54 m. ago Keir Starmer survives another welfare rebellion amid outrage at DWP disability cuts

Forty five Labour MPs voted against the Government's stripped-down welfare Bill - with backbencher Rachael Maskell branding it a 'stain' on the party

Events

10 h. ago Ed Miliband 'abandons zonal electricity pricing' plan that would have charged people in southern England more for power than Scots

It would have meant people living near wind farms or other clean power projects - most common in upland rural areas - paying less for electricity than those living in other parts of Britain.

Politics

11 h. ago Labour Government abandons plans to charge less for electricity in Scotland

The plans would have made electricity costs lower in areas where there is less demand - including Scotland.

Politics

15 h. ago Macron and Starmer talk Trump, boats and Ukraine – but Brexit is the ghost at the banquet | Rafael Behr

The prime minister has repaired broken relations with France, but Britain still looks perilously isolated in a world of shifting alliancesGilded carriages and royal banquets are not essential tools of modern diplomacy, but nor are they obsolete. In a digital age, when intergovernmental business could easily be conducted online, the analogue grandeur of a state visit feels potent as a bestowal of favour.This week Emmanuel Macron is the beneficiary. In September it will be Donald Trump. The sequence is not meant to indicate preference. Both relationships are special, say officials. There are enough champagne receptions and sleepovers at Windsor Castle to go around.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnistOne year of Labour, with Pippa Crerar, Rafael Behr and more On 9 July, join Pippa Crerar, Raf Behr, Frances O’Grady and Salma Shah as they look back at one year of the Labour government, its current policies and plans for the next four years Continue reading...

Politics

23 h. 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

28 h. ago Emmanuel Macron to address parliament following meeting with king – UK politics live

The French president has spent time with King Charles and the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge on the first day of his state visit to the UKFrench police slashing the boats of people smugglers is not “pleasant” but the right tactic, Heidi Alexander, the transport secretary, has said. Jessica Elgot and Peter Walker have the story.Boris Johnson, the former Tory PM, has issued this tribute to Norman Tebbit.Norman Tebbit was a hero of modern Conservatism. In the early 1980s he liberated the British workforce from the socialist tyranny of the closed shop. He tamed the union bosses, and in so doing he helped pave the way for this country’s revival in the 1980s and 1990s.At a time when the Labour government is now disastrously reversing those crucial reforms we need to remember what he did and why. In his single most famous phrase he once said that in the 1930s his unemployed father had got on his bike and looked for work. That wasn’t a heartless thing to say - as the Labour Party claimed. It...

Politics

36 h. ago Rachel Reeves warned 'fantasy' wealth tax would drive away investors and fail like Spain's as desperate ministers refuse to rule out left

Alarm is growing about Labour targeting entrepreneurs as the government frantically tries to balance the books.

Events

36 h. ago Road schemes will ‘probably’ be finished in under a decade – Transport Secretary

Heidi Alexander said the Government would publish estimates in March for how long the schemes will take to deliver.

Politics

39 h. ago To those who question what Labour stands for – look at Best Start. It will change Britain’s future | Polly Toynbee

Sure Start was New Labour’s finest achievement, and the Tories destroyed it. Now it’s back with a mission to put children at the heart of everythingThey hunt high and low for Labour’s missing message, vision, purpose or identity. Well, here it is, where it always was, in the future of children. It’s what Labour does best, what it is for: building a society where children come first and everything else falls into place. The foundations have now been laid by Bridget Phillipson by finally bringing back Sure Start to England – the most successful achievement of the last Labour government – now rebranded as Best Start family hubs.It’s a pity about the new name, but young parents recognise “hubs”, whereas Sure Start is largely gone and forgotten. Its uprooting began the day Michael Gove arrived as education secretary in 2010. He entered the “Department for Children, Schools and Families” – a name chosen to reflect the awareness that children don’t learn without wraparound care for their w...

Politics

52 h. ago Man charged after 'out of control' £80k electric Jaguar boxed in by police

The car was rammed off the road by police after a report it 'went rogue' at 100mph

Economics

54 h. ago Voices: The bottom line? Britain simply can’t afford to impose a wealth tax

As battle lines are drawn within Labour over taxing the super-rich, Chris Blackhurst says that the government must resist Lord Kinnock’s siren call to take a 2 per cent slice of asset values above £10 million – because the country’s economic prosperity depends on it

Economics

54 h. ago Labour’s pension plans remind me of communist China, says Lloyds chief

Proposed £25bn megafunds will seek to create more long-term wealth for people

Politics

56 h. ago Panic over Labour 'wealth tax' to fill £30bn black hole in government finances

The prospect of a charge on the assets of the well-off has been mooted as the Chancellor scrambles to fill a potential £30billion black hole in the public finances.

Economics

57 h. ago Driver of 100mph ‘rogue’ electric car charged with driving offence

Nathan Owen said a fault in his Jaguar I-Pace left him without brakes at 100mph on the motorway.

Transport

57 h. ago A wealth tax which would hit London hard is up to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, says minister

The Government is not ruling out new tax rises after a Labour revolt over welfare reforms blew a £5 billion hole in the Treasury’s spending plans

Politics

59 h. ago Imposing a wealth tax which would hit London hard is up to Chancellor Rachel Reeves, says minister

The Government is not ruling out new tax rises after a Labour revolt over welfare reforms blew a £5 billion hole in the Treasury’s spending plans

Politics

62 h. ago ‘We need real change, not fiddling at the edges’: voters on Labour’s first year

People from across the UK discuss why the government is struggling to win the approval of a deeply divided publicFor Aiden Robertson, a 35-year-old consultant from Burnley, Labour’s first year back in government can only be summed up as “incredibly disappointing”.The year had been marked, he felt, by “dreadful communication, a lack of clear purpose, zero vision”, while Labour had been “pandering to Reform voters who will never back them”. Continue reading...

Politics

64 h. ago Scots cannot afford a third decade of SNP Government at Holyrood

In his regular column for the Record, the Scottish Labour leader said Scots urgently need a government that will do right by the next generation and create opportunities for all.

Politics

3 d. ago Labour policies ‘obscured’ by rows over welfare and winter fuel – Lord Kinnock

The week of Sir Keir Starmer’s first anniversary in Number 10 saw the Prime Minister scrap a raft of the Government’s proposed welfare reforms.

Events

3 d. ago Families to get £400m boost as government revives New Labour's biggest success story

The cash boost for early years support comes as ministers prepare to bring back a revamped version of Sure Start - the family hubs introduced under Tony Blair's Labour government

Politics