Markus Andrews

Home secretary dismisses Starmer leadership speculation as ‘Westminster bubble tittle tattle’The home secretary has said she will end the UK’s “golden ticket” for asylum seekers as part of a major immigration crackdown which she claims will prevent division in Britain. Shabana Mahmood has outlined a raft of radical measures, including introducing a 20-year wait for those who arrive in Britain by means such as small boats or lorries to qualify for a permanent stay. But her big announcement, which will be finalised in the Commons on Monday, has been overshadowed once again by Labour leadership rumours after a turbulent week for the government involving anonymous briefings about an alleged coup against Sir Keir Starmer. Ms Mahmood described the row, which centred around disputed claims that Wes Streeting is vying to be prime minister, as “deeply mortifying” and referred to it as a “tittle tattle”.It comes after allies of former deputy leader Angela Rayner were forced to deny claims she is eyeing up a leadership bid after she said she had “not gone away” when asked about a return to frontline politics.SNP says the government’s asylum policy is ‘outrageous’ The SNP has called the government’s changes to asylum policy “outrageous”.Instead, the Scottish party said the government should focus on “helping people with rising costs and investing properly in public services,” Sky News reported. Pete Wishart, the SNP’s deputy leader in the Commons, said: “It is outrageous that Labour is considering kicking people out who have been in the country for up to 20 years.”That would mean families torn apart, communities destabilised, and people denied the chance to contribute – and Labour can’t even offer reassurance to Ukrainians who have become part of every community across the country.”Pete Wishart called the government’s changes to asylum policy “outrageous”. (PA) More

Sending BBC licence fee money “over to Mar-a-Lago” would not be a “smart” thing to do, the shadow home secretary has said after Donald Trump threatened to sue the corporation for up to $5bn. Chris Philp said he believed the president is the “wronged party” in his battle with BBC, but that he did not think that using licence fee money to settle the matter would be a good idea. Mr Trump told reporters on Air Force One over the weekend that he would sue the corporation for “anywhere between $1bn and $5bn probably sometime next week”.His comments followed an apology from the BBC on Thursday in which it said the Panorama edit of Mr Trump’s Capitol speech on 6 January 2021 had given the “mistaken impression that President Trump had made a direct call for violent action”.The broadcaster apologised and said the splicing of the speech was an “error of judgment” but refused to pay financial compensation after the US president’s lawyers threatened to sue for $1bn in damages unless a retraction and apology were published.Donald Trump has indicated that he will speak to Keir Starmer about the potential legal action More

A cross-party group of MPs has warned that the government risks missing both its housing and nature targets under proposed reforms.The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) found measures in the Planning and Infrastructure Bill, currently before Parliament, are insufficient to meet either goal. The EAC’s report, published on Sunday, argued nature is not a “blocker” to housing but essential for resilient neighbourhoods.The committee also concluded that without addressing skills shortages in ecology, planning, and construction, the government will miss its housebuilding goal.The Bill overrides existing habitat and nature protections, which the government has suggested to be a barrier to its target to build 1.5 million houses by the end of this Parliament as well as wider economic growth.Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves have previously argued that current nature rules have gone too far, often citing the example of a £100 million bat tunnel for the construction of the HS2 railway route.The government wants to build 1.5 million homes by the end of this Parliament More

Asylum seekers could lose their automatic right to housing and financial support under Labour’s radical immigration crackdown.Home secretary Shabana Mahmood will indicate a move away from EU law as she announces plans to scrap the UK’s statutory duty to provide support to asylum seekers – with migrants also facing stricter requirements to receive and retain benefits. It is part of a major overhaul of the immigration system, inspired by the Danish model, and comes as Labour battles to restore public trust in the asylum system to see off the threat of a Reform UK government. But Ms Mahmood may face objections from some Labour backbenchers, with immigration reform seen as a divisive issue within the party. Ahead of a speech by the home secretary laying out the reforms on Monday, the Home Office said that support will “no longer be a given” for asylum seekers, vowing that automatic handouts for those seeking refuge “will end”. The announcement is being billed by the government as the largest overhaul of asylum policy in modern times and a move to “restore order” to the rules. Shabana Mahmood will give a speech laying out the reforms on Monday More

The decision to rip up plans for the Budget has left Keir Starmer even further “weakened” and more likely to face an imminent bid to oust him, Labour MPs have claimed.Ministers and backbenchers reacted with despair to news that plans to hike income tax had been abandoned, claiming that is showed “nobody is in charge” of the government.The Independent has been told that supporters of health secretary Wes Streeting still want him to replace Sir Keir in a coronation to get the Labour government back on track. One MP said the U-turn made a coup more likely while a minister described the PM’s position as “weakened”. It is being claimed that Downing Street overruled the Treasury over the planned income tax rise in a bid to buy Sir Keir time and see off an attempted coup.But the move may have backfired again with one senior minister complaining: “It has just added to the sense of directionlessness.” Another minister said: “It feels like nobody is in charge any more.”Morgan McSweeney More

Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to fire his Downing Street chief of staff by former Labour home secretary David Blunkett.Lord Blunkett said the prime minister should dismiss his top adviser Morgan McSweeney and replace him with someone who can “manage people well”.The intervention by Lord Blunkett comes days after anonymous briefings by unnamed Downing Street sources claimed that health secretary Wes Streeting was plotting to replace the prime minister.Mr Streeting denied the allegation and said it was proof of a “toxic culture” in No 10.Sir Keir apologised to Mr Streeting. He later said he had been assured the briefings “didn’t come from Downing Street”, adding: “I will absolutely deal with anybody responsible for briefing against ministers, cabinet ministers or any other ministers.” Lord Blunkett said: “If I was Keir Starmer I would say to Morgan McSweeney, ‘You have got great skills, you helped enormously with me in building a winning team before the election. Now is the time for me to find you another role that you are good at and I will bring in someone with the overall experience that we need to be the chief of staff’.”He went on: “It is a particular role – it is about knowing about government and having been in a senior position where you have had to not only run the show but manage people well. It is not rocket science but it is a particular skill.”Mr McSweeney has been blamed by some within Labour for the fallout from the attacks on Mr Streeting, which were an apparent ploy to warn off potential leadership contenders.The prime minister has also faced calls to sack Mr McSweeney over the row. But sources who have spoken to Mr McSweeney told the BBC on Thursday he would remain in his post.They said: “He’s done absolutely nothing wrong. He’s not going anywhere.” They added: “I can categorically say he was not involved indirectly or directly.”Speaking to the Newsagents podcast, Lord Blunkett said if the government did not improve its performance it would pave the way for Nigel Farage to take power.He said: “We will be in serious trouble if we don’t get our act together, because the opinion polls are awful and the feeling of bewilderment in the electorate is palpable.”The unrest at the top of the party comes as Labour’s poll ratings have plummeted since Sir Keir delivered a landslide general election victory in July 2024.It precedes Rachel Reeves’s 26 November Budget, in which the party could rip up its manifesto promise not to increase income tax, and what MPs fear could be a bloodbath in elections next May in English councils and the Scottish and Welsh parliaments. More

Sir Keir Starmer has been urged to intervene in the row between Donald Trump and the BBC after the US President ramped up threats to sue the corporation.Speaking to reporters on board Air Force One on Friday night, Mr Trump said he would sue the corporation for “anywhere between 1 billion dollars (£759.8 million) and 5 billion dollars (£3.79 billion), probably sometime next week” after the BBC apologised over the Panorama speech edit. Mr Trump also said that Sir Keir had asked to speak to him, and indicated that they would talk over the weekend. The prime minister has now been urged to “demand” that Mr Trump “drops his ludicrous lawsuit” with the BBC, with Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey saying Sir Keir has a moment to “stand up for Britain”. He said on Saturday: “This is Keir Starmer’s moment to stand up for Britain, for every TV licence fee payer in the country and for a free press that can hold the powerful to account.“When he speaks to Trump, Keir Starmer must demand that he drops his ludicrous lawsuit and stops interfering in our country. “The prime minister has spent months cosying up to the president. If he can’t stop him attacking one of our most precious institutions and hitting millions of licence fee payers in the pocket, what was it all for?”The BBC apologized, admitting that editing the speech in a documentary by its show Panorama was an ‘error of judgment’ More