new ethics watchdog almost a year after the election, as a new inquiry was launched to examine the seeming lack of progress.

Amid signs that the plans have been kicked into the long grass, parliament’s public administration committee said it was launching an inquiry to push the government on what has happened to its ethics commitments.

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English mayors push for visitor levy to boost income from tourism

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Group led by Steve Rotheram says introducing local tourism tax would empower regional growth

A coalition of mayors from across England are urging the government to allow local authorities to bring in a Barcelona-style visitor levy to generate income from tourism.

The group, led by the Liverpool city region mayor, Steve Rotheram, argues that a visitor levy would unlock vital funding for tourism and cultural infrastructure, empower regional growth and reduce dependence on central government funding.

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UK should impose sanctions on Egypt over jailed activist, says Helena Kennedy

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Top human rights lawyer calls for UK to take case of Alaa Abd el-Fattah to international court of justice

The UK government should impose sanctions on key figures in the Egyptian government in response to its refusal to release the British-Egyptian human rights activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah, Labour’s most prominent human rights lawyer has proposed.

Writing in the Guardian, Helena Kennedy called for the UK to take the case to the international court of justice, as France has recently done in the case of a national held by Iran.

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Starmer defends not putting date on 3% defence spending target as UK to announce plans to build new submarines – politics live

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Prime minister to launch strategic defence review in Glasgow this morning

Here is the clip of Keir Starmer in his Today programme interview refusing to say when the government will raise defence spending to 3% of GDP.

In an interview with the Times published on Saturday John Healey, the defence secretary, said that he had “no doubt” that Britain would reach the 3% target by 2034 – ie, before the end of the next parliament. Yesterday he described this as an “ambition”.

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Keir Starmer refuses to set date for UK to spend 3% of GDP on defence

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PM says he will not indulge in ‘performative fantasy politics’ before launching strategic defence review

Keir Starmer has refused to give a date for the UK to spend at least 3% of GDP on defence, saying he would not indulge in “performative fantasy politics”, as he prepared to launch the government’s strategic defence review.

Speaking at a defence facility in Scotland, the prime minister said his commitment to hit 2.5% of GDP on defence spending from 2027 showed he was serious about the issue, but that he could not go further without fiscal certainty.

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Spending on agency staff across NHS in England drops by almost £1bn

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Exclusive: Cost-saving for 2024-25 follows pledge by Wes Streeting to cut the amount going to agencies by 30%

Spending on agency staff across the NHS in England dropped by almost £1bn in the last financial year, ministers have said, after a pledge by Wes Streeting to cut the amount going to agencies by 30%.

According to the Department of Health and Social Care, the total spent by trusts on agency staff during 2024-25 was nearly £1bn lower than the previous year.

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London mayor reverses TfL ban on ads calling for abortion decriminalisation

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Sadiq Khan seeking ‘urgent review’ of decision to ban adverts from British Pregnancy Advisory Service

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has stepped in to reverse a ban on adverts on the London transport network calling for abortion to be decriminalised.

It is understood that the mayor is seeking an “urgent review” of a Transport for London (TfL) decision to ban the adverts from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas) charity on the grounds they may bring the Metropolitan police into disrepute.

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Manston staff asked to work overtime amid record number of small boat arrivals

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More than 1,100 migrants arrived on Saturday, the highest number on a single day so far this year

Staff at the Manston migrant processing centre in Kent have been asked to work overtime to deal with the record number of small boat arrivals, the Guardian has learned.

The 11th-hour appeal to staff on Saturday evening to work was circulated by Management And Training Corporation (MTC), one of the Home Office’s contractors on the site near Ramsgate, due to concerns about not having enough staff on duty.

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UK Sikhs threaten to ‘no platform’ Labour MPs over lack of Golden Temple massacre inquiry

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Exclusive: Warnings ‘frustrated’ Sikh voters could turn to Reform over failure to investigate UK’s role in 1984 tragedy

British Sikhs are threatening to “no platform” Labour MPs over the lack of a public inquiry into UK complicity in the 1984 Golden Temple massacre in India, amid warnings “frustrated” Sikh voters could back Reform UK.

More than 450 gurdwaras, charities, associations and university societies have written to Keir Starmer demanding he honour previous promises to fully investigate the affair or risk “massive consequences for the re-election of many Labour MPs”.

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UK plans to build six weapons factories to bolster military readiness

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Plans for £1.5bn investment in munitions manufacturing response to government’s defence review’s call to boost stockpiles

The UK will spend £1.5bn on building six munitions and energetics factories to “better deter our adversaries” as part of its long-awaited strategic defence review.

John Healey, the defence secretary, said the funds formed part of plans for an “always-on” weapons pipeline and would support the procurement of up to 7,000 UK-built long-range weapons.

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UK trade secretary to seek exemption from US steel and aluminium tariffs

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Trump announced on Friday night that he planned to double rates on imported steel, piling more pressure on the industry

The UK’s trade secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, will meet his US counterpart next week to thrash out a timeline for exempting the UK from US steel and aluminium tariffs after Donald Trump announced he would double them.

British officials are seeking clarity on the implications of Trump’s announcement on Friday night that he planned to double the tariffs from 25% to 50% from Wedneday 4 June, piling further pressure on global steel trade.

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