Burnham promises to bring ‘substantial change’ as he gives first Commons address as prime minister – UK politics live

PM says he has a ‘clear diagnosis of what has gone wrong’ with UK, and pays tribute to Keir Starmer after his predecessor quit parliament

My colleague Richard Partington, the Guardian’s senior economics correspondent, grew up, like Andy Burnham, in the Warrington suburb of Culcheth. He has been home to find out what people there are saying about the new PM.

Yesterday, Kemi Badenoch announced a reshuffle, replacing Mel Stride with Andrew Griffith as shadow chancellor and Priti Patel with Tom Tugendhat as shadow foreign secretary.

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EU relations, climate crisis and Gaza: why Ed Miliband is fired up by Foreign Office challenges

Labour veteran is said to relish role that requires careful negotiation of Trump and impending G20 leadership

Extraordinarily, given the importance of geopolitics, the office of foreign secretary has sometimes appeared a consolation prize in British politics, perhaps reflecting the transfer of responsibility to Downing Street or the Cabinet Office.

That is not how Ed Miliband views the job. His allies say suggestions that he nurses resentment after he was deprived of the chance to be chancellor misunderstand his grasp of the policy challenges ahead. “Ed has an immense appetite to get things done and is relishing being in this job,” one says. “Ed will be a policy-driven foreign secretary.”

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Daughter of British couple killed in Spanish wildfire rejects claim they ignored order to leave

Exclusive: Danielle Kirton calls on Ed Miliband to help her get answers about why evacuation order came too late

The bereaved daughter of a British couple who died in a Spanish wildfire is calling on the foreign secretary, Ed Miliband, to get answers from Spain’s government about why her parents were not told to evacuate until it was too late.

Severe wildfires have burned across Spain and France since early July, killing people, destroying thousands of homes and forcing more than 300,000 people to flee.

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

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

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

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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Lucy Powell agrees Ed Miliband would be ‘good’ as Andy Burnham’s chancellor

Labour deputy leader says she thinks energy secretary would suit Treasury but ‘tittle-tattle’ over posts ‘unedifying’

Ed Miliband would make a “good” chancellor to Andy Burnham, Labour’s deputy leader, Lucy Powell, has said, before the likely next prime minister’s first major speech on the economy since he returned to Westminster.

Powell, who served as Miliband’s chief of staff in opposition and is close to the former party leader, appeared to endorse him to run the Treasury – although some in Burnham’s camp acknowledge such a move could be politically risky.

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Darren Jones says bond markets should be ‘content’ with Burnham’s economic plans – UK politics live

Chief secretary to PM rules out leadership bid as he says he has received reassurances from Burnham

London, Oldham, Bradford and Keighley are to be the first towns and cities investigated by the grooming gangs inquiry, the Press Association reports. PA says:

The £65m probe is investigating how grooming gangs operated and how police, councils, health services, social care services and schools responded.

The announcement confirmed which areas will first face so-called local investigations – where serious failures have been identified in response to child sexual exploitation by grooming gangs.

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UK poised to water down 2030 EV sales targets after industry and union pressure

Keir Starmer ready to overrule Ed Miliband after warnings that manufacturers would be penalised and jobs put at risk

The UK government is poised to water down its 2030 targets for electric vehicle sales after intense lobbying by the car industry and unions.

The government is preparing to consult on less ambitious targets for the transition to fully battery-powered electric cars over the rest of the decade after carmakers and unions warned that they would penalise manufacturers and put jobs at risk.

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New Mandelson revelations cast doubt on claim vetting decision was borderline, Thornberry says – as it happened

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Zack Polanski, the Green party leader, posted this on social media about Tony Blair’s latest intervention this morning.

Tony Blair.

What the billionaire class have paid for.

Spot the difference between “Tony Blair says” and “Nigel Farage says”

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MPs from Labour’s left to urge Ed Miliband to consider leadership bid

Keir Starmer set to face challenge as former minister says she will trigger race if no cabinet minister comes forward

MPs from Labour’s left are expected to urge Ed Miliband to consider a leadership bid in the coming days, as Keir Starmer faced the prospect of a definite challenge from his MPs next week.

Following grim results for Labour in elections on Thursday, former minister Catherine West said that if no cabinet ministers went public by Monday, she would launch a bid to end the impasse.

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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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If No 10 briefer is found Keir Starmer will sack them, Miliband says

Cabinet minister says PM would not have backed attacks on Wes Streeting but briefing is ‘longstanding aspect of politics’

Ed Miliband has said he was certain Keir Starmer would sack whoever had briefed against Wes Streeting, after a chaotic 48 hours in which No 10 launched an operation to shore up the prime minister against an anticipated leadership challenge.

The prime minister apologised to the health secretary in a phone call with him late on Wednesday. Starmer is facing mounting calls to sack his chief of staff, Morgan McSweeney, over the row.

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Ed Miliband urges Labour to move on after Starmer apologises to Streeting for hostile briefings from No 10 – UK politics live

Fallout from extraordinary briefing operation against Wes Streeting continues as calls grow for Starmer to sack his chief of staff Morgan McSweeney

Haroon Siddique is the Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent.

Five UN experts have written to ministers criticising the ban on Palestine Action as something that would be expected in an authoritarian regime rather than a liberal democracy.

In the work of UN experts in monitoring counter-terrorism laws globally, abuse of laws to proscribe organisations as terrorist that are not genuinely so has more commonly occurred in states that are authoritarian and lack legal and political cultures of respect for human rights, legality, due process and independent judicial safeguards, in order to target civil society organisations, human rights defenders, political dissidents and minorities.

It is deeply concerning that such practices appear to have spread to a number of liberal democracies. Organisations must never be listed as terrorist for engaging in protected speech or legitimate activities in defence of human rights.

We are concerned that proscription and its consequences result in unnecessary and disproportionate restrictions on the rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association, and the rights to take part in public affairs and to liberty.

The Scottish government’s tax decisions enable us to deliver higher investment in the NHS and policies like free tuition not available anywhere else in the UK.

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Government aims to create 400,000 jobs through UK national green energy plan

Scheme will offer training for plumbers, welders and carpenters as well as promoting trade union recognition

Plumbers, electricians and welders will be in huge demand as part of a national plan to train people for an extra 400,000 green jobs in the next five years, Ed Miliband has said.

The energy secretary revealed a new scheme to double those working in green industries by 2030, with a particular focus on training those coming from fossil fuel jobs, school leavers, the unemployed, veterans and ex-offenders.

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Tories would maximise North Sea oil and gas extraction, Badenoch to say

Conservative leader says it is ‘absurd’ to shift away from fossil fuels and leave ‘vital resources untapped’

The Conservative party will aim to “maximise extraction” of oil and gas in the North Sea if it wins power, Kemi Badenoch is expected to announce.

Badenoch will use a speech in Aberdeen in the coming days to set out her plans to extract as much oil and gas as possible instead of shifting away from fossil fuels, the Sunday Telegraph reported.

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Ed Miliband abandons plan to charge less for electricity in Scotland

Energy minister decides against ‘zonal pricing’ backed by Octopus founder but opposed by many other energy firms

Ed Miliband has abandoned plans to charge southern electricity users more than those in Scotland, after senior officials warned it could put off investors and make it more difficult to build renewables.

Sources have told the Guardian that the government has decided not to proceed with the scheme, known as “zonal pricing”, and that the decision will be announced once it has been signed off by the cabinet.

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Sizewell C power station to be built as part of UK’s £14bn nuclear investment

Ed Miliband promises to ‘get Britain off the fossil fuel rollercoaster’ with new plant expected to create 10,000 jobs

The biggest nuclear programme in a generation will “get Britain off the fossil fuel rollercoaster”, the energy secretary, Ed Miliband, has said, announcing £14.2bn to build a new nuclear power station and a drive to build small modular reactors.

The multibillion-pound investment at Sizewell C on the Suffolk coast, which has been long expected, will create 10,000 jobs and power the equivalent of 6m homes.

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Potential role for Chinese firm in key UK windfarm attracts government scrutiny

Exclusive: Decision on whether to work with turbine maker being overseen by ministers after British Steel rescue

Ministers are weighing up proposals for a Chinese company to supply wind turbines for a major offshore windfarm in the North Sea.

The government is in discussions with Green Volt North Sea over whether Mingyang, China’s biggest offshore wind company, should supply the wind turbines. Mingyang has emerged as the preferred manufacturer, but the company has sought advice from ministers on whether to proceed.

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Six things we learned about the future of energy security at UK summit

Critical minerals, nuclear power and the ‘weaponisation’ of energy supplies were discussed at international conference

The UK and the International Energy Agency gathered ministers and high-level officials from 60 countries to Lancaster House in London for two days of talks on the future of energy security this week. The EU was out in force, the US sent a top official, but China stayed away. Here’s what we learned.

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