Immigration minister says poorer areas have taken ‘fair share’ of asylum seekers – UK politics live

Anna Turley backs up Andy Burnham’s suggestion that affluent areas should house more asylum seekers in future

Just 20 staff are working on climate adaptation within the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, the part of government tasked with protecting the environment and maintaining food security, a freedom of information request has revealed. Sandra Laville has the story.

On his visit to Stevenage, Andy Burnham also said he would visit the town on Remembrance Day to mark its 80th birthday.

I’m going to come back to Stevenage on 11 November. We will pay our respects for Remembrance Day around that time, but I’ll be here because if I’m right, that will be 80 years to the day that the post-war Labour government created the first new town right here in Stevenage.

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Nicola Sturgeon ‘has not spoken to’ estranged husband, Peter Murrell, since he was jailed

Scotland’s former first minister says she will not visit Murrell in prison, where he is serving five-year sentence for embezzling SNP funds

Nicola Surgeon has said she will not visit her estranged husband, Peter Murrell, in prison, has stopped speaking to him and views herself as a “mug” for worrying about his wellbeing and mental health earlier this year.

During a podcast recording at the Edinburgh festival fringe, Scotland’s former first minister said Murrell had lied to her until the day he pleaded guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 from the Scottish National party.

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UK politics: Tories’ Philp rejects French claim that shots fired from naval boat near him were training exercise – as it happened

Shadow minister says there was no warning and ‘it looked and sounded like deliberate intimidation’

It is not just the Russians firing on Brits in the English Channel; Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, has accused a French warship of firing “warning shots” near him while he was on a boat in the Channel monitoring small boat crossings.

In a post on social media, he says:

On the channel today monitoring illegal migrant crossings … as I was being interviewed by the BBC just now a French warship approached close and fired 17 live rounds behind us. There was no notice or training exercise in place. Felt like warning shots or attempted intimidation

On the crisis in prison places, this has been a long time coming. We did some things, as I said [see 10.11am], it wasn’t enough, and I’m sorry about that.

But I can’t fix the past, but what I can do is come up with solutions for now, and for tomorrow.

This was something which we were doing in government. We had plans to rent prison places, just like Sweden has done with Estonia, so that we didn’t have to just release these sorts of violent criminals early. We could have put them in other countries.

If everybody says ‘no prison near me’, we won’t get these [prison places] built, so this is something the public can help with … We cannot say ‘no’ to every potential site for a prison.

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Evacuated villagers in Cairngorms allowed home after wildfire threat lifts

Scottish first minister thanks Nethy Bridge residents and aid workers after earlier requesting UK military aid to fight 10-day fire

Residents of Nethy Bridge have been told they can return to their homes after a large fire broke out in the Cairngorms national park.

Supt Judy Hill of Police Scotland said: “Thanks to the efforts of fire crews, gamekeepers, contractors, partners and many others over the past 24 hours, there is no longer the immediate threat which prompted the evacuation of properties in Nethy Bridge.

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

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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Badenoch urges Burnham to condemn defence investment plan as Starmer says black hole will be addressed – UK politics live

Minister and MPs have raised concerns that his ‘poisoned chalice’ plan will take cash from much-needed road projects

Dan Sabbagh is the Guardian’s defence and security editor.

Andy Burnham is a “true patriot” who will provide the money needed to maintain Britain’s security when he becomes prime minister, the new defence secretary, Dan Jarvis, said on a visit to a factory in Cambridge today.

I’ve known Andy Burnham for more than 15 years, he is a true patriot, and I absolutely believe that he will make sure that we have the resources that we need to field the kind of capabilities that are required given the nature of the world that we’re operating in.

I know what we need to do to keep Britain safe, and I’m absolutely confident that Andy Burnham, as the next prime minister, knows that as well, and we’ll make sure in the context of the next spending review that we’ve got the resources we need to keep the country safe.

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‘This changes everything’: how Brexit altered Scotland’s political landscape

Former party leaders reflect on the turbulence that followed the referendum in which most Scottish voters backed the losing side

The decision to quit the EU bolstered support for Scottish independence, which a decade after the Brexit referendum is at near record levels, according to Scottish Labour’s former leader Kezia Dugdale.

Dugdale said the Brexit vote “creates a frame around fairness” for many in Scotland because, unlike England, Scottish voters comprehensively backed remain in 2016, by 62% to 38%, yet found their country taken out of Europe.

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Reform UK gloomy about prospects in Makerfield, as one party source says Labour ahead by 2,500 votes – UK politics live

Result expected around 3am as Labour’s Greater Manchester mayor hopes a win over Reform UK will help force the prime minister to step aside

David Blunkett, the former Labour cabinet minister, has suggested that Keir Starmer should stand down after the Makerfield byelection.

In an interview on the BBC’s Newsnight, Blunkett suggested that Starmer standing aside would be the best option for the party regardless of whether Andy Burnham wins tonight or loses.

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Scottish Conservatives win Aberdeen South, ousting SNP

Tories’ Douglas Lumsden says city has spoken ‘loud and clear’ in support of the North Sea oil and gas industry

The Scottish National party (SNP) has lost the formerly safe seat of Aberdeen South in a shock loss to the Scottish Conservatives.

The Scottish Conservatives’ Douglas Lumsden beat the SNP’s Richard Thomson by 6,050 votes, with a 14.69% swing away from the SNP. The Tories vote share was 49.51%. Lumsden’s vote tally was 14,308, with Thomson on 8,258.

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UK defence spending plan ‘well short of what’s required’ and harder choices needed, says John Healey – as it happened

Ex-defence secretary John Healey and ex-defence minister Al Carns have given resignation statements to MPs

Speaking to reporters at the G7, Keir Starmer also defended the defence investment plan (DIP) draft that led to John Healey’s resignation as defence secretary last week. Starmer confirmed that Dan Jarvis, the new defence secretary, is getting some input before the publication of the DIP in its final version.

Starmer said:

The position on investment in defence is firstly that we increased last year defence spending from 2.3% to 2.6%, that’s the biggest increase since the 1980s, and that means £270bn will be spent this parliament on defence.

On top of that [the] defence investment plan which obviously gives us capability for the future. We will put even more money in relation to that. I’ve been really clear that’s required difficult decisions, I have taken the decision to reallocate money from other departments.

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Police officer received death threats over Nowak murder case as Mahmood condemns ‘dangerous’ commentary – UK politics live

Home secretary says officer wrongly linked to case had to relocate after footage emerged of victim being handcuffed while dying

BBC Scotland has more details of the Peter Murrell hearing this morning on its live blog. And, on its live blog, Sky News has pictures of some of the items purchased by Murrell with stolen SNP funds.

Andy Burnham will not call an early election if he becomes prime minister after the Makerfield byelection, a spokesperson for the Greater Manchester mayor has said.

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Labour says Reform UK ‘in chaos’ as Zia Yusuf publicly tells Jenrick he’s got party’s deportation policy wrong – UK politics live

‘Robert’s answer is not Reform policy’, Yusuf said about an answer that Jenrick gave to journalists days earlier

Keir Starmer has said that SNP leaders need to explain why they did not realise that Peter Murrell was stealing more than £400,000 from the party.

Asked about yesterday’s court proceedings in Edinburgh, where Murrell admitting embezzling money from the party to spend on luxury goods, Starmer said:

I think anybody looking at what’s happening up in Scotland will be baffled that those at the top of the SNP say they didn’t know anything about what was going on, so clearly there are questions that need to be answered.

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John Swinney urges Starmer to show Scotland ‘greater respect’ after SNP victory

Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, concedes his party was comprehensively beaten in election as count puts his party on 17 seats, a tie with Reform

John Swinney, the Scottish National party leader, has challenged Keir Starmer to show “greater respect” to the Scottish government after winning the Holyrood elections by a comfortable margin.

The Scottish National party secured a record fifth term in office on Friday after securing 58 of Holyrood’s 129 seats.

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Elections 2026 live: ‘I’m not going to walk away,’ says Starmer as Farage hails ‘historic shift in British politics’

The Reform UK leader said Labour is being ‘wiped out by Reform in many of their traditional areas’ as results paint a bleak picture for the prime minister

We’re getting statements from some of the political parties now as we wait for results.

For the Conservatives, party chairman Kevin Hollinrake said:

We have run an energetic and positive campaign, showcasing that we have a clear plan to get Britain working again and that we have the team to deliver it... We know that so soon after a historic general election defeat and contesting wards won during the Party’s polling highs, that this will be a difficult set of elections for us. But we will continue to rebuild and to show the public that we have changed, to demonstrate that only this new Conservative party is a credible alternative.

People are deeply disappointed with a Labour government that has been too timid to fix the country, but they are also appalled by the rise of Reform and Nigel Farage’s Trump-style politics. While those on the extremes of the right and the left want to burn everything down, Liberal Democrats want to fix what’s broken. Every Liberal Democrat local champion elected today will fight tirelessly for the communities they serve.

I’ve travelled across England and Wales and I’m hearing the same everywhere I go – confidence that we will win more councillors than ever before. The news from the doorstep is that we will be taking seats from not just Labour but the Tories and Lib Dems too, from all across the country. Voters are responding to the fact that Greens are the only party taking the cost-of-living crisis seriously, with real plans to cut bills, reduce rents and provide genuinely affordable homes, as well as tackling the climate and nature crisis.

Throughout this election, we have heard a clear appetite for change. People want a government that will stand up for Wales and focus relentlessly on the key issues affecting their lives. People have told us they have been inspired by Rhun ap Iorwerth’s leadership and driven by a desire for a positive alternative to Reform UK’s chaos and division.

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Polanski says he is not ready to be PM, but might be in two years’ time – UK politics live

Green leader also apologised for misrepresenting his work with the Red Cross, and defended party policy on drugs

Labour has criticised Zack Polanski for saying he was concerned about how the suspect in the Golders Green stabbings was treated when he was arrested by the police.

Referring to what Polanski said about this in his Today interview this morning (see 9.33am), a Labour party spokesperson said:

Our brave police ran towards a suspected terrorist and tackled him while he was still carrying a knife and before they could handcuff him.

The fact that Zack Polanski is still sympathising with this individual is utterly astounding. For the Green party leader to be litigating the case for the defence against the police shows whose side he is truly on.

The latest unemployment figures for February showed a fall, interest rates were expected to come down, the markets were pricing in a couple of cuts during the course of the year.

The truth is, with the effect of the Iran war, we can’t count on any of that at the moment. There is likely to be an effect on prices, which feeds through from energy costs, and there may well be labour market implications.

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Next Scottish government faces ‘really difficult’ spending choices, economists say

Parties accused of ‘fiscal denial’ and failing to tell voters the scale of the challenge

The next Scottish government will need to make “really difficult” spending decisions soon after taking power, including tackling its large public sector pay bill, senior economists have said.

Economists with the Fraser of Allander Institute, at the University of Strathclyde, believe the manifestos published by Scotland’s political parties during the campaign failed to tell voters about the true scale of the challenge.

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Reform UK plan to set up migrant detention centres in Green-voting areas condemned by other parties – as it happened

Nigel Farage’s party proposed to place detention centres in places that vote for Green council leaders or MPs

Keir Starmer has said that Europe has to face up to the fact that its alliance with the US is under strain.

He made the remark in public comments during the plenary session at the European Political Community summit in Yerevan in Armenia.

And both of those are impacting all of us in a very material way.

In the United Kingdom, if you look at the economic forecast now and compare it to the economic forecast just three or four months ago, they are in materially different places, and this is going to play out with our electorates in all of our countries.

Reform are now openly threatening voters and not only that they’re threatening them with a power they don’t actually have. This is absolutely pathetic. People across Scotland are proud of the fact that this is a welcoming country that shows solidarity to people who need it.

Reform are essentially saying ‘If you don’t vote the way we want you to, we will punish you’. I think the people of Scotland and voters across the UK are not going to take kindly to that kind of Donald Trumpesque threat.

Reform know that absolutely bombed last week. The only thing they’ve got to move on to are open threats, not against the Greens but against voters across the country. It’s really quite sinister. This is exactly the kind of politics you see in Donald Trump’s America. People across Scotland are going to reject that on Thursday.

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Badenoch calls Farage an ‘opportunist’ after he urges Scottish nationalists to back Reform

Tory leader criticises Farage for saying that holding another independence vote ‘probably quite reasonable’

Kemi Badenoch, the leader of the Conservative party, has accused Nigel Farage of being an opportunist who does not believe in unionism after he urged Scottish nationalists to back Reform.

Farage said earlier this week he believed “genuine nationalists” would not support the Scottish National party’s bid to rejoin the EU, and urged them to vote Reform in the Holyrood election on 7 May.

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Starmer implies he didn’t tell Trump he was ‘fed up’ about his impact on rising UK energy bills – as it happened

Prime minister says conversation with US president on Thursday night focused on need for ‘practical plan’ to open strait of Hormuz

Tony Blair, the former Labour prime minister, has joined those saying the government should allow drilling for oil and gas in the Rosebank and Jackdaw fields in the North Sea.

Both applications were approved by the last Conservative government, but then overturned by a court ruling. Ed Miliband, the energy secretary, has to make a decision about the revised applications operating in a quasi-judicial capacity, which means he has to follow due process and can’t take the decision purely on political ground.

The current debate [on energy policy] is deadlocked between two incomplete responses. The government argues the answer is to accelerate Clean Power 2030, focusing on decarbonising the electricity system as quickly as possible. The opposition argues that the answer is to expand domestic oil and gas production. Both positions contain elements of truth, but neither addresses the core strategic problem: outside the power sector the UK economy remains overwhelmingly dependent on fossil fuels, and electricity is still too expensive to support mass electrification.

The UK is caught in a self-reinforcing high-cost, low-electrification trap. High electricity costs suppress demand, slowing the uptake of electric vehicles, heat pumps and industrial electrification. Weak demand growth, in turn, means that the fixed costs of the system – from networks to long-term contracts – are spread across a smaller base, keeping prices high. The result is a system that is too expensive to electrify and therefore remains dependent on fossil fuels and exposed to global shocks …

The first of these vital measures will ban anyone from possessing or publishing harmful pornography that shows incest between family members, and sex between step or foster relations where one person is pretending to be under 18.

A further amendment will criminalise the publication and possession of pornography where an adult is roleplaying as a child.

This government is uncompromising in our mission to protect women and girls online, and we have taken action to stop tech firms from publishing this abusive content.

In February, we told platforms that they must remove reported non-consensual intimate images within 48 hours.

I greatly welcome the government’s plans to fully address harmful pornographic content such as incest, step-incest and the mimicking of child sexual abuse. This content that is freely and widely available online is deeply harmful, normalising child sexual abuse and abusive relationships within families …

Today the government has answered our calls for change, and I am delighted that once again the UK is leading the way on regulating this high harm industry.

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Farage says Trump’s Iranian ‘civilisation will die’ threats went ‘way too far’– UK politics live

The Reform UK leader says he is ‘shocked’ by the remarks which were ‘over the top in every single way’

The Green party is backing resident doctors who are on strike. This morning the party issued a statement on the dispute from its co-deputy leader, Mothin Ali, saying:

Rather than shifting goalposts or arm twisting resident doctors with threats over training places, Wes Streeting needs to get serious about resolving resident doctors long term concerns over pay, training and working conditions. The government’s 10-year plan for the NHS will go nowhere if the workforce feels unappreciated, devalued and demotivated.

I think I’m going to stay out of the selection of music by different bands. We live in a free country; people are going to say things. Let’s just let people listen to the music they want to.

People should choose their music and they don’t really they need advice from John Swinney unless they want to listen to The Jam or Amy McDonald.

Well, the government should go on and take their decisions within their powers, but I’m not going to give a running commentary on music taste.

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