11 h. ago Liz Kendall unveils UK benefits cuts set to leave many sick and disabled worse off

Welfare secretary announces changes aimed at cutting bill by up to £5bn in face of opposition from Labour MPsUK politics live – latest updatesLiz Kendall, the welfare secretary, has faced down angry Labour MPs to unveil drastic cuts to the UK’s benefits system that will leave many sick and disabled claimants worse off.The measures, which the government argues are needed to “fix the broken benefits system” and balance the nation’s books, are expected to cut £5bn from the benefits bill by the end of the decade. Continue reading...

Politics

12 h. ago Scots face new restrictions if applying for sickness or disability benefits under UK Government reform

Liz Kendall, the Work and Pensions Secretary, said the UK's welfare system is "failing" and not helping enough people get back into work.

Politics

66 h. ago It is mission critical that Labour repairs the contract between citizen and state | Andrew Rawnsley

Proving that government can be a force for good is essential if Sir Keir Starmer is to see off the populist rightListening to Sir Keir Starmer’s recent lament that the “flabby” state is failing Britain was to experience deja vu all over again. More than a quarter of a century has passed since another Labour prime minister, one Tony Blair, vented his frustration with the public sector by complaining that trying to reform government had left him with “scars on my back”. In similar vein, David Cameron’s lot used to excuse their struggles to get stuff done by blaming resistance from the amorphous administrative “Blob”. Dominic Cummings told Boris Johnson that the solution was to pack Number 10 with “weirdos”, “misfits” and “wild cards” – a self-description if ever there was one – while purging the senior civil service. He was still working his way through his “shit list” of mandarins when he got the boot himself. You will not recall the Johnson administration as an able and stable outfi...

Events

5 d. ago Keir Starmer abolishes NHS England to bring health service back to ‘heart of government’

NHS England was created by the Conservatives more than a decade ago

Politics

5 d. ago Why Keir Starmer’s government is seeking to cut benefits bill

Labour targeting sickness and disability benefits which have ballooned amid an increasingly ageing and unwell population Keir Starmer’s government is aiming to cut billions of pounds from welfare spending before the spring statement.The prime minister has warned that Britain’s benefits system is the “worst of all worlds”, before the government publishes a green paper on sickness and disability benefit reform next week. Starmer faces the biggest rebellion of his premiership over the plans. Continue reading...

Politics

6 d. ago Labour rebel ‘couldn’t look my mum in the eyes’ and vote for Starmer’s welfare cuts

Divisions in the Labour Party are emerging over plans to cut benefits for the long term sick and disabled

Politics

7 d. ago Asylum seekers should be forced to pay back the cost of housing them in hotels with 'student loan

The Tory leader will take the fight over immigration to Labour and Reform UK with an amendment to be tabled to the Government's Border Security Bill.

Society

8 d. ago ‘If you fall into the dialogue of the far right, the far right wins’: Spain’s deputy PM on the need for workers’ rights

Yolanda Díaz Pérez’s leftwing government has championed employment reform similar to Labour’s proposals – and she tells British business there is nothing to fearSpain’s leftwing deputy prime minister, Yolanda Díaz Pérez, has a message for Labour politicians as the UK government’s employment rights bill takes its next step to becoming law this week: take heart from our success.With business groups in the UK issuing dire warnings about the impact of the workers’ rights package, Díaz, the minister of labour and social economy, remembers her own government’s battle when it thrashed out radical labour laws that came into force in 2022. “We went through nine months of hell, literally. We had the press against it, academia, research centres – everybody was saying this was going to contribute to unemployment and not eradicate it,” she recalls. Continue reading...

Politics

9 d. ago Could Labour's reform proposals see more civil servants based in Scotland?

The UK Government is to set out proposals to reform the civil service.

Politics

1 week ago Scandal of the sick: Ill and disabled benefit claimants die waiting for vital payments

Exclusive: One man has been waiting for almost three years to receive the benefit and finally won a battle to be reassessed – but he’s still waiting

Events

1 week ago Government's £6billion benefits crackdown: Sick and disabled face huge cuts as Rachel Reeves scrambles to curb soaring welfare bill

Some £5billion of the savings will come from making it harder for people to qualify for Personal Independence Payments - a benefit designed to help with the extra costs caused by disabilities.

Economics

1 week ago New DWP plans to help thousands of sick and disabled people on benefits into work

DWP will provide additional support for around 65,000 sick and disabled people to help ‘unlock the benefits of work’.

Politics

1 week ago Women forced to face ‘significant’ risks because of inclusivity – Reform UK MP

Rupert Lowe told the Commons that safety and dignity should be prioritised over inclusivity and ‘wokery’.

Events

2 w. ago Councillor calls for local government reform follwoing budget setting process

The discussions came as part of the council's final budget setting process for the 2025-26 financial year

Politics

2 w. ago Councillor calls for local government reform following budget setting process

The discussions came as part of the council's final budget setting process for the 2025-26 financial year

Politics

2 w. ago Number of UK visas issued for work, study, family or resettlement falls by third

Visas issued for health and care workers and their families have tumbled by 68%.

Economics

3 w. ago Labour told to ‘deliver fast’ or risk losing support to Farage’s Reform UK

Roz Foyer, the general secretary of the Scottish Trades Union Congress, said voters are losing faith in traditional parties.

Events

3 w. ago Government unveils plans to reform clean power schemes to speed up transition

The proposals aim to speed up the rollout of new projects to help meet the UK’s clean power ambitions.

Politics

4 w. ago Nigel Farage says Tories ‘not on the right in any measurable way’ and calls Labour government ‘miserable’ – UK politics live

Leader of Reform UK criticises Conservatives and ‘declinist’ Labour government in new attacksGood morning, defence secretary John Healey has finished speaking, so I can take a quick pause and actually welcome you to our rolling coverage of UK politics for Tuesday. Here are the headlines Defence secretary John Healey has announced what he described as the most significant defence reform for 50 years, in which reporting lines and budgets will be simplified, and a new “quad” of four senior leaders reporting directly to the minister appointedHealy said there were extraordinary people in the UK’s defence forces, but too often they were hampered by process, and there was a lack of direct accountability. He suggested his changes might bring about up to £10bn in savings to the taxpayer over the next decadeTransport secretary Heidi Alexander has said the UK should not rule out sending troops to Ukraine as part of any future peacekeeping forceThe rate of UK unemployment remained unchanged at ...

Politics

4 w. ago Middle East crisis live: Lebanon says it will consider any remaining Israeli presence on its lands an occupation

Israeli forces remain in five points in Lebanon for what the IDF says is security purposes but Lebanese presidency says truce deal demands a full withdrawalBack to news coming out of Lebanon. The country’s new government will negotiate with the International Monetary Fund for a new programme and will work to deal with the country’s financial default and public debt, according a policy statement – seen by Reuters – that has been approved by the cabinet. It also said the government would work towards an economic recovery achieved primarily through the reform of the banking sector.Lebanon is still grappling with a crippling economic crisis, now in its sixth year, which destroyed its state electricity sector and left many in poverty unable to access their savings. The local currency lost much of its value and commercial banks severely restricted foreign currency withdrawals. Continue reading...

Events