71 m. ago Is Angela 'Two Homes' Rayner paying the council tax surcharge on her grace

Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner was last night facing questions over whether she is paying her own council tax surcharge on her second home.

Economics

3 h. ago Thomas Tuchel responds to England fans labelling Keir Starmer a '****' after supporters sang abusive chants about the Prime Minister during the Three Lions' lacklustre 1

Some foul-mouthed individuals made their feelings toward Starmer clear during an uneventful first half and their songs were audible live on ITV.

Politics

5 h. ago Diane Abbott says Starmer speech on Britain becoming 'island of strangers' is 'fundamentally racist'

Announcing his immigration white paper last  month, the Prime Minister said his new strategy would 'finally take back control of our borders and close the book on a squalid chapter'.

Politics

6 h. ago Zia Yusuf returns to Reform UK just 48 hours after quitting as chairman

The 38-year-old businessman said his decision to stand down had been the result of ‘exhaustion’ and working for 11 months ‘without a day off’.

Politics

7 h. ago Zia Yusuf announces return to Reform UK two days after quitting as chair

Party chair says he will lead a ‘Doge team’ inspired by Elon Musk and Donald TrumpZia Yusuf has said he will return to Reform UK, just two days after quitting the party.Yusuf was the rightwing party’s chair but resigned on Thursday after suggesting it was “dumb” of the party’s newest MP to ask the prime minister if he would ban the burqa. Continue reading...

Politics

9 h. ago Voices: Rachel Reeves is undermined by a ‘spend now, pay later’ prime minister

John Rentoul says Keir Starmer is guilty of Trussonomics, albeit on a smaller scale, making promises without knowing how to pay for them – hoping that the chancellor can sort it out later

Politics

25 h. ago DAILY MAIL COMMENT: Why the death of the Tory Party has been greatly exaggerated

The Tories are languishing in the polls behind Labour and Reform. No wonder some have read it the last rites. And yet, under Kemi Badenoch there are signs the party is flickering back to life.

Events

30 h. ago Carney invites Modi to G7 summit despite strained ties between Canada and India

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney invited Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the G7 summit in Alberta later this month

Politics

31 h. ago The Guardian view on Scottish politics: Labour wins the seat but not – yet – the argument | Editorial

A Tory collapse, the SNP’s slump and Reform’s rise signal a volatile shift – and the return to deal-making after the next Holyrood electionLabour’s victory in the Holyrood byelection offers the UK government a rare political comfort but not, perhaps, the strategic breakthrough it might like to imagine. A late flurry of welfare signalling, a dogged ground campaign and a carefully staged visit to a Govan shipyard by Sir Keir Starmer helped shore up Labour’s appeal to its traditional voters in Scotland’s industrial belt. Yet as Prof John Curtice has noted, Labour’s share of the vote actually declined compared with the last time voters cast ballots here in 2021 – a year in which the party was placed a distant third and was polling at the same dismal level of public support, 20%, it has today.The prime minister will gladly pocket Davy Russell’s win in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. But it is a foothold. There is still a steep climb to the summit. More te...

Politics

32 h. ago Farage's Reform storms into Scottish politics as SNP flops, Tories fail and Labour pulls off shock win

Commentary: Reform shows it can compete north of the border too

Events

32 h. ago ‘Lots of bumps in the road’: Keir Starmer faces testing month before one

From spending review to China audit to assisted dying vote, June’s events have potential to lift or darken Labour moodAs Keir Starmer approaches his first anniversary in Downing Street, there will be several things he wishes he had done differently. But before he can contemplate that July milestone, he faces a busy month strewn with political bear traps.June has proven a difficult time for successive prime ministers: Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak all had to contend with deeply unhappy parliamentary parties reeling from heavy local and European election losses. Continue reading...

Politics

33 h. ago Kemi Badenoch refuses to kick Liz Truss out of Conservative Party

The Tory leader suggested such a move would be ‘neither here nor there’ for voters’ perception of the party.

Politics

35 h. ago Don’t think Nigel Farage will kill off the Tories? Just look at Reform UK’s surge in Scotland | Owen Jones

The party is making inroads among people who once chose not to vote. But as Zia Yusuf’s resignation shows, chaos still reignsIf you were doubting that Nigel Farage had a serious chance of heading a hard-right British government in 2029, the people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse just poured a bucket of particularly icy water over your head. Though Labour won the Scottish parliamentary byelection, defying predictions it would be beaten into third place, Reform UK chalked up more than a quarter of the vote – trailing the victors by an unsubstantial 1,500 voters.This tells a devastating story. Nigel Farage’s outfit seriously outperformed the level of support indicated by Scottish polling: the last four surveys had Reform on between 12% and 19%, yet it secured 26% of the vote after standing here for the first time. This suggests it is mobilising previous non-voters whom pollsters are not picking up. The latest UK-wide YouGov poll, which asked people how they would vote if there wer...

Events

36 h. ago Downing Street ‘welcomes’ ECHR debate as Badenoch launches exit probe

A Number 10 spokesman said it was ‘important’ there were discussions about how the convention operated.

Politics

37 h. ago Nigel Farage's Reform storms into Scottish politics as SNP flops, Tories fail and Labour pulls off shock win

Commentary: Reform shows it can compete north of the border too

Events

38 h. ago Netanyahu defends arming Palestinian clans accused of ties with jihadist groups

PM says it ‘saves lives of Israeli soldiers’ despite accusations government is giving weapons to ‘criminals and felons’The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has admitted arming clans in Gaza that he says are opposed to Hamas, following accusations that members of these criminal gangs allegedly looted humanitarian aid and have ties to jihadist groups.Netanyahu’s comments came after Israeli media reports quoted defence sources as saying Netanyahu had authorised giving weapons to a clan reportedly led by a man known as Yasser Abu Shabab, a Rafah resident from a Bedouin family, known locally for his involvement in criminal activity. Israel allegedly provided Abu Shabab’s group, which calls itself the “Anti-Terror Service”, with Kalashnikov assault rifles, including weapons seized from Hamas. Continue reading...

Politics

38 h. ago Trial date set for three men charged over fires at Keir Starmer properties

Ukrainian national Roman Lavrynovych, 21, and Romanian national Stanislav Carpiuc, 26, appeared together at the Old Bailey on Friday.

Events

39 h. ago New Zealand PM's aide quits after prostitute reveals he had been secretly recording sex workers and taking intimate photos of other women

The Prime Minister's aide resigned after a local news outlet alleged he covertly recorded audio of sessions with sex workers and secretly photographed women at the gym.

Culture

40 h. ago Modi inaugurates ambitious rail project connecting Kashmir to Indian plains

India Prime Minister Narendra Modi has inaugurated one of the most ambitious and strategic railway projects the nation has ever built

Politics

41 h. ago Scots have ‘voted for change’, says Starmer following Labour’s surprise win

The Prime Minister congratulated his winning candidate and looked ahead to next year’s Scottish Parliament election.

Politics