67 m. ago Top Farage aide hints Conservatives could merge with Reform UK post

Gawain Towler also hinted Reform will have an open-door policy to Tory defectors

Politics

70 m. ago Tories promise young people a £5,000 ‘first job bonus’ and defend overseas aid spending cuts: Politics live

Shadow chancellor set out plan for cuts if party wins next election

Economics

79 m. ago Tories to ditch business rates for pubs and shops if they win election

Sir Mel Stride made the commitment as he addressed the Conservative Party conference

Politics

96 m. ago Tories promise young people a £5,000 ‘first job bonus’ and defend oversees aid spending cuts: Politics live

Shadow chancellor set out plan for cuts if party wins next election

Economics

97 m. ago ‘First job bonus’ worth £5k planned for young people, Stride tells Tory conference – UK politics live

Shadow chancellor sets out spending plans as party conference continues in ManchesterMel Stride, the shadow chancellor, was doing an interview round for the Conservatives this morning, and Miatta Fahnbulleh, the faith and communities minister, was on the air on behalf of the government. They were both asked about the latest development in the flag phenomenon – the former footballer turned property developer Gary Neville saying that he took down a union flag flying at one of his building sites because he felt it was being used in a “negative fashion”.Asked if Neville (a Labour supporter) had a point, Fahnbulleh told ITV’s Good Morning Britain:I think he’s really right, that there are people who are trying to divide us at the moment I spent a lot of time going around our communities, talking to people. People are ground down. We’ve had a decade-and-a-half in which living standards haven’t budged and people have seen their communities held down. And you will get people trying to stoke ...

Politics

1 hour ago Tories must ‘hold nerve’ amid dire polls, says Mel Stride as he makes big announcement on business rates

The shadow chancellor insisted the Conservative Party could bounce back at the next election

Politics

3 h. ago Politics latest: Tories bid to counter Farage with threat to strip migrants of right to claim benefits

Shadow chancellor to set out plan for cuts if party wins next election

Events

7 h. ago Don’t despair, Tories: look upon Reform and see your rightful and fitting legacy | Nesrine Malik

If Kemi Badenoch wonders why her party conference looks and feels like a sideshow, perhaps she should reflect on the Conservatives’ 14 years in powerI believe it is good practice as a columnist to keep track of when you have been wrong, and the thing I have got most emphatically wrong over the past few years is the Conservative party’s prospects. I was convinced that the party that still won elections despite the chaos and instability of Brexit, not to mention the calamities of austerity, could get away with anything. I even believed that if it lost power, as it did last year, the risk of a Tory restoration was still very high.What I did not foresee was the most successful political party in the democratic world, by some measures, coming so close to extinction this quickly. As the Tory party conference gets under way in Manchester, with rumours abounding over the weekend about diminished attendance, the polling increasingly suggests that Britain’s next general election will be a con...

Politics

12 h. ago The Conservative party needs to pull its socks up, says leading Tory mayor

The Conservative leader has launched a policy blitz this week to coincide with her party's annual conference.

Politics

12 h. ago Tory plans to further cut foreign aid would be ‘epic act of self

Bond chief executive Romilly Greenhill said she is ‘deeply concerned’ to hear the Conservatives plan to further cut aid.

Politics

13 h. ago Labour is ‘complicit’ in abuse towards Jewish community, says Priti Patel

The shadow foreign secretary told Conservative Party members on Sunday evening that Labour has lost ‘any moral purpose’.

Events

13 h. ago Kevin Maguire: 'Kemi Badenoch's Nigel Farage tribute act will crash Tory party'

Kevin Maguire argues that the Conservative Party veering further to the right, and into Reform UK territory, is an act of blind panic that could cost the Conversative Party even more votes

Events

15 h. ago Lib Dems will ‘almost undoubtedly’ win more votes than Tories, says top pollster John Curtice

Sir John Curtice made the stark warning at a fringe event at the Conservative party conference

Politics

15 h. ago Lib Dems will ‘almost undoubtedly’ win more seats than Tories, says top pollster John Curtice

Sir John Curtice made the stark warning at a fringe event at the Conservative party conference

Politics

17 h. ago Badenoch warned plans to ditch ECHR is ‘death wish’ for Tory party

Conservative leader has taken her party to the hard right with the announcement they would leave the European Convention on Human Rights and deport 150,000 illegal immigrants a year

Events

18 h. ago Badenoch says Tories open to quitting more treaties to increase deportations

Party leader uses conference speech to outline proposal for UK to exit ECHR as part of wider bonfire of protectionsA future Tory government would be open to dismantling more treaties as a means to deport people from the UK, Kemi Badenoch has said at the start of a Conservative party conference focused almost exclusively on immigration policy.Making the first of two addresses to the gathering in Manchester, the Tory leader formally set out her proposal for the UK to quit the European convention on human rights (ECHR) as part of a wider bonfire of protections including an end to legal aid in immigration and asylum cases and the right to take migration decisions to tribunals or judicial review. Continue reading...

Politics

21 h. ago SNP has turned Scotland into a 'laboratory for weird and wacky policies', says Russell Findlay

Russell Findlay said the SNP had “embraced every madcap idea known to man and woman” during his speech at the Conservative Party Conference in Manchester.

Events

22 h. ago Tory conference 2025 live: Badenoch donor defects to Farage’s Reform ahead of her conference speech

Conservative leader set to announce series of hardline policies on first day of party conference including special task force to deport 750,000 illegal immigrants

Politics

22 h. ago ‘Difficult times’ for Tories, says Russell Findlay, as he focuses on economy

The Scottish Tory Party leader spoke at the Scottish fringe at the UK Conservative conference where he said the party would focus on the economy,

Politics

24 h. ago UK politics live: Badenoch claims deportation plan is credible – but can’t say where 150,000 migrants a year will go

Tory leader calls question ‘irrelevant’ as she is set to announce series of hardline policies on first day of Conservative Party conference

Politics