12 h. ago Cabinet minister insists Starmer will lead Labour into next election after fresh questions over his future

Exclusive: Education secretary Bridget Phillipson said goverments had ‘ups and downs’ as Labour embroiled in welfare reform row

Politics

15 h. ago Keir Starmer refuses to weigh in over Britain's declining birth rate as No10 says PM 'won't tell people how to live their lives'

A No10 spokesman insisted the PM would not 'tell people how to live their lives' despite one of his Cabinet ministers urging more young British women to have babies.

Politics

18 h. ago Cabinet minister's alarm at Britain's 'worrying' baby bust as she urges women to have more children

Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, warned of 'worrying repercussions for society in the future' posed by a decline in birth rates.

Politics

34 h. ago Wes Streeting tells Israel to get its own house in order amid Glastonbury ‘death chant’ row

Labour cabinet minister’s message to Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government the strongest since the war in Gaza began

Politics

41 h. ago Scottish Labour MP refuses to back Keir Starmer to lead Labour into general election after welfare cuts row

Brian Leishman said he was not focused on "personnel" but pointedly declined to endorse Starmer

Politics

42 h. ago Wes Streeting hits out at Glastonbury and BBC over ‘death to the IDF’ chants

Labour cabinet minister tells Benjamin Netanyahu’s Israeli government to get its ‘own house in order’ and take violence against Palestinians more seriously

Events

45 h. ago ‘Too arrogant to listen’: how welfare bill soured Starmer’s relations with rebel MPs

MPs describe receiving veiled deselection threats as No 10 sought to quash revolt before finally backing down The Conservative shadow cabinet minister looked more cheerful than at any point in the 12 months since the general election. “How did they get into such a mess?” they asked. “What are they going to do?”The answer was revealed a couple of days later when Keir Starmer and his ministers made a series of emergency concessions on their flagship welfare programme, to prevent the otherwise far-greater ignominy of the programme being voted down in the House of Commons. Continue reading...

Economics

53 h. ago Starmer told to rein in Rayner's workers' rights Bill as Tories warn the rule changes could lead to £1billion in tax rises

Sir Keir Starmer was told to rein in Angela Rayner 's new labour laws last night amid claims they could lead to a £1 billion tax hike.

Economics

3 d. ago F1 star details talks with management as shock departure rocks team

Luca de Meo's surprise departure as CEO of the Renault group has raised questions over Alpine's long-term future in Formula 1 and prompted Pierre Gasly to seek assurances about the project

Events

3 d. ago If Britain is broken, what is to blame – big money and big tech, or graffiti on your train? | Tom Whyman

A new cadre of agit-prop campaigners has been cleaning the London underground, but there is more to the political stunt than meets the eyeBritain, let’s face it, is crap. Crap, I mean, in quite a specific sense: we might not be teetering on the brink of civilisational destruction, as the post-Brexit right can often seem to think. But there nonetheless remains a vast, ambient sense of rubbishness. Everything is expensive but nothing works. Our streets are full of potholes; our houses are full of mould. All the shops are shut, except for a Tesco Express, where there are security tags on the eggs. It takes about a million years to build a railway line.Up to now, the response to Britain’s enshittification has, by and large, seemed remarkably fatalistic: Keir Starmer spent the first year in government repeatedly insisting that there just wasn’t any money, and so really nothing could be done. Thank God then, one might think, for Looking for Growth, a new campaign group led by young (well,...

Politics

3 d. ago Another tragic fact about this disastrous welfare bill: it proves Labour hasn’t learned and doesn’t listen | Polly Toynbee

From cabinet members to the British public, there is an outcry about these benefits cuts. Why is the government always so poor at reading the room?This disaster bill won’t pass on Tuesday. The dangerous obduracy of the prime minister and chancellor confirms precisely what Labour MPs say: they haven’t listened, they aren’t listening and the fear is they won’t learn to listen. Even if the bill squeezed through with some softening, it will be a pyrrhic victory. Why take such a risk for so little? U-turns are better than crashes, but best not left to the last nanosecond.Senior ministers, some of whom have already spoken up in cabinet, will put their feet down firmly to insist on radical alteration, or better still that it’s withdrawn and rethought to avoid what they call “this catastrophe”. If niceties of parliamentary practice escape some, understand how extraordinary this rebellion is. Read their “reasoned amendment” with its crushing reasons why.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist ...

Events

3 d. ago Another tragic fact about this disastrous welfare bill: it proves Labour hasn’t learned and doesn’t truly listen | Polly Toynbee

From cabinet members to the British public, there is an outcry about these benefits cuts. Why is the government always so poor at reading the room?This disaster bill won’t pass on Tuesday. The dangerous obduracy of the prime minister and chancellor confirms precisely what Labour MPs say: they haven’t listened, they aren’t listening and the fear is they won’t learn to listen. Even if the bill squeezed through with some softening, it will be a pyrrhic victory. Why take such a risk for so little? U-turns are better than crashes, but best not left to the last nanosecond.Senior ministers, some of whom have already spoken up in cabinet, will put their feet down firmly to insist on radical alteration, or better still that it’s withdrawn and rethought to avoid what they call “this catastrophe”. If niceties of parliamentary practice escape some, understand how extraordinary this rebellion is. Read their “reasoned amendment” with its crushing reasons why.Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist ...

Events

4 d. ago Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei threatens more attacks on US after week

The supreme leader gave his first televised address since Donald Trump launched a bombing raid on Iran’s nuclear sites. But after a prolonged absence, questions about the ayatollah’s future remain

Events

4 d. ago No10 hints at benefit cut climbdown as more Labour MPs join rebellion

Ministers 'want' to hold a vote on the controversial benefit shake-up on Tuesday, a No10 source said - just a day after Keir Starmer and Angela Rayner insisted it would definitely go ahead

Politics

5 d. ago Kicking restoration of Parliament down the road risks disaster, authorities told

A Labour former cabinet minister highlighted ‘a real danger of a Notre Dame-type inferno or something worse’ unless action is taken.

Events

5 d. ago Labour MPs accuse No 10 of being ‘in denial’ about scale of rebellion over welfare cuts

Ministers said to be considering further concessions with more than 120 MPs poised to rebel against governmentLabour MPs have accused No 10 of being in denial about the scale of the rebellion over the government’s flagship welfare cuts, amid division at the top of government over whether to pull the controversial bill. Ministers are understood to be considering further concessions to be offered to MPs by the weekend – with more than 120 MPs poised to rebel against the government.A number of cabinet ministers are now said to believe the bill has no chance of passing in its current form, though some are still being deployed to speak to angry MPs in an attempt to win them over. Keir Starmer fuelled further anger within the party after he appeared to shrug off mounting Labour unrest over the proposed reforms, dismissing the backlash as “noises off” and insisting his party remains “pretty united” behind the need for change. The prime minister is facing the biggest revolt of his premiersh...

Politics

5 d. ago DAN HODGES: Keir Starmer's time is up and his party 'have had enough'. That's the withering verdict from his own MPs... and this is what they tell me is coming next

'It's not a confidence vote,' Keir Starmer insisted plaintively yesterday, after it was put to him that his personal authority was on the line over the mounting rebellion against his disability benefit cuts.

Politics

5 d. ago Starmer insists Nato committed to mutual defence as Trump casts doubt on support

Nato’s Article 5 commits all members of the alliance to come to the defence of each other if attacked.

Politics

5 d. ago Nuclear attack risks to UK are rising, chilling warning from Defence Secretary John Healey at Nato summit

The Cabinet minister also told how Britain has to strengthen its homeland defences against the threat of war

Events

5 d. ago Keir Starmer says welfare vote WILL go ahead despite rebellion

Keir Starmer has insisted he will not cancel a vote on his disability welfare changes in spite of 123 Labour MPs backing an amendment demanding a rethink

Politics