1 hour ago Labour targets international students claiming asylum after losses to Reform in local elections

Exclusive: Ministers understood to be drafting white paper this month in move to reduce legal migrationMinisters will crack down on international students applying for asylum in the UK in a move designed to tackle migration figures, after a series of bruising losses to Reform in the local elections.An immigration white paper setting out the proposed reforms in mid-May will include measures to bring down the numbers of UK student visa holders who make asylum claims, the Guardian understands. Continue reading...

Events

2 h. ago 'Britain wants Reform!': Nigel Farage hails 'unprecedented' local election results and says his councils will resist taking asylum seekers

Nigel Farage has declared 'Britain wants Reform' as he boasts of the party's 'unprecedented' results in yesterday's local elections, sparking a political earthquake for Labour and the Conservatives. 

Politics

2 h. ago Local elections in numbers: 677 new Reform councillors – while Labour gets no votes in some wards

The Independent’s data correspondent Alicja Hagopian crunches the numbers from this year’s local elections

Politics

3 h. ago New Reform mayor Andrea Jenkyns vows to sack council’s diversity officers

Dame Andrea Jenkyns has doubled down on Farage’s pledge to sack diversity officers in Lincolnshire but the county council has revealed it does not employ any

Events

3 h. ago Voices: Yes, Nigel Farage really could be prime minister in 2029

The magic number of 30 per cent is what really matters in today’s politics – and Reform got there in the latest local elections, putting Nigel Farage in a very new position, writes John Rentoul

Politics

7 h. ago Local elections 2025 mapped: Full results for every council and mayoral race

Reform swept up this year’s local elections, winning 677 seats across all contested councils. While the Lib Dems also saw success, the Tories and Labour faced devastating defeats

Politics

7 h. ago Starmer urged to change course after Reform’s success in local elections

Labour MP Rachael Maskell said her party has ‘special responsibilities’ to serve the needs of people.

Politics

8 h. ago Badenoch apologises for local election results as Reform warned there are ‘no simple answers’ – UK politics live

Shadow chief treasury secretary Richard Fuller says Nigel Farage’s party must do more than just ‘point at problems’‘We can’t just talk to the right’: what will Labour do now?Headteachers are taking legal action against Ofsted, England’s schools watchdog, over fears that its new inspection regime is “even worse than before” and likely to harm the mental health of school leaders.The National Association of Head Teachers said it had lodged a claim for a judicial review against Ofsted “over the potential impact of their inspection proposals” and for inadequate consultation over its new system of grading schools.Somehow the focus on school leader mental health and wellbeing has got lost along the way during Ofsted’s consultation process.We must not forget that the catalyst for these changes was the tragic death of Ruth Perry and widespread acceptance that the inspection regime was placing school leaders under intolerable pressure. However, there appears to have been very little thought g...

Events

8 h. ago Are you worried about the rise of Reform? Take our poll and have your say

Reform UK has stunned us all with more than 600 local election wins, flipping Tory strongholds and claiming its fifth MP. With a booming Gen-Z following and rising poll numbers, the insurgent party is now threatening to upend two-party politics for good. Are you worried?

Politics

8 h. ago Local election results live: Badenoch sorry for Tory ‘bloodbath’ as Farage gloats Conservatives are finished

Reform takes control of 10 councils, snatches dramatic victory in Runcorn by-election and wins two mayoral contests

Politics

8 h. ago ‘No simple answers’ for Reform after local election success, senior Tory warns – UK politics live

Shadow chief treasury secretary Richard Fuller says Nigel Farage’s party must do more than just ‘point at problems’‘We can’t just talk to the right’: what will Labour do now?Labour MP Rachael Maskell has urged her party to scrap winter fuel and welfare policies that she said are pushing voters away, reports the PA news agency.The York Central MP told BBC Breakfast that Labour has “special responsibilities” to serve the needs of people.We’re not any other political party, we were created to serve the needs of people across working areas of our country so that people had a real voice of the kind of change that they wanted to see.I think it’s now time, if Labour are going to go further faster, to pick up that voice, to put our fingers on the pulse and to understand that that responsibility that the 1945 government set out putting that safety net in place at the welfare state is on our watch and is our responsibility.People went cold last winter and that’s not what a Labour government s...

Events

16 h. ago Downing Street ramps up efforts to stop housing asylum seekers in hotels after Reform surge in local elections

Senior Labour politicians believe the approach is having a negative effect on the government's popularity and is playing directly into Nigel Farage's hands.

Politics

18 h. ago Main party leaders under pressure as Reform sweeps to victory in local elections

Reform picked up 10 councils and more than 600 seats in an election that Nigel Farage hailed as ‘the death of the Conservative Party’.

Politics

19 h. ago Tory wipeout as Conservatives lose every single council and Labour is decimated... while Nigel Farage's Reform bags local election landslide

The Conservative Party has lost every council it was defending in the elections after it found itself squeezed between Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats.

Politics

20 h. ago Map shows the councils that have turned turquoise as Reform make huge gains

Reform saw some big wins at the local elections

Politics

22 h. ago Local election results live: Reform wins spate of councils as Farage gloats that Tories are ‘finished’

Reform snatched a dramatic victory in the Runcorn by-election, beating Labour by six votes

Politics

22 h. ago Local elections 2025: Live results map for every council and mayoral race

The local election results are being declared as councils tally up votes

Politics

22 h. ago Keir Starmer urged to listen to voters amid Labour anger over by

Keir Starmer said Labour understood people's frustrations and vowed to go 'further and faster' to bring about change after a bruising local election night saw Reform make gains

Politics

23 h. ago England 2025 local election results in full: Live updates of council results

Nigel Farage's Reform has routed the Tories and Labour in their backyards, securing a swathe of big authorities for the first time because of a Conservative collapse.

Politics

23 h. ago Map: Where have Reform performed best in local council elections?

Results are still being counted, but Reform has already won majority control of seven councils and won hundreds of seats.

Politics