4 h. ago ‘I won’t stand on the shoreline and shout at the sea’: Cooper attacks Farage and Badenoch’s migrant crackdown calls

The home secretary insisted the government will ‘get on with the hard graft, roll up our sleeves and do it step by step’

Events

4 h. ago Yvette Cooper fails to guarantee that boat crossings will fall by next year

The home secretary also failed to confirm that migrants will be sent back to France this month as part of the returns agreement, saying she refused to make ‘grand promises’

Events

5 h. ago Leading female politicians and artists reject attempts to link migration and sexual abuse

The letter accuses the right of exploiting ‘violence against women to fuel hate and division’

Politics

9 h. ago France has a massive debt crisis. So why is it spending billions a year subsidising business? | Alexander Hurst

The government is on the brink of collapse over planned austerity. Instead it must face up to the costs of its unnecessarily rigid labour marketAs someone who has always been against austerity, I find France, with a national debt at 114% of GDP and a budget deficit of 5.8% of GDP, a conundrum. Despite years of denunciation from his left and far-right opponents that Macron has engaged in “ultraneoliberalism”, there hasn’t been any. Not on a macro level, anyway, where both French government spending (57.3% of GDP) and tax receipts (51.4% of GDP) are among the highest in the world, including social spending, which outpaces any of its European neighbours.At the same time, it’s impossible to have spent the past decade in France without encountering the widely shared perception and accusation that public services are in decline. Doctors and nurses denounce a labour shortage in public hospitals; people who live in rural areas denounce the closing of rural train lines; students and academic...

Economics

20 h. ago Yvette Cooper pauses new refugee family reunions in fresh asylum crackdown

Charities warn the changes will ‘push more desperate people into the arms of smugglers in an effort to reunite with loved ones’

Events

3 d. ago Digital ID cards could help solve the small boats crisis, says Pat McFadden

The senior government minister said the UK was ‘behind the curve’ when it came to Digital IDs for citizens

Events

5 d. ago The Guardian view on France’s latest political crisis: François Bayrou’s gamble on austerity does not deserve to pay off | Editorial

The likely fall of another prime minister is a further blow to Emmanuel Macron’s becalmed presidency. A change in priorities is neededFollowing a startling victory for Marine Le Pen in European elections last June, the French president, Emmanuel Macron, foolishly called a snap legislative poll. The idea was to give voters a salutary wake-up call, daring them to repeat their embrace of Ms Le Pen’s far-right National Rally party in a domestic election. The unanticipated result was a suddenly deadlocked parliament, in which the influence of the National Rally and the left significantly increased, and a lame-duck status for Mr Macron’s second term.That failed gamble has now led to another, which appears equally doomed. This week, Mr Macron’s fourth prime minister in two years put the future of his minority government on the line, in an attempt to pass a deeply unpopular budget this autumn. François Bayrou, intending to deliver his own wake-up call to MPs, has unexpectedly called a confi...

Politics

5 d. ago Macron backs Bayrou and calls on budget critics to show responsibility

Spokesperson says government in ‘fighting spirit’ after PM called confidence vote he is expected to loseEmmanuel Macron has given his “full support” to France’s beleaguered prime minister, François Bayrou, who is expected to lose a confidence vote next month, which would be likely to cause the government to collapse.Macron chaired a cabinet meeting on Wednesday as France faces a fresh political crisis. The government spokesperson Sophie Primas said after the meeting that Macron fully supported Bayrou and the government was in a “fighting spirit”. Continue reading...

Politics

5 d. ago France on the brink: how a budget deficit became a political crisis

With the government facing defeat in a confidence vote, the nation’s economic problems will still need to tackledFrance is stuck in economic limbo, without a budget and soon, possibly, without a government. The prime minister, François Bayrou, has called for parliament to hold a confidence vote on 8 September and, now that parties of the left and far right have pledged to bring down the government, on paper he doesn’t have the numbers to win.On Tuesday, the Socialist party (PS) added its voice to the dissenters, allying it with the Greens and the far-right National Rally. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Farage rows back on plan to deport women and children as part of migration crackdown

On Tuesday, Nigel Farage indicated the party would detain and deport women and children as part of their plans - but the following day insisted media reports which said he would do so were ‘wrong, wrong, wrong’

Politics

6 d. ago Farage rows back on plan to deport children as part of migration crackdown

On Tuesday, Nigel Farage indicated the party would detain and deport women and children as part of their plans - but the following day insisted media reports which said he would do so were ‘wrong, wrong, wrong’

Politics

6 d. ago Farage rows back on plan to deport children in Reform asylum crackdown

Nigel Farage said Reform would detain and deport women and children to tackle the small boats crisis – but a day later insisted media reports were ‘wrong, wrong, wrong’

Events

6 d. ago French plans to intercept migrant boats at sea are now 'in jeopardy due to political crisis in Paris'

Under current rules, French authorities are prevented from tackling a migrant boat once it has entered the water, unless a vessel is in distress.

Events

6 d. ago Plan to intercept small boats threatened by potential collapse of French government

The French interior ministry has said it would implement the law change ‘this summer’ but concerns of delays have been raised

Politics

6 d. ago France faces new political crisis as PM expected to lose confidence vote

François Bayrou says he will ‘fight like a dog’ to stay in power but he appears almost certain to be toppledFrance is braced for another political crisis as the minority government of François Bayrou appears almost certain to be toppled in a confidence vote next month, amid deep political divisions over an unpopular austerity budget and debt-reduction plan.“I will fight like a dog,” the centrist prime minister told L’Express on Tuesday after his surprise decision to call a vote of confidence from parliamentarians. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago New study shows true power of your social media posts during a time of crisis

A new study from the University of Cambridge reveals how a political crisis flips the script on social media

Events

7 d. ago Just like Brexit, Farage is simply telling voters what they want to hear on migration

Nigel Farage laid out details of his plans for mass deportation of migrants as the small boats crisis continues to grow, but The Independent’s political editor David Maddox has heard all the same rhetoric before

Politics

8 d. ago Netflix fans are just realising where they've seen Hostage star before

Hostage follows British prime minister Abigail Dalton, played by Suranne Jones, as she navigates a political crisis involving the kidnapping of her husband

Events

9 d. ago Environmental crisis at Lough Neagh ‘has become a political problem’

Lough Neagh Partnership chief Gerry Darby has urged action after describing the lough as the worst he has ever seen.

Politics

9 d. ago ‘A dangerous moment’: the emboldening of Britain’s far right

In a summer of anti-migrant rallies, flags and nationalistic rhetoric, observers warn there is a lack of government voices pushing backThe Bell hotel in Epping has seen a lot since it was built in the 16th century as a coaching inn, serving travellers passing through the historic Essex market town and on to London, 15 miles to the south-west. This has long been a place that bustled with outsiders, though they have not always been welcome – the small green common opposite was once named after a beacon that local stories say was built to warn of invasion.Though now wrapped in ugly 1960s extensions that have stripped it of anything approaching charm, the unassuming building – close to agricultural land and a cricket pitch – is an unlikely place to spark a potential political crisis. Continue reading...

Politics