5 h. ago Labour is accused of bid to rig next election as it is set to announce votes for 16

The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government is expected to set out a plan to enfranchise under-18s today.

Politics

6 h. ago Harrowing warning about police racism as 'lack of leadership courage' fears raised

A new report by the Independent Scrutiny and Oversight Board (ISOB) says the Home Office must clarify how the Government's Police Race Action Plan (PRAP) will continue beyond next year and said the Home Office must be 'hands on'

Events

18 h. ago Kendall defends welfare reform plan after Government forced to ditch key parts

Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall insisted she was motivated by getting people into work rather than cutting costs.

Politics

48 h. ago Disabled people want to live a full life. Instead, we’re forced to scrap over our right to food and a wash | Frances Ryan

Britain’s political and media class advocate policies that leave disabled people hungry and dirty. Why are we expected to settle for this?There is a longstanding practice in UK politics and media to force disabled people to fight for their basic rights – a kind of gladiatorial scrap in which the Colosseum is replaced by the set of Good Morning Britain.With the government’s welfare reform bill just passed by MPs, this has felt all the more stark. In the last week alone, the leader of the opposition, Kemi Badenoch, has used a speech to declare she does not “believe” that one in four people are disabled, as if the Equality Act were based on vibes. “Twenty-eight million people in Britain are working to pay the wages and benefits of 28 million others,” she went on. “The rider is as big as the horse.”Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist. She is the author of Who Wants Normal? The Disabled Girls’ Guide to Life Continue reading...

Society

68 h. ago DWP update over Blue Badges and free buses for PIP claimants after welfare reform

The government has announced that people who currently receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP) and use the Blue Badge scheme will not be affected by the upcoming welfare reforms

Politics

3 d. ago Fathers plan legal action to get smartphones banned in England’s schools

Two fathers tell education secretary they will seek judicial review in bid for statutory ban to safeguard childrenTwo fathers plan to take legal action against the government in an attempt to get smartphones banned in schools in England.Will Orr-Ewing and Pete Montgomery wrote to the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, on Friday warning that they would seek a judicial review. They argue that current guidance, which allows headteachers to decide how smartphones are used, is unlawful and unsafe for children. Continue reading...

Events

3 d. ago ‘An enormous scar’: the battle over solar farms and pylons as Reform UK takes aim at net zero

In the fourth part of a series, we look at how climate orthodoxy is coming under fire in LincolnshireAn unjust transition?: Teeside divided over net zeroIt breaks my heart’: how a refinery closure is hitting jobs and politics‘They feel betrayed’: how Reform is targeting manufacturing heartlandsIn early summer the wide open fields of Lincolnshire seem to expand beneath even larger clear blue skies. Travel north through the breadbasket of Britain towards the North Sea, from Grantham to Grimsby, and farming gives way to factories, refineries and the Humber docks. Each sector tells a story of Britain’s industrial decline: the demise of heavy industry on the banks of the Humber, the closure of coal power plants, fishing fleets decimated by the cod wars of the 1970s and 80s.Lincolnshire is at the heart of the government’s plan for the greatest economic step-change since the Industrial Revolution: a green re-industrialisation to help galvanise the country’s net zero agenda, create jobs and...

Events

8 d. ago First neighbourhood health services to be rolled out from September

The initiative is part of the Government’s 10-year health plan, which was unveiled by Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer last week.

Politics

8 d. ago Ministers face fresh challenge to welfare reforms in Wednesday votes

Labour MP for York Central Rachael Maskell accused the Government of being ‘stubborn’ in its welfare reform efforts.

Politics

8 d. ago OBR: Vulnerable UK faces 'daunting' threats to stability of public finances after welfare climbdown

Successive governments’ efforts to put the UK public finances have met with only “limited and temporary success” says watchdog

Economics

9 d. ago Before the government overhauls special educational needs, lessons must be learnt

Editorial: The welfare reform bill fiasco has made rethinking education, health and care plans infinitely more difficult. Any reforms must clearly be for the benefit of the recipients – not driven by the Treasury’s need to make savings

Politics

9 d. ago Nigel Farage says flaws in Reform UK’s candidate vetting process were not his fault – UK politics live

Farage says any errors in the runup to the 2024 general election cannot be laid at his door as he was not party leader at the timeThe Conservatives will try to change the government’s welfare Bill to tighten up access to personal independence payments (Pip) and universal credit, PA Media reports. PA says:Kemi Badenoch will pledge that the Tories are “now the only party committed to serious welfare reform” after Keir Starmer shelved plans to restrict eligibility for Pip in the face of a backbench revolt this week.The Tories will look to lay amendments to the legislation – set to be renamed the universal credit bill – and party leader Badenoch is due to deliver a speech on welfare on Thursday. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago Minister won’t rule out support cuts for children with EHCPs amid Send overhaul – UK politics live

Stephen Morgan, the early education minister, would not confirm every child who has an EHCP would continue to keep the same provisionsThe Conservatives will try to change the government’s welfare Bill to tighten up access to personal independence payments (Pip) and universal credit, PA Media reports. PA says:Kemi Badenoch will pledge that the Tories are “now the only party committed to serious welfare reform” after Keir Starmer shelved plans to restrict eligibility for Pip in the face of a backbench revolt this week.The Tories will look to lay amendments to the legislation – set to be renamed the universal credit bill – and party leader Badenoch is due to deliver a speech on welfare on Thursday. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago Half of Britons oppose fining supermarkets failing healthy food targets

Supermarkets could be fined if they do not sell healthier food, under a new Government plan announced last week to tackle obesity.

Events

9 d. ago Delhi government forced to withdraw plan to scrap old cars after public backlash

Plan to deny fuel to older vehicles sparks anger among middle-class car owners

Politics

1 week ago Ministers ‘pushed ahead too fast’ on welfare reform, says Phillipson

The Government warned there would be financial consequences to the decision not to reform personal independence payment as planned.

Politics

1 week ago Government considers cancer warnings on alcohol as NHS plan targets drink

A ten-year plan for the NHS recommends introducing warning labels on alcohol products

Events

1 week ago ‘We promised change but people aren’t feeling it yet’: Labour rues poor first year

MPs, aides and other party figures reflect on what went wrong and how they could still turn things aroundIn a stiflingly hot room at a health centre in East London, as he announced the government’s 10-year plan for the NHS on Thursday, Keir Starmer was confronted with a brutal assessment of his first year in power.“You’ve U-turned on your reforms, your MPs don’t trust you, and markets worry that you’ve lost resolve on fiscal discipline. It’s the epitome, isn’t it, of sticking-plaster politics and chaos that you promised voters you would end?” a television journalist asked. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Readers’ letters: Labour rebels were elected with a welfare reform mandate

A reader says Rachel Reeves’ tears would be understandable if they were about Labour rebels wrecking her work to reform the benefits system

Politics

1 week ago Akon's futuristic $6billion city in Senegal 'has been SCRAPPED' and will be swapped for 'a realistic project'

The Senegalese government has confirmed that instead of the ambitious plan, it had been scrapped to make way for something more 'realistic'.

Economics