Pro-democracy campaigners suggest ‘pre-buttal’ is more powerful than factchecking in fighting falsehoods
Truth, the progressive California politician Hiram Johnson once said, is the first casualty of war. His oft-cited remark was supposedly made in 1918 in reference to the first world war, which had by then caused millions of human casualties.
More than a century later, truth is again caught in the crossfire, this time as a casualty of 21st-century culture wars.
Continue reading...Work and pensions secretary announces next statutory government review into retirement age
Tony Diver, the Telegraph’s associate political editor, is among the journalists at Nigel Farage’s conference. He has shared Reform’s policy costing document. The party estimates that the total cost of halving crime would be £17.4bn over a five-year parliament, with an annual cost of £3.48bn.
Nigel Farage has been speaking at a press conference in London about what he has framed as “lawless Britain”. Here are some of the highlights of the conference, which you can watch at the top of the blog. The Reform leader did not cite specific evidence or data to back up many of his claims:
He claims successive home secretaries have based claims that crimes in England and Wales are falling on “completely false data”. He says if you look at police recorded crimes there are “significant” rises in crime, particularly those against the person.
Farage says we are facing “nothing short of societal collapse” in many parts of the country, with “people scared to go out to the shops” and to “let their kids out”.
He says criminals and law-abiding citizens respect police less than they used to.
He says low level offences – like phone snatching and shop lifting – are rife in London and not being prosecuted.
Most people don’t even bother calling the police to report a crime because they know officers are unlikely to take any action, Farage said.
Farage said that “nobody in London understands how close we are to civil disobedience” in Britain.
He said that offenders convicted of more than three serious crimes should be “on a course towards life imprisonment”.
Reform would put more knife arches in train stations and other transport hubs to clamp down on crime, Farage suggested.
He said that every shoplifting offence would be prosecuted and every mobile phone theft investigated if Reform got into government at the next election.
Farage indicated that the party would force Reform UK councils to take new prisons in their areas as part of the party’s plans to tackle crime.
Farage said the UK’s retirement age will “inevitably” have to rise as life expectancy increases.
Officially, the party says there is no mission to court Conservative defectors, but insiders suggest otherwise, and warn against the dangers of doing so
At last year’s GB News Christmas party, Suella Braverman was the centre of attention. The former home secretary is popular in rightwing media circles, but it wasn’t her straight-talking brand of conservatism that was topic of the evening, rather it was the growing whispers about what some thought was her imminent defection to Reform UK.
“It was like a panto – everyone saying: ‘Oh yes you will’, and her saying: ‘Oh no, I won’t’,” says one Reform party guest. “We all thought she was just biding her time until the right moment.”
Continue reading...UK prime minister will have talks with Emmanuel Macron later today
The BMA strike decision must be a tempting topic for Kemi Badenoch at PMQs, which is starting very soon. The Conservatives have repeatedly criticised the government for the way they swiftly settled public sector pay disputes when they took office; they argue that Labour was too generous to the unions, thereby encouraging them to threaten further strikes.
Here is the list of MPs down to ask a question.
Streeting says he is “disappointed” by the proposed strike, and he insists resident doctors have had a relatively good outcome on pay. He says:
I remain disappointed that despite all that we have been able to achieve in this last year, and that the majority of resident doctors in the BMA did not vote to strike, the BMA is continuing to threaten strike action.
I accepted the DDRB’s recommendation for resident doctors, awarding an average pay rise of 5.4%, the highest across the public sector. Accepting this above inflation recommendation, which was significantly higher than affordability, required reprioritisation of NHS budgets. Because of this government’s commitment to recognising the value of the medical workforce, we made back-office efficiency savings to invest in the frontline. That was not inevitable, it was an active political choice this government made. Taken with the previous deal I made with the BMA last year, this means resident doctors will receive an average pay rise of 28.9% over the last 3 years.
He says the NHS is “finally moving in the right direction” and that a strike will “put that recovery at risk”.
He offers to hold meet the BMA to hold talks to avert the strike. He says:
I stand ready to meet with you again at your earliest convenience to resolve this dispute without the need for strike action. I would like to once again extend my offer to meet with your entire committee to discuss this.
As I have stated many times, in private and in public, with you and your predecessors, you will not find another health and social care secretary as sympathetic to resident doctors as me. By choosing to strike instead of working in partnership to improve conditions for your members and the NHS, you are squandering an opportunity.
Continue reading...Treasury says move to restore the funding for most pensioners will cost around £1.25bn
The Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats are both trying to take credit for the winter fuel payments U-turn by the government.
This is from Kemi Badenoch, the Tory leader.
Keir Starmer has scrambled to clear up a mess of his own making. I repeatedly challenged him to reverse his callous decision to withdraw winter fuel payments, and every time Starmer arrogantly dismissed my criticisms.
This humiliating U-turn will come as scant comfort to the pensioners forced to choose between heating and eating last winter. The prime minister should now apologise for his terrible judgement.
Finally the chancellor has listened to the Liberal Democrats and the tireless campaigners in realising how disastrous this policy was, but the misery it has caused cannot be overstated.
Countless pensioners were forced to choose between heating and eating all whilst the government buried its head in the sand for months on end, ignoring those who were really suffering.
Continue reading...Reform leader says steel and coal industries can be revived but does not say how beyond ‘scrapping net zero’
Nigel Farage has demanded the reopening of domestic coalmines to provide fuel for new blast furnaces, arguing that Welsh people would happily return to mining if the pay was sufficiently high.
Speaking at an event in Port Talbot, the south Wales town traditionally associated with the steel industry, the Reform UK leader said it was in the “national interest” to have a guaranteed supply of steel, as well as UK-produced fuel for the furnaces, a close echo of Donald Trump’s repeated pledges to return heavy industry to the US.
Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...Reform leader aims to make London a ‘crypto powerhouse’ and has previously hailed an ‘economic insurgency’
As Liz Truss prepared to make a U-turn on her mini-budget in October 2022, Nigel Farage discussed the economic instability on his GB News show. But he was not broadcasting from the channel’s studios in Paddington. Instead, Farage was speaking from a bitcoin conference in Amsterdam.
“With inflation forecast to perhaps get up to 20%, with increasing distrust of fiat currencies, people are looking for alternatives … Are you ready for bitcoin?” he said in his opening remarks.
Continue reading...Party leader says he wants UK to be a ‘crypto powerhouse’ during speech at Las Vegas conference
Reform UK will accept donations through bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, Nigel Farage has announced.
During an appearance at the Bitcoin Conference in Las Vegas, where he was introduced as a “UK presidential candidate”, Farage said: “As of now, provided you are an eligible UK donor … we are the first political party in Britain that can accept donations in bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies.”
Continue reading...Reform UK leader unveils plans to reverse benefit cuts and bring in tax breaks without explaining how they would be funded
Nigel Farage has been accused of leaving a multibillion-pound black hole at the heart of his party’s spending plans after unveiling a series of expensive policy pledges to be paid for by cutting nonexistent items of government spending.
The Reform UK leader laid out a series of economic promises at a speech on Tuesday designed to take advantage of disquiet among Labour voters at the government’s policies on taxes and benefits.
Continue reading...Leader says policy ‘not aimed at those who come into the country and suddenly decide to have a lot of children’
The co-leader of the Green party of England and Wales, Adrian Ramsay, has renewed his call for Russia to face greater sanctions. Posting to social media, the MP for Waveney Valley said “Putin has stepped up attacks on Ukrainian civilians because he thinks he’ll face no consequences. Much tougher sanctions are urgently needed to bring him into serious peace talks to end this horrific war.”
As well as appearing on the media round today, shadow chancellor Mel Stride has written for the Daily Mail, saying that the Conservatives continue to back the two-child benefit cap.
Continue reading...MP accuses ex-colleagues of sinister attempt to silence him as CPS says it will not bring charges over allegations of verbal threats
The former Reform MP Rupert Lowe has accused his ex-colleagues of a “sinister” attempt to use the police to silence him, as he launched a furious attack on Nigel Farage who he said “must never be prime minister”.
Lowe, the MP for Great Yarmouth who now sits as an independent, made the remarks after the Crown Prosecution Service confirmed it would not bring criminal charges over allegations that Lowe made verbal threats in parliament last December.
Continue reading...Row over exemption of national insurance contributions for Indian short-term workers overshadows deal
A multibillion-pound free trade agreement with India has long been touted as a big Brexit boon.
Cheaper clothes and shoes for British shoppers, a huge market for scotch whisky producers and luxury carmakers, and billions of pounds worth of extra trade are among the benefits of the agreement, which was finalised this week.
Continue reading...In today’s newsletter: Can a partial U-turn on the winter fuel allowance help the party set a new agenda – and keep support for Nigel Farage at bay?
Good morning. After Reform UK’s resounding success in last week’s local elections, Keir Starmer has faced relentless questions over how Labour will change tack to deal with the problem. Now, we may have the beginning of an answer.
On the front page of today’s Guardian, Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot report that Downing Street is seriously rethinking the cuts to the winter fuel payment – the policy that above all others summarised Starmer and Rachel Reeves’s shaky start to life in government. While a full reversal is not on the cards, No 10 sources say that the £11,500 threshold over which pensioners are no longer eligible for the allowance could be increased in the autumn.
Israel-Gaza war | Israel is to expand its military operations in Gaza in the coming weeks, with the aim of “conquering” and establishing a “sustained presence” in the Palestinian territory, Israeli officials have said.
Film | Donald Trump’s threat to impose 100% tariffs on movies made outside the US could wipe out the UK film industry, ministers have been warned, as they came under immediate pressure to prioritise the issue in trade talks with the White House.
Charities | Macmillan Cancer Support is to scrap its £14m-a-year specialist advice service, which helps tens of thousands of people every year, in what has been described as a betrayal of vulnerable patients. With the charity’s income falling behind its expenditure, it said that the service was no longer sustainable.
Wildfires | After the warmest start to May on record, a wildfire has destroyed about 5,000 hectares (12,500 acres) of moorland on Dartmoor in Devon. Emergency services were called to the blaze at about 2.25pm on Sunday, and firefighters spent almost 24 hours at the scene before it was extinguished on Monday.
VE Day | The UK marked the 80th anniversary of VE Day with military pomp before large crowds who had gathered in central London. The royal family and war veterans were among the attendees at a 1,300-strong military procession while street parties were held around the UK.
Continue reading...Echoing comments by Nigel Farage, Zia Yusuf says judicial reviews, injunctions and planning laws will be used
Reform UK has vowed to use “every instrument of power” to resist housing people seeking asylum in areas where it now controls councils, its chair has confirmed.
Zia Yusuf, the party chair and a major donor, acknowledged Reform may not be able to stop people seeking asylum being put up in hotels where the Home Office has contracts with accommodation providers.
Continue reading...The Reform UK leader has somehow dodged responsibility for the economic damage of Brexit and is winning over disaffected Labour voters
There was a time when any election campaign featuring the name Nigel Farage would have featured the word “Brexit” just as prominently.
And yet, almost a decade after Farage orchestrated Britain’s great EU schism, and with the Reform leader emerging as a bigger political threat than ever, at this week’s local elections Brexit was not a word on the lips of voters.
Continue reading...Slicker presentation, a shift away from two-party politics and now hundreds of new councillors mean Reform is likely here to stay
In May 2014, Nigel Farage stood in front of the television cameras and declared his party’s victory in the European elections was “about the most extraordinary result that has been seen in British politics for 100 years”.
A year later, the Conservatives won an unexpected majority at the general election, restricting Ukip to just a single seat, with Farage failing in his attempt to win South Thanet.
Continue reading...Runcorn win was much bigger than polls implied, suggesting overall effectiveness of ground campaign
For the last few months, Nigel Farage has been promising to professionalise his Reform UK party, saying its general election result of five seats had been hampered by the party’s “amateurism”.
Friday’s narrow victory in the Runcorn and Helsby byelection suggests his strategy is starting to bear fruit. Not only did the party win a seat in which it came a distant third less than a year ago, but it did so with a much bigger swing than implied by the national polls – demonstrating the effectiveness of the party’s ground campaign.
Continue reading...Result will heighten government’s fears it could lose scores of MPs to Nigel Farage’s party at next general election
Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has dramatically won the Runcorn and Helsby byelection by just six votes in a blow to Keir Starmer’s premiership.
The hard-right party narrowly overturned Labour’s 14,700-vote majority in the first full-scale electoral test of Starmer’s government and set a new record for the smallest majority at a parliamentary by-election since the end of the second world war.
Continue reading...PM says supporters of both groups are being misled and a tie-up would be a ‘disaster’ for Britain. This live blog is closed
Downing Street has described the alleged comments by the band Kneecap in the ‘kill MP’ footage (see 12.10pm) as “completely unacceptable”.
At the morning lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson described the comments as “completely unacceptable”.
We do not think individuals expressing those views should be receiving government funding.
That’s up to the group, but clearly the PM rejects the views expressed … does not shy away from condemning them.
I don’t want to see strike action, I don’t think anybody wants to see strike action.
And certainly here we are in a healthcare environment with all the staff working really hard. The last thing they want to do is to go into dispute again.
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