60 h. ago Here’s the truth about Britain’s immigration hysteria: Starmer and co have whipped it up to get cheap votes | Nesrine Malik

He is part of a political establishment that is fuelling a crisis way beyond the point that they can ever be seen to solve it. It’s a cynical, idiotic doom loopImmigration has been a fixture of Britain’s political discourse for so long, it now feels, like Voltaire’s god, that if the issue did not exist, we would have to invent it. What would our politics look like, what would the broad majority of Britain’s media do with themselves, without immigration? It has become such a feature of the country’s political culture, it amounts to a sort of historical exhibit: “rivers of blood”, the “hostile environment”, “go home” vans, “controls on immigration” crockery, the Brexit “breaking point” poster, the Windrush scandal, “stop the boats”, “island of strangers”. And now, summer riots.What conjoins all of these is one thing: misinformation. I have banged on for years in this column about the disconnect between immigration discourse and the reality of how hard and expensive it is to enter the ...

Politics

7 d. ago The Guardian view on asylum myths: when truth loses, scapegoating takes over Britain’s migrant debate | Editorial

Labour’s cautious fixes for immigration and asylum policy face a toxic public mood shaped by fear, falsehoods and far-right provocationIn politics, numbers rarely speak for themselves. They must be framed and interpreted. They are often weaponised. In Britain’s increasingly toxic debate over asylum and migration, the question isn’t just how many asylum seekers arrive on small boats. It’s what those numbers are made to represent – and why polls suggest a large proportion of the public now believes things that are simply untrue.Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has staked her political credibility on restoring a sense of grip over the asylum system: reducing the backlog by processing cases, accelerating returns of those with no legal claim to stay and launching an as yet small-scale “one in, one out” returns deal with France. In balancing operational realism with symbolic reassurance, Ms Cooper walks a knife-edge between policy and perception. Continue reading...

Events

9 d. ago The real danger in this permacrisis is not the political drama: it’s the risk that nothing changes | Nesrine Malik

It is said the centre cannot hold, but what if it does? That’s a frightening recipe for more stasis and more rageA new party has launched in the UK, and it didn’t take long for it to become the subject of frantic speculation. Will it split the left? Will it create more of an opening for Reform UK? Should it forge an alliance with the Greens? The stunning speed with which Jeremy Corbyn’s new party amassed supporters, now standing at 600,000 in a week, reasonably makes it feel like a real and viable thing. And the next logical step is to assess its chances in meaningfully challenging the mainstream. But the bigger question is, can the mainstream be meaningfully challenged, or is the future one of increasing fragmentation, with a persistent but tense monopoly on power by the political establishment?The signs that the centre is fraying at the margins became clear at the last general election. There was a historically low turnout by share of the population (resulting in the most dispropo...

Events

3 w. ago Labour infighting rages as Starmer warns his troops they MUST obey orders after suspending whip from four 'kn**head' MPs in wake of welfare meltdown

Keir Starmer has moved to suspend the whip from four MPs, and fired three more from trade envoy roles, in the wake of the humiliating welfare revolt.

Events

3 w. ago Voices: Are suspended Labour MPs undisciplined? Readers have their say

Our community was sharply divided on the suspensions. While some defended Keir Starmer’s need for party discipline in government, others felt his approach revealed a weakness

Politics

3 w. ago Voices: Keir Starmer has asserted his power by suspending the Labour rebels – about time, too

The prime minister has cracked down on ‘persistent knobheadery’ in his party, as one source put it – he’s finally shown true grit, writes John Rentoul

Politics

3 w. ago Labour rebels warn Starmer has made things worse by suspending whip from four 'kn**head' MPs and stripping three others of jobs after welfare meltdown

Keir Starmer moved to suspend the whip from four MPs, and fired three more from trade envoy roles, in the wake of the humiliating welfare revolt.

Events

3 w. ago Jess Phillips says Labour rebels should not be surprised by the action taken against them – UK politics live

Home Office minister defends Keir Starmer’s decision to remove whip from four MPs and says Labour must ‘act as a team’Good morning. Chief whips tends to be quite secretive, and when four Labour MPs had the whip suspended yesterday, there was no detailed, public explanation as to why they were being punished for rebelling when so many other backbenchers, who have also voted against the party, have not been singled out. As Eleni Courea and Jessica Elgot report in our overnight story, we were just told they were regular rebels.But the best explanation came from the Labour party source who told Geri Scott from the Times that the four MPs – Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff – were being punished for “persistent knobheadery”.I don’t think that the discipline that has been meted out over the last 24 hours is linked to [the welfare bill] because many more people voted against the government than these four people.I actually don’t know because I’m not pa...

Politics

4 w. ago Keir Starmer removes Labour whip from four ‘persistent rebel’ MPs

Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff pushed out and three trade envoys lose rolesUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has removed the Labour whip from four MPs for repeatedly breaching discipline and stripped three further Labour MPs of their trade envoy roles in an effort to assert his control over the party.The Guardian understands that the four MPs who have lost the whip are Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff. They were informed on Wednesday afternoon and told their positions would be kept under review. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Keir Starmer to remove Labour whip from at least four ‘persistent rebel’ MPs

Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff to be pushed out as PM takes actionUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer is to remove the whip from MPs for persistent rebellions, starting with at least four of them on Wednesday afternoon.The Guardian understands that four MPs set to lose the whip are Rachael Maskell, Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman, and Chris Hinchliff. Continue reading...

Politics

4 w. ago Keir Starmer to remove Labour whip from at least three ‘persistent rebel’ MPs

Neil Duncan-Jordan, Brian Leishman and Chris Hinchliff to be pushed out as PM takes actionKeir Starmer is to remove the whip from MPs for persistent rebellions, starting with at least three of them on Wednesday afternoon.The Guardian understands that one of the MPs who has had the whip removed is Neil Duncan-Jordan, the MP for Poole, who was a critic of both the welfare bill and cuts to the winter fuel allowance. Continue reading...

Politics