Starmer says he took ‘tough’ action to pull support from Rochdale candidate

Labour leader says he acted decisively after further information on Azhar Ali’s comments about Israel

Keir Starmer has defended his handling of the controversy surrounding Labour’s candidate in Rochdale, who was suspended by the party on Monday night after days of revelations about remarks he made about Israel soon after the Hamas attacks.

The Labour leader said on Tuesday he had taken tough and decisive action against Azhar Ali, who will now campaign for the Rochdale seat with no official support for the party.

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We’ve given up the fight, say top Tories as byelection defeats loom

Senior Conservative says party has descended into ‘death spiral’ as poll losses set to fuel fresh attacks on Sunak’s leadership

Conservative MPs on Saturday night predicted fresh attacks on Rishi Sunak’s leadership within days, as they accused their own party of surrendering to Labour without a proper fight in two formerly safe Tory seats where byelections will be held this week.

MPs from across the party complained that losses in Wellingborough and Kingswood on Thursday had already been “priced in”, as one senior figure said defeatism had set in, with the party having descended into a “death spiral”.

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Local authority leaders criticise Sunak’s call for ‘restrained’ council tax rises

Prime minister’s comments ‘remarkable’ given government cuts to town hall funding in England, say LGA bosses

Council leaders in England have criticised Rishi Sunak for demanding that local authorities show “restraint” in putting up council tax bills, saying the government is to blame for underfunding.

The prime minister on Friday called for authorities to be “restrained in the council tax rises they put in place”, saying it was “incumbent on local councils to be respectful of the demands on people’s family budgets”.

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Wellingborough byelection gives Labour another chance to humiliate Rishi Sunak

Recall of MP Peter Bone opens up Brexit-leaning former safe seat where defections from Tories in any direction could help Labour win

The public’s dissatisfaction with Rishi Sunak’s government runs deep. In his first year in No 10, the prime minister led the Conservatives to six byelection defeats – though many Tories believed they never stood a chance with the vote in West Lancashire.

On paper the results show that national polling, which puts the Labour party ahead of the Conservatives with a 20-point lead, is pretty accurate. Labour figures believe the anti-Tory sentiment that is radiating from the polls is very reflective of the mood in Wellingborough – which will become the latest site for a byelection showdown.

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Cheshire East council says it faces bankruptcy due to HS2 link cancellation

Local authority covering some of richest areas in England says it spent £11m preparing for rail line

A council in one of the wealthiest parts of the UK has warned it faces potential bankruptcy due to the “devastating” impact of cancelling the northern leg of HS2.

Leaders of Cheshire East council in north-west England said the authority had spent £11m preparing for the high-speed rail link, and this would now have to be written off. Most of this money – £8.6m – had been funded by borrowing and would now have to be funded from the council’s already stretched revenue budget.

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Stockton MP rejects Cleverly’s claim that insult referred to him, not his town

Home secretary under pressure over abusive comments in Commons, with Tory mayor among those condemning them

James Cleverly is coming under pressure over abusive comments he made in the Commons after his explanation that he was insulting the local MP, not calling a Labour-held constituency a “shit-hole”, was met with scepticism.

After Ben Houchen, the Conservative mayor for Tees Valley, condemned what he called Cleverly’s “childish and unprofessional language”, the Labour MP concerned, Alex Cunningham, said he simply did not believe the home secretary.

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One in 10 biggest English councils risk bankruptcy over child protection bill

County Councils Network says local bodies facing insolvency after increase in children being taken into care and ‘out of control’ costs

“Out of control” increases in child protection spending since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic have put one in 10 of England’s biggest councils at risk of effective bankruptcy in the next few months, a survey has revealed.

Many county councils and unitary authorities are “running out of road” to avoid insolvency as they grapple with high inflation, increases in children being taken into care, and massive bills for children’s homes, the County Councils Network (CCN) said.

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‘People are just so fed up’: Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire voters on a mood for change

On the streets of Labour’s new constituencies, there was anti-Tory feeling – but also much apathy

It was a stunning pair of victories – and among the most damaging byelection nights any government has suffered in living memory, according to the celebrated psephologist John Curtice.

The question in the newly minted Labour constituencies of Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth the morning after was whether the opposition party can repeat the success at a general election.

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Byelections live: Tory seats under threat as voting begins to replace Nadine Dorries and Chris Pincher

Formerly safe Tory seats in Mid Bedfordshire and Tamworth could fall to opponents in test of Sunak’s electoral fortunes

Rishi Sunak has arrived in Tel Aviv. As mentioned earlier, the British prime minister is due to meet his counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Israeli resident. Sunak is also expected to ask for aid to be allowed into Gaza and for Britons stranded there to be allowed to leave the area.

Reuters has these early remarks from the British prime minister.

Above all, I’m here to express my solidarity with the Israeli people. You have suffered an unspeakable, horrific act of terrorism and I want you to know that the United Kingdom and I stand with you.

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Byelection spending suggests tacit Labour and Lib Dems deal on fighting Tory-held seats

Figures released before Tamworth and Mid Bedfordshire contests hint at opposition parties making space for each other

Labour and the Liberal Democrats appear to have made space for each other in byelections held in Conservative seats, spending figures acquired by the Guardian show.

The figures also show Labour lost the Uxbridge and South Ruislip byelection despite outspending the Conservatives by more than £21,000 in the campaign.

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Labour and Lib Dems in bitter battle over Mid Bedfordshire byelection

Disagreements over who is best placed to take Nadine Dorries’s seat could threaten tactical voting strategies at general election

The fierce byelection battle in Mid Bedfordshire is poisoning relations between Labour and the Lib Dems and risks denting informal cooperation to remove the Tory government, senior Labour figures have warned.

An incredibly close three-way battle has emerged in the seat formerly held by Boris Johnson ally Nadine Dorries, who quit after being refused a place on the former prime minister’s peerages list. Labour and the Lib Dems are both convinced they have the better chance of overturning the colossal 24,664-vote majority and pulling off one of the biggest byelection wins in history this week.

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Tory mayor Andy Street decides to stay in post despite Sunak scrapping HS2 leg

West Midlands mayor says he remains committed to high-speed rail link to Manchester after suggestion he might quit over move

The Conservative mayor for the West Midlands has decided not to quit over HS2, after the prime minister confirmed he was scrapping the high-speed rail line from Birmingham to Manchester.

Andy Street had lobbied heavily to keep the northern leg of the project, and a spokesperson said on Wednesday morning he might quit if his campaign was unsuccessful.

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Sheffield council faces mass equal pay claim over ‘scandalous’ pay grades

Thousands of women who have been underpaid by up to £11,000 a year set to launch claim, GMB union says

Sheffield city council is to become the latest local authority to face a mass equal pay claim from women who have been underpaid by up to £11,000 a year, the GMB union has said.

Thousands of women will launch claims against the council on Monday over a “scandalous” job evaluation scheme that discriminates against female-dominated roles, the union claimed.

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Labour and Tories neck and neck in byelection race for Mid Beds, poll says

Survey reveals Labour more likely than Lib Dems to overturn Conservatives’ 25,000 majority in Nadine Dorries’s former seat

• Read more: byelection duel could gift Mid Beds to Tories

Labour and the Conservatives are neck and neck in the battle for the previously safe Tory seat of Mid Bedfordshire, according to a poll that suggests a split “progressive” vote could allow Rishi Sunak’s party to retain the constituency.

Labour and the Liberal Democrats are making a full-tilt effort to win the seat from the Conservatives after the resignation of Nadine Dorries, a close ally of Boris Johnson, who eventually quit after being denied a place on the former prime minister’s resignation honours list.

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Councils in England in crisis as Birmingham ‘declares itself bankrupt’

With Birmingham indicating it cannot balance its books, experts warn of others living ‘hand to mouth’

The crisis in local authorities was laid bare on Tuesday as Birmingham city council in effect declared itself bankrupt, with experts warning that others across the UK were now living “hand to mouth”.

The council’s head of finance took the dramatic decision on Tuesday to issue a section 114 notice, indicating that it did not have the resources to balance its books.

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Dropping green pledges would be ‘political suicide’, Sunak and Starmer warned

Science and business leaders say lurch away from climate agenda after byelections would be deeply unpopular with voters and damage UK’s reputation

Britain’s leaders have been warned against a “politically suicidal” lurch away from their green pledges as concerns grow that both major parties may dilute their plans to combat the climate crisis in the wake of a shock byelection result.

Senior figures from business, the scientific community and across the political divide warned that any watering down of climate policies would be deeply unpopular with voters, set back the international fight to reach net zero and damage Britain’s green reputation.

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‘Silly sod’: Starmer laughs off minister’s Inbetweeners jibe at new MP

Johnny Mercer had mocked 25-year-old Keir Mather’s lack of real-world experience after he won the Selby and Ainsty byelection

Sir Keir Starmer has called the government minister Johnny Mercer a “silly sod” who will “soon be history” in politics after he compared Labour’s new 25-year-old MP to a character from the teen sitcom The Inbetweeners.

The minister for veterans’ affairs said Keir Mather had been “dropped into” the Selby and Ainsty constituency and was an “identikit Labour politician”. Earlier he had said: “[Parliament] mustn’t become a repeat of The Inbetweeners.”

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

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

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

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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