11 h. ago 'People in deprived areas are being ignored... that's why they're voting Reform'

Readers weighed in on the Greater Manchester political landscape in the build up to the by-election

Politics

15 h. ago Phasing out fossil fuels ‘doomed to fail’, says Tony Blair as he calls for rethink of net zero policy – UK politics live

‘Any strategy based on either phasing out fossil fuels in the short term or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail,’ says former PMSeverin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.Keir Starmer is not expected to campaign in the Hamilton byelection, a critical contest for Scottish Labour which takes place in early June, Anas Sarwar has confirmed.I wouldn’t expect Keir to be campaigning in the byelection. That’s not to say he won’t, but I’m not expecting Kier to campaign in the byelection.I’ll be on the stump campaigning for a Labour win. I’m the candidate for first minister next year. I’m the one that wants to remove the SNP from government.Next year, we’ve got to demonstrate to people that for all Nigel Farage might want to come here with his easy answers and create a bit of a circus, the reality is a vote for Reform only helps the SNP. If you want to get rid of the SNP, only Scottish Labour can beat them. Continue reading...

Events

15 h. ago Plan to phase out fossil fuels ‘doomed to fail’, says Tony Blair as he calls for rethink of net zero policy – UK politics live

‘Any strategy based on either ‘phasing out’ fossil fuels in the short term or limiting consumption is a strategy doomed to fail,’ says former PMSeverin Carrell is the Guardian’s Scotland editor.Keir Starmer is not expected to campaign in the Hamilton byelection, a critical contest for Scottish Labour which takes place in early June, Anas Sarwar has confirmed.I wouldn’t expect Keir to be campaigning in the byelection. That’s not to say he won’t, but I’m not expecting Kier to campaign in the byelection.I’ll be on the stump campaigning for a Labour win. I’m the candidate for first minister next year. I’m the one that wants to remove the SNP from government.Next year, we’ve got to demonstrate to people that for all Nigel Farage might want to come here with his easy answers and create a bit of a circus, the reality is a vote for Reform only helps the SNP. If you want to get rid of the SNP, only Scottish Labour can beat them. Continue reading...

Events

23 h. ago 'I'm going to vote Reform, we need change': On the streets of the only place in Greater Manchester voting this week

The voters of Balderstone and Kirkholt in Rochdale will have the chance to select their newest councillor at the by-election this week

Politics

42 h. ago Tories 'face losing 500 seats' in Reform local elections surge as Keir Starmer 'stays away' from Runcorn by

Tension is building ahead of the crucial votes on Thursday, with Reform expected to make sweeping gains.

Politics

64 h. ago Voters deserting Labour and Tories as Reform to claim hundreds of seats at local elections, top pollster says

Exclusive: Professor Sir John Curtice said the big winner of the local elections is already Nigel Farage who he claimed is ‘murdering the Tories’

Politics

3 d. ago Union warns axing energy jobs will win Reform Scottish votes

GMB Scotland secretary Louise Gilmour believes Nigel Farage will be the big winner if the offshore industry is not protected.

Events

3 d. ago A protest vote is an important democratic safety valve, but be careful how you use it

Editorial: Nigel Farage’s party is expected to do well on Thursday as voters turn away from Labour and the Conservatives

Politics

3 d. ago In Kent, the ‘silent Reform voter’ may give Nigel Farage his greatest victory

On the campaign trail in Ramsgate, the Reform leader was keen to talk immigration and his distrust of the Tories Continue reading...

Politics

4 d. ago Nigel Farage under pressure over Reform candidate's vile Hitler post

Labour has said that unless Reform condones 'extreme views', voters will think that it shares them after campaign group Hope Not Hate claim to have unearthed a number of alarming cases

Events

4 d. ago We obsess over the angry young men going Reform. But what of the anxious young women going Green? | Gaby Hinsliff

Desire for a politics that cares about global and local injustice is sharpening the political gender divideSometimes a political backlash doesn’t take the shape you expect. Though there are times when it goes off like a firework, as young men’s TikTok-fuelled surge of enthusiasm for Nigel Farage did last summer, sometimes it’s more of a long, slow burn. The most underexplored form of revolt against mainstream politics right now is the second kind, involving not angry young men lurching rightwards but anxious young women turning, if anything, more sharply left.Almost a quarter of women aged 18 to 24 voted Green last July, roughly double the number of young men who voted Reform, though predictably it’s the latter who have since got all the attention. While the big parties chased avidly after so-called Waitrose women, well-heeled home counties matrons considering defecting from the Tories, they had little to say to their daughters. So it was the Greens who ended up cornering the market...

Politics

5 d. ago RICHARD LITTLEJOHN: We're on the brink of World War III, our cities are hellscapes and the economy's shot. No wonder voters are turning to Reform

The self-indulgent, self-aggrandising stupidity of our political class and those responsible for our hopelessly inadequate and hideously expensive public services continues to plumb new depths.

Politics

6 d. ago Robert Jenrick hints at Farage pact in leaked recording as Tory split blows open spectacularly

Robert Jenrick was recorded said he is 'not prepared' for the Tories and Reform to split right-wing votes at the next general election in a massive blow to Kemi Badenoch, who has mocked Nigel Farage

Politics

6 d. ago Nigel Farage thinks net zero is the new Brexit. Starmer can prove him wrong | Rafael Behr

Labour must deliver the green transition voters want, leaving Reform and the Tories on the side of economic decline and dictatorsWhich former British prime minister described the climate emergency as “a clock ticking to the furious rhythm of hundreds of billions of pistons and turbines and furnaces and engines quilting the Earth in an invisible and suffocating blanket of CO2”?The florid style gives it away. You’d guess Boris Johnson even if you’d forgotten that the master of Brexit bombast also had a sideline in net zero evangelism. It wasn’t the most memorable part of his repertoire and it didn’t catch on as a Conservative catechism.Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago BRIAN READE: 'Don't fall for Nigel Farage's latest rebrand, he'll never fix Britain'

Pollsters are predicting big wins for Reform UK at next month's election, warns Brian Reade, but there are a few glaring truths voters should keep in mind

Politics

2 w. ago ‘Savage’ UK cuts will deprive 55m people of aid around the world

Exclusive: The cuts will result in a reduction of key programmes for education, family planning, water and food aid. Alicja Hagopian and Kate Devlin report

Politics

2 w. ago ELLIE REEVES: 'Badenoch and Farage would plunge Britain into coalitions of chaos'

Ellie Reeves, Labour's chair writes for the Mirror, saying Ms Badenoch had "made clear" that her party is open to deals with Reform if their vote is split in next month's local elections.

Events

2 w. ago 'Labour massively let us down': On the streets that elected Greater Manchester's first Reform councillor

Residents in Longdendale told the M.E.N. they voted for Reform's 'realistic' and 'honest' approach

Politics

2 w. ago Reform will 'eat into old Labour vote in astonishing way' says Nigel Farage after by

Reform ousted Labour in a landslide victory in Tameside, Greater Manchester on Thursday night

Politics

2 w. ago Trump imposes new tariffs on dozens of partners, sparking fresh market turmoil

Rates on imports to US from dozens of economies rise further, with China hit by 104% tariffsBusiness live – latest updatesThe US and China are heading towards an all-out trade war, after Donald Trump unleashed a fresh wave of tariffs against dozens of partners that triggered a fresh day of stock market turmoil on Wednesday.Despite the market chaos, China’s government was unbowed, reiterating threats of further countermeasures and saying it was unwilling to fight a trade war but “will never sit idly by and watch the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese people be damaged and deprived”. Continue reading...

Politics