Category Archives: Politics

Keir Starmer’s poll ratings leap after Trump withdraws support for Ukraine

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Around 30% of voters say they prefer Labour for dealing with ‘allies against threats to the UK’ in boost to party leader

Keir Starmer’s approval ratings have shot up since Donald Trump returned to the White House and shocked Europe by withdrawing political and military support for Ukraine, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer.

Starmer’s Labour government as a whole has also gained public support for its response to the global turbulence caused by Trump’s return – on security and economic issues. His personal ratings have risen by 10% – albeit from an alarmingly low point – compared with a month ago.

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Revealed: the guide the MoD uses to keep its secrets … secret

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Files deemed sensitive in 144-page manual include those dealing with royal family, the Gurkhas – and UFOs

The Ministry of Defence has revealed its blueprint for censoring official documents under legislation to make government records more transparent.

The MoD’s “blue guide” for officials deciding which public records can be published was obtained under a Freedom of Information Act (FoI) request. It shows documents classified as top secret are housed at the MoD’s sensitive archive, whose location is redacted, while about 20m more routine documents are stored at Swadlincote in Derbyshire.

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Islamophobia charity Tell Mama facing closure after funding pulled by government

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Police sources raise alarm over cut as anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain hit record high

The government is cutting all funding for the Islamophobia reporting service Tell Mama, leaving it facing closure weeks after it revealed a record number of anti-Muslim hate incidents in Britain.

Since its foundation in 2012, Tell Mama has been wholly funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government to run its reporting service, which received almost 11,000 reports in 2023-4, and support victims of Islamophobia.

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Trump suspending US intelligence sharing is ‘suffocating’ Ukraine’s hope, says Ben Wallace

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Former UK defence secretary suggests Ukraine can still win the war if it continues holding off Russian forces

Ben Wallace, the former UK defence secretary, has said Donald Trump’s decision to suspend US intelligence sharing with Kyiv is “suffocating” Ukrainian hope of holding out against Russian aggression.

Last Friday, the US president, along with the vice-president, JD Vance, berated Volodymyr Zelenskyy in the Oval Office in full view of the media, telling the Ukrainian president that he was “gambling with world war three” and to come back to the White House “when he is ready for peace”.

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Reform MP Rupert Lowe hits back at party leadership after losing whip

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MP accused of threatening party chair says dealing with leadership is like smashing his head against a brick wall

Rupert Lowe has compared dealing with the Reform party leadership to smashing his head against a brick wall amid a public war of words that has revealed deep tensions at the heart of the rightwing party.

Lowe posted a statement on X asking the party leader, Nigel Farage, to have dinner with him less than 24 hours after Lowe lost the Reform whip, having been accused of threatening the party chair, Zia Yusuf.

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US support to maintain UK’s nuclear arsenal is in doubt, experts say

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Malcolm Rifkind joins diplomats and analysts urging focus on European cooperation to replace Trident

Britain’s ability to rely on the US to maintain the UK’s nuclear arsenal is now in doubt, experts have warned, but working with European states to replace it will be costly and take time.

An existing debate about the future of Trident – Britain’s ageing submarine-launched nuclear missile system – has taken a dramatic new turn in recent weeks amid fears Donald Trump could pull out of Nato.

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Britain’s biggest unions call for much closer UK-EU ties amid ‘volatile’ global economy

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Exclusive: union umbrella body calls for new cooperation agreement ahead of Keir Starmer’s reset talks with Brussels

The UK should forge much closer ties with Europe amid an increasingly “volatile and unpredictable” global economy, Britain’s biggest trade unions will argue as they push for new workers’ rights across the continent.

In its first major intervention on Europe in five years, the Trades Union Congress (TUC) will call for a “much-needed” closer relationship with the EU, in a joint statement with European counterparts.

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Divided Reform UK reports own MP to police amid bullying claims

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Party chair and chief whip issue statement alleging female employees complained about Rupert Lowe

Reform UK has erupted into open civil war after the party said its MP Rupert Lowe had received complaints about bullying and had made threats against the party chair, a day after Lowe criticised Nigel Farage for being “messianic”.

Lowe responded with anger, saying there was no evidence to back up the bullying claims, and that it was “entirely untrue” that he had made threats. He again criticised Farage, saying Reform was “our party as much as it is Nigel’s”.

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‘Don’t punish the vulnerable’: Labour MPs uneasy over planned welfare cuts

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Ministers say ‘unsustainable’ rise in spending must be tackled but many backbenchers fear changes will not work

Dozens of backbench Labour MPs are unhappy with plans to cut billions from the rising welfare bill, with ministers holding meetings to convince them that the changes to disability benefits are necessary.

Labour MPs told the Guardian there were deep concerns within the parliamentary party that the changes would take money from the poorest, which was not what they had entered government to do.

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Dramatic fall in London’s levels of deadly pollutants after Ulez expansion

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People in capital breathing much cleaner air, with significant improvements in capital’s most deprived areas

People in London have been breathing significantly cleaner air since the expansion of the ultra low emission zone (Ulez), a study has found.

Levels of deadly pollutants that are linked to a wide range of health problems – from cancer to impaired lung development, heart attacks to premature births – have dropped, with some of the biggest improvements coming in the capital’s most deprived areas.

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UK Treasury ‘plans funding cuts at GB Energy’ in blow to Ed Miliband

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Government considering such a move over state-owned firm set up by Labour in June’s spending review, say reports

The UK government is making plans to cut the funding for GB Energy, the state-owned company set up by Labour to drive renewable energy and cut household bills, in June’s spending review.

Cuts to the £8.3bn of taxpayer money promised over the five-year parliament would be another blow for Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, after he was overruled by the government when the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, backed the expansion of Heathrow’s third runway.

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Ministers delaying inquiry into treatment of migrant carers, RCN says

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Exclusive: Nursing union says it continues to receive complaints about low pay, unfit housing and illegal fees

Ministers are dragging their heels on an investigation into the mistreatment of migrant carers, the country’s largest nursing union has said, as it continues to receive complaints about low pay, substandard accommodation and illegal fees.

Nicola Ranger, the general secretary of the Royal College of Nursing, has written to Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, to urge her to speed up her promised investigation into the abuse of foreign care workers.

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Reform faces split as Farage hits back over ‘messianic’ criticism

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Nigel Farage calls Rupert Lowe ‘utterly completely wrong’ after Reform MP criticised his leadership style

Reform UK is facing a split at the top after Nigel Farage called one of his most prominent MPs “utterly completely wrong” for calling him the “messianic” leader of a protest party.

Farage hit out at Rupert Lowe after the Great Yarmouth MP and former Southampton FC chair criticised his leadership publicly in an interview.

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American severance may be averted, but Europe’s leaders must fear the worst

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Head-spinning speed of events leaves EU adapting at pace while trying to infer Trump’s possible geo-strategic aims

With a mixture of regret, laced with incredulity, European leaders gathered in Brussels to marshal their forces for a power struggle not with Russia, but with the US.

Even now, of course at the 11th hour, most of Europe hopes this coming battle of wills can be averted and the Trump administration can still be persuaded that forcing Ukraine to the negotiating table, disarmed and blinded, will not be the US’s long-term strategic interest.

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Liz Kendall says getting people into work is best way to cut benefits bill

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Chancellor is eyeing welfare system for potential cuts but pensions secretary says more support for jobseekers is key

The work and pensions secretary, Liz Kendall, has said helping more people back into a job is the best way to cut the benefits bill, as the chancellor looks for savings ahead of the 26 March spring statement.

With Rachel Reeves zeroing in on welfare as a source of potential cuts as she prepares to take action to meet her self-imposed fiscal rules, Kendall said the starting point must be getting people back into work – not numbers on a spreadsheet.

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Council tax in Scotland to reach record high with 15% rise in some areas

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Levies on tourists and cruise ships considered by some local authorities in attempt to plug funding gaps

Council tax costs in Scotland will hit record levels next month after local authorities agreed to raise rates by up to 15%, with some planning new levies on tourists and cruise ships.

All of Scotland’s 32 local authorities have announced council tax increases from April of at least 6%, with the majority raising them by about 10%, after years of successive cuts to their grant funding.

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Town hall leaders condemn ‘ill-thought-out’ plan to merge English councils

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Survey reveals senior officials think changes will do little to address local authorities’ dire financial crisis

Ministers’ plans to shake up the structure of English local government by merging councils are “ill-thought-out”, “insane” and a “bizarre diversion” that will fail to deliver savings, according to a survey of town hall leaders.

The depth of unhappiness with the plans is revealed in an annual poll of senior councillors and executives, most of whom said the changes would be costly, time-consuming and do little to address the dire financial crisis facing councils.

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‘I was devastated’: MP hopes her story will help improve maternity care for disabled women

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Exclusive: Marie Tidball tells of her experiences with NHS as report finds 44% higher risk of stillbirth for disabled women

When doctors tried to work out whether Marie Tidball would need a specially designed birth plan, one asked her to lie fully clothed on the bed and spread her legs in the air so they could see how far they could open.

The incident was one of several occasions when Tidball, now a Labour MP, felt neglected during her pregnancy and early motherhood because of the NHS’s failure to adapt on account of her physical disabilities. Tidball has physical impairments affecting all four of her limbs and had major surgeries on both her hips and legs as a child.

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European markets soar as Germany moves to lift ‘debt brake’ and raise defence spending

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Berlin’s ‘big bazooka’ proposal sends industrial stocks surging but fiscal sea change also hikes borrowing costs

European financial markets have rallied sharply and German borrowing costs have soared after the country’s prospective leaders announced a historic deal to loosen its “debt brake” rule to boost spending on defence.

The yield – in effect the interest rate – on 30-year German government bonds rose by about 25 basis points to 3.08% in its biggest daily increase since October 1998.

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UK, France and Germany say Gaza aid freeze could breach international law

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Ministers issue joint statement after Israel cuts off supplies in effort to push Hamas to accept change in ceasefire deal

Britain has joined Germany and France to warn that Israel could be in breach of international law by halting the entry of aid into Gaza, which is facing a “catastrophic” humanitarian crisis.

The foreign secretary, David Lammy, signed a joint statement with his French and German counterparts to urge Israel and Hamas to engage constructively to get ceasefire talks back on track.

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