7 h. ago Labour leadership contenders offering jobs in future Government for support in contest against PM

Former Labour MP Rosie Duffield, who sits as an independent after resigning from Labour last year, helped to fan febrile speculation at Westminster about an imminent challenge to the PM.

Politics

14 h. ago Lucy Powell slams 'unacceptable' Labour infighting and explains what needs to change

Speaking in a week that saw a briefing war emerge over Keir Starmer’s leadership, the Deputy Labour leader Lucy Powell called for a 'cultural reset' in how politics was done

Politics

41 h. ago Treasury won’t cut threshold for higher rate income tax, say sources – UK politics live

Fallout continues over budget income tax U-turn, with Treasury saying expected fiscal gap has dropped to £20bnThis is from Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, on the market reaction to the chancellor’s reported budget U-turn.Investors will have 2 broad concerns about news that Chancellor won’t increase income tax rates1. Does it signal less willingness to do politically difficult thingsBritain’s long-term borrowing costs were sent soaring as reports suggested the latest U-turn would leave Rachel Reeves scrambling to fill a gaping black hole in the nation’s finances just two weeks before the 26 November budget.Yields on 30-year UK government bonds, also known as gilts, jumped as much as 14 basis points in early trading, and the yield on 10-year gilts also shot up 12 basis points – rising the most since July. Continue reading...

Politics

42 h. ago Streeting says striking doctors ‘extremely irresponsible’ in angry phone

Health secretary unhappy as resident doctors in England have started a five-day strike todayThis is from Helen Miller, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies thinktank, on the market reaction to the chancellor’s reported budget U-turn.Investors will have 2 broad concerns about news that Chancellor won’t increase income tax rates1. Does it signal less willingness to do politically difficult thingsBritain’s long-term borrowing costs were sent soaring as reports suggested the latest U-turn would leave Rachel Reeves scrambling to fill a gaping black hole in the nation’s finances just two weeks before the 26 November budget.Yields on 30-year UK government bonds, also known as gilts, jumped as much as 14 basis points in early trading, and the yield on 10-year gilts also shot up 12 basis points – rising the most since July. Continue reading...

Events

59 h. ago The Guardian view on 10 Downing Street: not up to the job | Editorial

The Labour leadership briefing furore highlights failures at the centre of government. Keir Starmer needs to raise his gameSir Keir Starmer went to north Wales on Thursday to announce the building of a new nuclear power station. This is a significant policy event, with local and national implications. However, the prime minister did not spend much time in Wales promoting solutions to UK energy needs. Instead, he spent it trying to draw a line under the Labour leadership briefing row, telling reporters that No 10 had not, in fact, briefed against the health secretary’s ambitions earlier this week.As such, Sir Keir’s day was a microcosm of what his prime ministership has now become more generally. On the one hand, he wants his government to be doing, and to be seen to be doing, important things. On the other hand, he is unable to achieve this because of the way he – and to an extent the country more generally – now does politics and government.Do you have an opinion on the issues...

Politics

61 h. ago Starmer was never meant to be Labour’s prime minister – his leadership was doomed from the start | Neal Lawson

His alliance with the party’s anti-Corbyn faction was a shotgun marriage that totally lacked vision. Now Labour is paying the priceWes Streeting was always meant to be their Labour prime minister. The plan, hatched by a tiny clique of rightwing faction fighters, was this: find a candidate on whom they could fake a continuation Corbynism project to win the leadership. Then kick the ladder away from the people who backed them and the promises they made. At the next general election, given the scale of the Tory majority after 2019, get Labour back in the ring with more MPs and then hand over to Streeting. The real grownups would then be in charge and the subsequent election would be secured.But no one reckoned with Covid, Tory turmoil and the collapse of the SNP. Suddenly Keir Starmer wasn’t going to just lead Labour to a better defeat and a springboard for victory next time. Against the odds, he was going to win. Just as Jeremy Corbyn was Labour’s accidental leader in 2015, Starmer wa...

Politics

61 h. ago Labour leadership live: Starmer denies No 10 aides to blame for attack on Streeting

Concerns around Labour Party leadership deepens ahead of Rachel Reeves’s upcoming Budget

Politics

64 h. ago Labour leadership live: Starmer’s aides insist none of them briefed against Streeting

Concerns around Labour Party leadership deepens ahead of Rachel Reeves’s upcoming Budget

Politics

65 h. ago Labour leadership live: Starmer warns aides ‘I’ll fire you’ for briefing against ministers amid Streeting saga

Concerns around Labour Party leadership deepens ahead of Rachel Reeves’s upcoming Budget

Events

66 h. ago Minister says police and crime commissioners will be abolished in 2028 because system has failed – UK politics live

Elected policing roles will be phased out and their powers transferred to mayors in England in move that could save £100mPA Media has more on what the monthly performance figures from NHS England show. PA says:The data shows 180,329 people in England had been waiting more than a year to start routine hospital treatment at the end of September, down from 190,549 at the end of August.Some 2.4% of people on the list for hospital treatment had been waiting more than 52 weeks in September, down from 2.6% the previous month.The NHS waiting list is 230,000 lower than July last year, even as the health service ‘approaches its limit’ with A&E and ambulances facing record demand ahead of winter.The overall waiting list for September was 7.39m (an estimated 6.24m patients) down 15,845 compared to the previous month and 230,000 fewer than July 2024.Thanks to the investment and modernisation this government has made, waiting lists are falling and patients are being treated sooner The past ye...

Events

66 h. ago Labour leadership latest: Streeting dismisses ‘silly Westminster soap opera’ coup briefings about Starmer ousting

Concerns around Labour Party leadership deepens ahead of Rachel Reeves’s upcoming Budget

Politics

67 h. ago Labour leadership latest: Streeting dismisses ‘silly Westminster soap opera’ coup briefings he wants to oust Starmer

Concerns around Labour Party leadership deepens ahead of Rachel Reeves’s upcoming Budget

Politics

68 h. ago Live updates as Keir Starmer visits Anglesey after major nuclear announcement

The UK's first small modular nuclear reactor will be built at Wylfa, creating thousands of jobs

Events

68 h. ago Labour leadership latest: Starmer must find and ‘get rid’ of aide behind Streeting coup leaks, Miliband warns

Concern around the Labour leadership has deepened ahead of Rachel Reeves’s Budget on 26 November

Events

69 h. ago Labour leadership latest: Starmer will ‘get rid’ of aide responsible for Streeting coup leaks, Miliband warns

Concern around the Labour leadership has deepened ahead of Rachel Reeves’s Budget on 26 November

Events

2 d. ago Ed Miliband urges Labour to move on after Starmer apologises to Streeting for hostile briefings from No 10 – UK politics live

Fallout from extraordinary briefing operation against Wes Streeting continues as calls grow for Starmer to sack his chief of staff Morgan McSweeneyGood morning. In an interview around this time yesterday morning, Wes Streeting, the health secretary, said that if Keir Starmer were to ring him about the anti-Streeting briefing by Starmer allies reported by the Guardian and others on Tuesday, Streeting would reply: “Why are you bothering with this.” It was an attempt to play down a new episode of Labour turmoil that has turned out to counter-productive for Starmer, but helpful for Streeting, and by the time the two men did speak last night, the conversation took a different tone.Starmer apologised to Streeting, journalists have been told. The conversation was short, and they did not discuss Morgan McSweeney, Starmer’s chief of staff, whom Starmer is now under pressure to sack. The pair also agreed they would speak again soon – which doesn’t mean much (they both attend cabinet, and have...

Politics

2 d. ago Labour Traitors War: Starmer will sack No10 briefer who tried to 'kneecap' Streeting, says minister

The Health Secretary has slammed Downing Street sources for ‘self-defeating and self-destructive behaviour’

Politics

3 d. ago Keir Starmer leadership chaos as Labour MP says 'Prime Minister employs kids'

Civil war erupted on Wednesday Health Secretary Wes Streeting lashed out at the 'toxic culture' in No10 and one MP compared aides to characters from the Thick of It

Politics

3 d. ago Labour Traitors War: Keir Starmer to 'investigate' who in No10 briefed against Wes Streeting amid coup frenzy

The Health Secretary has slammed Downing Street sources for ‘self-defeating and self-destructive behaviour’

Events

3 d. ago It is time for Labour to get a grip and stop this juvenile leadership farce

Editorial: Not a single job would be created, asylum hotel closed or pound knocked off the national debt by ousting Keir Starmer – it is time for the Labour Party to act like adults if it is to stop Nigel Farage from marching into No 10

Politics