Category Archives: Labour

Lucy Harrison’s father was holding the gun that killed her but was never arrested. Now her mother wants Andy Burnham to take up the case

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Eighteen months after her daughter’s death in Texas, Jane Coates hopes new PM can persuade US authorities to reopen case

Lucy Harrison felt that 2024 was her best year yet. The 23-year-old had graduated from university with first class honours, landed her dream job and bought her first house with her boyfriend. She was a “big girl adult” now, Lucy would say. She shed tears of joy seeing her idol, Taylor Swift, at Wembley on the Eras tour that summer. Life could hardly get any better. “All the hard work, all the tears, everything was coming to fruition,” said her mother, Jane Coates, from Warrington in north-west England.

That Christmas, Lucy and her boyfriend, Sam Littler, flew to Texas to spend time with her father, Kris Harrison, who had left the family home when she was two. The pair had a complex relationship – Harrison was a recovering alcoholic – and Littler, 24, did not want them to go. But Lucy enjoyed seeing her two younger half-sisters at their home in Prosper, an affluent suburb 30 miles north of Dallas.

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Scottish Labour’s rivals decry ‘chancer’ Anas Sarwar for resigning to join Andy Burnham’s government

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New prime minister has made Sarwar – the first senior Labour figure to call for Keir Starmer’s resignation – a peer

Scottish Labour’s rivals in Holyrood have slammed Anas Sarwar’s shock decision to resign as leader to sit in Andy Burnham’s new government, calling him a “chancer” and accusing him of lying to voters.

The prime minister has made Sarwar – who was the first senior Labour figure to call for Keir Starmer to resign – a peer and given him a ministerial post at the Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade, No 10 announced on Wednesday.

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Andy Burnham’s first Labour cabinet: who’s in and who’s out?

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From the Treasury to the Home Office, we look at who is heading up key departments in new PM’s government

Andy Burnham has appointed his first cabinet, with the new prime minister rewarding those who have been loyal to his takeover efforts. He had promised to pick his top team from all wings of the party in an effort to show he is trying to run a more inclusive administration.

But at the same time, his decision to have a brutal clearout of Starmer allies resulted in many considered to be on the right of the party or close to the former prime minister losing their jobs. These are the key announcements so far:

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Andy Burnham vows to ‘bring back hope’ as he unveils his cabinet

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New prime minister says government must ‘do better’ to deliver change but promises prudent approach to economy

Andy Burnham has said his arrival in power will “bring back hope” to Britain as he launched his premiership with the surprise appointment of John Healey as chancellor and a promise to repair the damage caused to communities during the Thatcher era.

The new UK prime minister acknowledged people were “fed up” with politics as he addressed the country after taking over from Keir Starmer in Downing Street, saying the government needed to “do better” to deliver real change.

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‘We need to be careful’: Andy Burnham’s team keenly aware of fiscal tightrope

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Chancellor pick and early policies avoid market meltdown but next week remains ‘moment of real peril’

Andy Burnham has not quite gone for Keir Starmer’s extreme caution in the run-up to entering No 10 – but he is certainly aware that any early wrong moves would cost him.

Back in 2024, Starmer was criticised for his “Ming vase” strategy of treading very carefully so as not to drop a valuable metaphorical piece of china being carried across the room.

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Burnham to say UK must be honest about its challenges as he prepares to become PM

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Labour leader will visit king to accept role on Monday and will start making cabinet appointments that afternoon

Andy Burnham will say Britain must be honest about the challenges it faces when he becomes its sixth prime minister in a decade on Monday, as he prepares to introduce measures to ease the cost of living and allow more North Sea fossil fuel drilling.

The Labour leader is expected to start making appointments in the afternoon after going to Buckingham Palace to accept the role of prime minister from the king.

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Burnham’s vow to end Labour briefing wars will test his grip on the party

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Tensions between his aims are already there, including disputes over key appointments such as chancellor

Andy Burnham’s vision for cleaning up Westminster politics is a utopian one: ending the dominance of the whipping system, Whitehall power hoarding and the “insidious briefing culture” of the bubble.

In his first speech on becoming Labour leader, he warned his party it “won’t beat Britain’s new right if we are consumed by infighting and pulling in different directions”.

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Restoring Britain’s health to 2014 levels could add 2% to GDP, thinktank says

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Health Foundation paper argues health is an economic asset and improving it could generate £72bn for public finances

Restoring the deteriorating health of the UK’s population to the level of 2014 would boost GDP by 2% and generate a £72bn dividend for the public finances, research suggests.

A paper by the Health Foundation thinktank, published on Sunday, argues the nation’s health should be valued by policymakers as an economic asset.

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What will Keir Starmer do next?

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Outgoing PM has joked about cookery classes and cutting hedges, but does the international stage beckon?

As his time in Downing Street comes to an end, Keir Starmer has been joking with friends about what he might do after he stands down as prime minister.

He has teased that he might take a cookery course. “He needs it, he only makes two meals,” one friend said. Another not entirely serious suggestion was cutting his father-in-law’s hedge in the expectation that if he did well, he could graduate to lawns.

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Andy Burnham promises to end Labour infighting as he becomes party’s leader

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Government has ‘last chance’ to get it right, says incoming PM, while anxiety surrounds his choice of chancellor

Andy Burnham pledged to lead a united Labour government free of infighting and factional politics as he took over as leader, despite anxiety on the left of party about the prospect of Shabana Mahmood as chancellor.

Burnham, who will become prime minister on Monday, set out a distinctly leftwing vision for Britain. He promised to undo the Thatcherism of the 1980s, bring in more public ownership of utilities, find the money to fix social care and build a new generation of council homes.

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Burnham to say his government will be ‘unashamedly Labour’ in first speech as party leader – UK politics live

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‘Special conference’ to take place at noon where Burnham will be formally announced as Labour leader

It looks as if Keir Starmer has started moving out. A removals van has been seen at the back of Downing Street.

The Telegraph live blog is normally a pretty good read (although not as good as ours, obviously). But today Andy Burnham may want to give it a miss. At the Telegraph they don’t seem very enthusiastic about a Burnham premiership, and here is a selection of the blog headlines: ‘Burnham is coming for your home’; Burnham could crash the economy, claims Truss; Burnham accused of ‘waving away’ scrutiny on path to power; ‘Burnham is already a global laughing stock’.

The new Labour leader will say that ‘Britain took a series of wrong turns in the 1980s’ when ‘political power was centralised and economic power privatised’. To build an economy and a country that works for all people and places, Andy will say that it requires ‘a new path to the one we’ve been on for the last 40 years’.

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UK aid cuts ‘reduce bilateral support to some African countries by 90%’

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Critics say Foreign Office figures send ‘global message about the role the country wants to play on international stage’

Labour’s foreign aid cuts mean reductions of as much as 90% in the bilateral support the UK will give to some African countries, Foreign Office figures show.

The department’s annual report includes a long-awaited breakdown of how the reduction in the aid budget will affect individual countries for the next three years.

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Starmer faces final PMQs before stepping down – PMQs live

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Andy Burnham nears Labour leadership finish line

Labour should ditch the triple-lock pensions promise to help tackle the UK’s straitened public finances, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development has urged. Heather Stewart has the story.

I’m afraid we are not going to be able to open comments today for staffing reasons. If you want to contact me directly, it is probably best to get me on on Bluesky at @andrewsparrowgdn.bsky.social.

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Sadiq Khan backs calls for maximum workplace temperature in UK

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Mayor of London backs calls from unions to update health and safety rules in light of more frequent heatwaves

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, is backing calls for a maximum workplace temperature as pressure grows on the government to protect workers from the impact of repeated heatwaves across the UK.

The extreme heat has left people struggling to cope as temperatures in some workplaces climb above 40C, causing thousands of schools to close and hospital and transport systems to break down.

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MPs vote on Hillsborough amendment as Starmer and Burnham address Commons

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Outgoing prime minister opens third reading debate on the Hillsborough law bill

In response to a question from Alec Shelbrooke (Con), Campbell said he was “totally unaware” not just of the wording of the Tory opposition day motion planned for tomorrow (see 1.04pm), but of the topic that it was going to cover. In a bid to convince MPs that this was not a lie, he said that he was standing at the despatch box and that MPs knew the importance of a minister “telling the absolute truth when they stand here”.

In the Commons, Alan Campbell, the leader of the house, has just announced there will be a change in parliamentary business tomorrow. Wednesday was set aside for an opposition day debate – a debate on a motion tabled by the Tories. Instead, there will be a general debate on the situation in Iran. There will also be a vote on the regulations banning support for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

The government has a majority of more than 150 and it could not trust its MPs to vote the right way on that motion [delaying the recess], and it could not bear the idea of a new prime minister facing any scrutiny before September.

A prime minister, let me remind us all, who has been chosen by a coronation not a contest, with no known platform, almost no known policies, and no idea of his priorities or indeed his cabinet team.

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Keir Starmer becomes first UK PM to receive France’s Légion d’honneur

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Exclusive: Emmanuel Macron honours outgoing prime minister for leadership role in supporting Ukraine

Keir Starmer has become the first UK prime minister to be presented with the Légion d’honneur by a French president, in recognition of his work with France on the security of Europe.

Emmanuel Macron awarded the historic honour to Starmer for his leadership in setting up the coalition of the willing – a group of countries chaired by France and the UK that have pledged to support Ukraine – at a critical moment for Europe in early 2025.

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Immigration bill amend will allow removal of Rochdale gang leader

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Andy Burnham expected to vote in favour of home secretary’s changes to legal loophole and asylum system

The home secretary, Shabana Mahmood, will amend the immigration bill to allow the deportation of the Rochdale grooming gang, the first step in removing Shabir Ahmed from the UK.

At present, Ahmed cannot be deported because of a 1971 law applying to Commonwealth citizens who arrived in the UK more than 50 years ago.

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Mahmood offers Farage security meeting after Ann Widdecombe’s death

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Home secretary insists all MPs treated equally but that security of former MPs and non-Westminster politicians is a concern

Shabana Mahmood has offered Nigel Farage a personal meeting with the Home Office unit that works on security for high-profile politicians, insisting all MPs are treated equally in how they are offered protection.

Addressing the Commons after the death of Ann Widdecombe, the Reform spokesperson whose body was found with serious injuries by the ambulance service at her home in Devon, the home secretary said the incident raised questions about the security of former MPs and politicians from smaller parties, including those not in parliament.

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Monday briefing: You ask the questions – is Britain ungovernable?

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In today’s newsletter: Andy Beckett takes your questions – and mine – about where UK politics is at and where it’s headed, from leadership churn and policy choices to electoral reform and more

Good morning. This week, we anticipate the arrival of Britain’s seventh prime minister in the space of a decade. Barring a sequence of events too freakish to contemplate this early in the day, Andy Burnham will be declared Labour leader on Friday and invited to form a new government thereafter.

Sceptical as I am about doomy predictions on Britain’s chronic ungovernability, I wanted to speak to somebody who could offer some deeper context. Step forward Guardian columnist Andy Beckett, who also writes vivid modern histories about the country’s defining political ideas, and step forward you – First Edition readers – who responded when I asked what contemporary liabilities we should be talking about.

Middle East | The US military has launched a new wave of attacks against Iran amid the escalating standoff over the strait of Hormuz, with Tehran saying the latest strikes had “rendered futile” all the diplomatic efforts of the past few months.

UK news | Senior police figures and politicians have warned against speculation during the murder investigation into Ann Widdecombe’s death, after detectives said there was “nothing to suggest” political motivation.

US politics | Senator Lindsey Graham, a key Trump ally in Washington, died this weekend after a short illness, his office announced.

Far right | Elon Musk’s family foundation took Tommy Robinson to Russia, according to the billionaire X owner’s father. Lib Dem leader Ed Davey said on Sunday the news was a sign Britain “must do more to defend its democracy”.

UK politics | Reform UK would have held just 15% of the donations it received last year if a proposed £100,000 cap on political donations had been in force, according to analysis shared with the Guardian.

Monday | Green MP Hannah Spencer presents her Maximum Workplace Temperature Bill to the Commons, which would establish an independent body to recommend safe working temperatures.

Tuesday | MPs debate capping political donations as they seek to strengthen a new law on party funding.

Wednesday | Sir Keir Starmer will face his final PMQs.

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Reeves tells Burnham to expect ‘shocks and challenges’ from outset in No 10

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Chancellor says PM-in-waiting needs ‘worked through plan’, in what could be one of her final interviews in No 11

Rachel Reeves has urged Andy Burnham to arrive in Downing Street with a “worked through plan”, saying the incoming prime minister will be tested quickly by a range of incoming “shocks and challenges”.

In what could be one of the first female chancellor’s final major interviews while in No 11, Reeves said Burnham should remain focused on the priorities that first brought him into politics.

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