5 h. ago Keir Starmer’s defence expansion plan 'will bring tens of billions of investment into Scotland'

Military intelligence experts say thousands of jobs will be created as billions are ploughed into key Scots locations.

Economics

66 h. ago Should all children be given free school meals? Vote in our poll

Keir Starmer has announced plans to extend free school meals to all children in families receiving Universal Credit in England in a bid to tackle child hunger in the classroom - and we want to hear your thoughts

Politics

2 d. ago What Keir Starmer's new free school meals plan means for London

The government has announced the major change to free school meals will take effect from next year

Politics

6 d. ago 12 new submarines set to be built in UK, the Government has announced

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was due to say today: 'This plan will ensure Britain is secure at home and strong abroad, while delivering a defence dividend of well-paid jobs up and down the country'

Politics

8 d. ago Keir Starmer's plans for 'return hubs' to take migrants from the UK could be hijacked by Russian spies, MI6 warns

The Prime Minister is eyeing up deals with Balkan countries, and some in Africa, to house failed asylum seekers.

Events

9 d. ago Nigel Farage claims Keir Starmer's attacks on his economic plans are 'Project Fear 2.0' as Reform leader faces questions over £85bn cost of 'fantasy' policies

Sir Keir this morning warned voters they cannot trust Mr Farage with their 'future, mortgages or jobs' in a speech deriding his economic literacy.

Economics

9 d. ago Where's the cash coming from, Nige? Keir Starmer challenges Farage over Reform's £85bn spending plans

The Prime Minister joined the Tories in taking aim at Mr Farage's economic literacy today after he unveiled plans for an £85billion spending splurge if Reform wins power.

Economics

1 week ago UK politics live: minister defends Labour’s justice record after warnings of threat to public safety

Housing minister says previous government left prison system in state of ‘criminal neglect’ amid warnings over early release plan The government is seeking to give a boost to smaller developers with faster planning decisions and financial backing to speed up building new homes.It will set out the detail of proposals to cut red tape and for planning decisions to be shifted away from councillors and towards expert officers as part of efforts to meet Labour’s pledge to build 1.5m homes by 2029-30.We’ve inherited, as you know, a housing system that’s not building enough homes part of the reason it is broken is that we’re overly reliant on a small number of large volume housebuilders. So we’ve got to diversify the housing market and get smaller housebuilders back in the game.In the 1980s they used to produce about 40% of all homes. Today it’s less than 10%, and so the package we’re announcing today allocating land specifically to SME housebuilders, providing them with more financial supp...

Events

1 week ago Disabled celebrities urge Keir Starmer to scrap ‘inhumane’ benefit cuts

Exclusive: More than 100 people including Liz Carr and Rosie Jones sign letter criticising Pip and universal credit changesMore than 100 of the UK’s most high-profile disabled people, including Liz Carr, Rosie Jones, Ruth Madeley and Cherylee Houston, have called on the prime minister to abandon “inhumane and catastrophic plans to cut disability benefits”.In an open letter to Keir Starmer before a planned Commons vote next month, they argue that the government’s plan to reduce eligibility to personal independence payment (Pip) and the health component of universal credit is a matter of “survival” and “basic human rights”. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Britain to ask Kosovo to take UK's small boat migrants as it lines up talks over 'return hubs' in the Balkans after ditching Rwanda plan

The tiny country of 1.6million people, which only declared independence from Serbia 17 years ago, heads a shortlist of nine countries that ministers want to take failed asylum seekers.

Events

1 week ago UK ‘to ask Kosovo’ to take failed asylum seekers in overseas ‘return hubs plan’

North Macedonia, Kosovo, and Serbia said to be being considered for housing UK’s failed asylum seekers

Events

1 week ago New update on Winter Fuel Payment reversal could be due next month

An update on Sir Keir Starmer’s plans to issue the payment to ‘more pensioners’ could be given on June 11.

Politics

1 week ago Ministers considering tweaks to welfare reforms amid rebellion threat – reports

Sir Keir Starmer is said to be considering ‘tweaks’ to welfare cuts planned by his Government.

Politics

2 w. ago Warnings of dire worker shortages as UK net migration figures halve

Sir Keir Starmer announced plans he promised will ‘significantly’ reduce immigration this month but according to new figures the number was already dramatically falling because of measures introduced by the Tories

Events

2 w. ago Gordon Brown urges Keir Starmer to fix 'child poverty emergency' with major plan

Labour former PM Gordon Brown said Keir Starmer must act to help 'austerity's children' as rising levels of child poverty could see 4.8 million kids living in hardship by 2029

Politics

2 w. ago Donald Trump 'pushes UK to pump billions of pounds more into defence spending' and reach 3% 'ambition' years earlier than PM had planned

The US President is said to want the UK to increase its military budget to 3 per cent of GDP by 2029, which is years earlier than Sir Keir Starmer had been planning.

Politics

2 w. ago The AI Con by Emily M Bender and Alex Hanna review – debunking myths of the AI revolution

Will new technology help to make the world a better place, or is AI just another tech bubble that will benefit the few?At the beginning of this year, Keir Starmer announced an “AI opportunities action plan”, which promises to mainline AI “into the veins of this enterprising nation”. The implication that AI is a class-A injectable substance, liable to render the user stupefied and addicted, was presumably unintentional. But then what on earth did they mean about AI’s potential, and did they have any good reason to believe it?Not according to the authors of this book, who are refreshingly sarcastic about what they think is just another tech bubble. What is sold to us as AI, they announce, is just “a bill of goods”: “A few major well-placed players are poised to accumulate significant wealth by extracting value from other people’s creative work, personal data, or labor, and replacing quality services with artificial facsimiles.” Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago If Keir Starmer is not robotic enough for you, his AI twin is ready for your questions

Leon Emirali has created digital versions of all UK MPs, including a Wes Streeting avatar who is unabashedly frank about who the next PM should beIf you are one of the few people on the planet who fancies a chat with Keir Starmer, then there’s a new AI model for you.A former chief of staff to a Tory minister has created Nostrada, which aims to enable users to talk with an AI version of each of the UK parliament’s 650 MPs – and lets you ask them anything you want. Continue reading...

Politics

2 w. ago Elton John labels Keir Starmer’s government ‘absolute losers’ over AI plans

Sir Elton John branded the Labour government “absolute losers” after calls by the House of Lords to amend the Data (Use and Access) Bill to include greater copyright protections against artificial intelligence (AI) were resisted.

Politics

3 w. ago So who WILL take migrants, Keir? No10 refuses to say which countries it is talking to about return hubs after Albania snub

The Prime Minister is expected to use talks with leaders in the margins of the meeting in Tirana to entice them to host return hubs, after the conference host said no.

Events