11 h. ago Number 10 rejects ‘dictator’ claims amid row over mayoral election delay

Critics have accused Labour of ‘cancelling democracy’ after the Government suggested four votes could be pushed back to 2028.

Politics

12 h. ago Starmer warned he will ‘squander trust’ with mayoral elections delay

Former local government minister Jim McMahon has hit out at the decision to postpone mayoral elections after Reform compared the PM to a dictator

Events

12 h. ago Starmer's House of cronies could erase dissent within TWO YEARS: Warning that plot to fill Lords with Labour loyalists will allow PM to trample opposition after fight over workers' rights

The PM has been hit by fresh cronyism accusations amid reports he will ennoble party advisers and staffers to strengthen Labour's presence in the House of Lords.

Events

13 h. ago Mayoral elections delay confirmed by minister amid ‘affront to democracy’ claims

Local Government Secretary Steve Reed said the Government is ‘minded’ to push mayoral elections in four areas planned for next year back to 2028.

Politics

13 h. ago Nigel Farage to hold mystery emergency press conference to address the UK today

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has branded Labour 'despots' as he prepares to set out his party's opposition strategy to postponed mayoral elections in Essex, Norfolk, Suffolk and Hampshire

Politics

26 h. ago Labour expected to postpone mayoral elections by two years amid continued Reform poll lead

The Independent has seen briefing notes from officials suggesting that mayoral elections will postponed from 2026 to 2028

Politics

37 h. ago ‘The Mamdani effect’: wealthy New Yorkers show renewed interest in Miami’s Billionaire’s Beach

Sales spike at the Ritz-Carlton, Four Seasons and Cipriani as luxury buyers weigh moves from ManhattanThere is a short stretch of prime waterfront real estate in Miami that has come to be known as Billionaire’s Beach. It contains a mix of famous old art deco hotels such as the Delano and Raleigh, both undergoing extensive upmarket refurbishments, and the construction of exclusive new residential tower blocks with high-end apartments running into the tens of millions.It is here on the sun-filled shores of South Beach, more than a thousand miles from the chills of a Manhattan winter, where realtors and developers are beginning to see the first shoots of what they call the “Mamdani effect”: the predicted exodus of wealthy New Yorkers in the wake of socialist democrat Zohran Mamdani’s election as mayor. Continue reading...

Society

59 h. ago DWP chief paves the way for more benefit cuts as Starmer warned over spending

The OBR projects that Labour has added £11bn on to public spending – largely to pay for welfare reversals

Events

3 d. ago China is a ‘real national security threat’ to UK, Starmer warns – in wake of spying concerns

SIR Keir Starmer has warned that China poses “real national security threats to the United Kingdom”, tightening his stance as tensions rise over alleged espionage attempts targeting Westminster. Speaking at the historic Guildhall, the Prime Minister said Britain could no longer afford years of “blowing hot and cold” on China, urging a clearer and more...

Events

3 d. ago China poses 'a national security threat to the UK', Sir Keir Starmer warns

In his annual Guildhall speech on foreign policy, the Prime Minister argued that failing to engage with the world's second largest economy was 'a dereliction of duty'.

Events

3 d. ago How progressives are taking over swing states – and driving fear into Democratic elites

Left-leaning challengers in the Rust belt are throwing chaos into a divided party struggling to rebuild after Trump’s winIn the run-up to last month’s mayoral election in Dayton, Ohio, candidate Shenise Turner-Sloss found herself up against it.Her opponent, mayor Jeffrey Mims, was a 78-year-old local Democratic party doyen who had served on school boards and teachers’ unions in the city for decades. His campaign budget was three times hers and an incumbent hadn’t been unseated from the mayoral role in the city for over a decade. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago The US love of football is reaching new levels. Just look at Arsenal super

The New York mayor-elect’s devotion to a north London club shows how the global game is winning hearts across the USBryan Armen Graham is the deputy sport editor of Guardian USWhen Zohran Mamdani made an appearance on The Adam Friedland Show last week, the newly elected mayor of New York was expecting the typical nimble rundown of politics, jokes and conversational detours. What he wasn’t expecting was Ian Wright suddenly filling a phone screen with a congratulatory video. The former England and Arsenal striker saluted him on “what you’ve achieved”, urged him to channel that “winning energy” into the job ahead before signing off with a nod to the Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta. Mamdani cheesed guilelessly as it played before finally blurting out: “I love this man.”For a moment, the incoming mayor of the most powerful city in the United States was simply another geeked-out Arsenal obsessive left weak by one of his childhood heroes. And in that moment lies something revealing about how...

Sport

4 d. ago Reeves drags Starmer into Budget lie chaos and says he approved her false warnings that justified monster tax raid

Amid rising fury at the way she softened up the public for monster tax hikes, Rachel Reeves initially dodged a straight question before insisting she had not lied.

Events

7 d. ago Former Townsville mayor Troy Thompson found to have misled voters about cancer diagnosis and military history

Report by Queensland’s Crime and Corruption Commission says Thompson leaked confidential council documents to an unnamed ‘adviser’Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastThe former Townsville mayor Troy Thompson misled the electorate about a cancer diagnosis, his military history and university qualifications, according to a report by the Crime and Corruption Commission.The CCC also found that, as mayor, Thompson leaked numerous confidential documents to an unnamed “adviser”, sending them 8,741 encrypted WhatsApp messages in a five-month period. Continue reading...

Events

7 d. ago Starmer forced to deny breaking Labour manifesto as experts sound dire warning over Budget plans

Damning assessment came as chancellor and prime minister forced to defend plans and insist they did not breach manifesto promises

Events

7 d. ago Budget 2025 live: IFS warn Rachel Reeves she is ‘disincentivising growth’ after Starmer defends tax rises

Reeves admits Budget will mean working people will have to ‘contribute a bit more’ - but denies breaking manifesto pledge

Events

8 d. ago Mamdani reveals the strangest thing he saw in Trump’s Oval Office: ‘I had no idea’

New York City mayor-elect reflects on surprisingly friendly visit with President Donald Trump last week

Politics

8 d. ago Slow Poison by Mahmood Mamdani review – can you really rehabilitate Idi Amin?

The anthropologist and father of New York’s mayor-elect offers a revisionist view of modern Ugandan historyChildren of Ugandan Indians are having a bit of a moment. Electropop boasts Charlie XCX; statecraft, the Patels: Priti the shadow foreign secretary, Kash the FBI boss. And while the ones who go into politics have tended to be conservative, we now have a counterexample in Zohran Mamdani, the democratic socialist who clinched the New York mayoralty at the beginning of this month.The anomaly is best explained by the politics of his father, Mahmood Mamdani. The apple, it seems, did not roll especially far down the postcolonial hillside. Mahmood, professor of government and anthropology at Columbia University, has long styled himself as the left’s answer to VS Naipaul. Where the Nobel-winning curmudgeon surveyed postcolonial Africa with disdain, revelling in the wreckage of independence, Mamdani presents a more forgiving view: pathos instead of pity, paradox instead o...

Politics

9 d. ago Seth Meyers on Trump’s meeting with Mamdani: ‘I’ve never seen Trump this smitten before’

Late-night hosts reacted to the president’s surprisingly friendly Oval Office meeting with New York’s mayor-electLate-night hosts discussed Donald Trump’s strangely friendly meeting with New York’s mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani. Continue reading...

Politics

1 week ago Mamdani reiterates Trump is a ‘fascist’ just days after cordial meeting

New York mayor-elect reaffirms past criticisms of president after agreeing to work with him on cost-of-living concernsZohran Mamdani has reiterated his view that Donald Trump is a “fascist” and a “despot” just days after the pair had a surprisingly cordial meeting at the White House.Speaking to NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday, the New York City mayor-elect was asked if he still considered Trump a threat to democracy. “Everything that I’ve said in the past I continue to believe,” Mamdani replied. “I think it is important in our politics that we don’t shy away from where we have disagreements.” Continue reading...

Politics