19 h. ago “Existential threat” to Labour as Starmer defends winter fuel cuts

Following 45 Labour MPs grouping together and a crushing local election result, The Division Bell discusses this last week in politics

Events

39 h. ago Keir Starmer told Labour faces 'existential threat' as top minister issues Reform warning

Anger at last year's decision to axe the winter fuel payment for around 10 million pensioners has spooked MPs, who have been urging Keir Starmer to change course

Events

41 h. ago Speculation over Rachel Reeves’s future as demands for winter fuel cuts U

Reform’s election success last week has seen troubled Labour MPs pushing for a U-turn on winter fuel payments and speculation over a ministerial reshuffle

Politics

42 h. ago Speculation over Rachel Reeves’ future as demands for winter fuel cuts U

Reform’s election success last week has seen troubled Labour MPs pushing for a U-turn on winter fuel payments and speculation over a ministerial reshuffle

Politics

43 h. ago Reeves insists she understands voters’ concerns after Labour election setbacks

Chancellor Rachel Reeves defended her actions in office as pressure mounted on Labour to U-turn on the winter fuel payment cut.

Politics

44 h. ago UK politics live: Hunt admits Tories ‘can’t rule out’ party extinction after disastrous local elections

Comes as Starmer and Badenoch clash over government’s newly-struck UK-India trade deal and Labour’s winter fuel payment cuts

Politics

45 h. ago Keir Starmer slams Kemi Badenoch as 'climate defeatist' but she says he's 'on another planet' in net zero row

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch was first to raise winter fuel payment cuts, saying her party ‘wouldn’t balance (the public finances) on the back of pensioners’

Politics

46 h. ago PMQs: Starmer under fire from Tories, Lib Dems and SNP on winter fuel payment cuts and net zero

Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch was first to raise winter fuel payment cuts, saying her party ‘wouldn’t balance (the public finances) on the back of pensioners’

Events

49 h. ago Red Wall MPs demand Starmer ‘acts now’ to reverse winter fuel cuts as backlash grows

The prime minister’s official spokesperson ruled out a U-turn on cuts to the winter fuel allowance despite disastrous local election results for Labour

Politics

64 h. ago The Guardian view on Labour’s drift and Tory collapse: Reform fills a vacuum they created | Editorial

Faragism’s rise isn’t a surge of enthusiasm – it’s a symptom of exhaustion with two parties failing to offer vision, justice or renewalSir Keir Starmer promised change – and, in a way, he has delivered it. Gone are the days of bold, expansive pledges; in their place are cautious, measurable goals: 6,500 new teachers, 40,000 extra NHS appointments a week. Yet voters, oddly ungrateful, remain unmoved. Perhaps it is because these modest gains barely scratch the surface of national decline. The government has touched lives, just not in the ways it promised. Cuts to winter fuel payments for pensioners and proposed reductions in disability benefits have landed with jarring force. Sir Keir’s managerial style may promise stability, but voters expected transformation. The result: disillusionment with a government delivering change – but not the change voters thought they had chosen.Labour’s poor local election showing could be shrugged off as low turnout in the shires. The party wo...

Politics

65 h. ago Starmer warned benefit cuts could be ‘as toxic’ as axing winter fuel allowance as 800,000 miss out

Exclusive: Sir Keir has already faced a fierce backlash over PIP cuts, with left-wingers vowing to vote against the changes when put before parliament

Events

2 d. ago Poll of the day: Should Labour reverse the cuts to winter fuel payments?

Have your say: Labour’s cuts to winter fuel payments, blamed for heavy local election losses, have sparked a fierce debate over whether the policy should be reversed to win back voter trust

Politics

3 d. ago Welsh Labour leader launches broadside at Starmer demanding he rethinks winter fuel and benefits cuts amid panic over Reform threat

Baroness Morgan used a speech marking a year until Senedd elections to insist she 'will not stay silent' when the PM makes 'decisions that we think will harm Welsh communities'.

Politics

3 d. ago Wes Streeting admits winter fuel payment cuts was factor in Labour election losses as he refuses to rule out rowback

But he said there was no ‘formal review’ under way in Government

Politics

3 d. ago Wes Streeting admits people 'aren't happy' amid pressure to U

Wes Streeting acknowledged the public aren't happy about winter fuel payment cuts and said the Government was listening to voters' rejection of Labour at the local elections

Events

3 d. ago Rowback on winter fuel payment cuts not denied by Health Secretary Wes Streeting after Labour's election blows

But he said there was no ‘formal review’ under way in Government

Politics

3 d. ago Streeting backs winter fuel cuts despite disastrous local elections for Labour

The health secretary said winter fuel payment cuts had allowed Labour to invest in the NHS

Politics

3 d. ago Starmer ‘known around the world’ for cutting winter fuel payments for pensioners, top economist says

Labour’s winter fuel cuts have been blamed for the party’s disastrous local election performance

Economics

4 d. ago Winter Fuel Payment cuts hit 36,000 pensioners in South Lanarkshire ahead of crunch by

EXCLUSIVE: Data from the Scottish Parliament’s independent research unit showed that 36,057 pensioners in the council area are now missing out on the £300 payment.

Economics

6 d. ago Reform avalanche sees Farage win control of first councils as voters punish Labour and Starmer bemoans 'disappointing' local elections

Nigel Farage's jubilant party now has a majority on Staffordshire County Council as a stunning set of results take shape.

Politics