Markus Andrews

Nigel Farage has had his taxpayer-funded security slashed, according to Reform UK, forcing party donors to step in. Zia Yusuf, Reform’s head of policy, said the parliamentary security department has cut the ex-Ukip leader’s protection by three-quarters in the last two weeks for “inexplicable reasons”. The row erupted just hours after Mr Farage claimed Keir Starmer had “incited violence” by describing a Reform policy as “racist”. Mr Yusuf told Times Radio: “Two weeks ago, the authorities cut Nigel’s security detail by 75 per cent, and then we have seen the most extraordinary 48 hours of demonisation, and I’m going to say it again, incitement to violence against the man who is the bookmakers’ favourite to be the next prime minister.”He said donors had stepped up to cover.He said: “The claim I’m making is exactly what has happened, which is that it is the parliamentary security department that is responsible for security in both houses that frankly for what I can tell, for inexplicable reasons, has decided to materially downgrade Nigel Farage’s security. Those are the facts of the matter.”It comes after David Lammy claimed Mr Farage “flirted with Hitler Youth”, which Mr Yusuf said made the situation with his security “even worse”.The deputy prime minister’s comments appeared to reference allegations that emerged in 2013 that Mr Farage had sung Nazi songs as a teenager, which he denied at the time. On Sunday, as he kicked off his party’s annual conference in Liverpool, Sir Keir Starmer described Reform’s policy to scrap indefinite leave to remain as “racist” and “immoral”.Zia Yusuf claims Reform donors have had to ‘step in’ to cover security for Farage More

Ed Miliband has told Elon Musk to “get the hell out of our politics and our country” in a dramatic intervention on the main stage of the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.The energy secretary’s criticism of the tech billionaire came as part of a wider attack on Reform leader Nigel Farage, who he claimed is part of a “global network who together want to destroy the ties that bind our communities and our way of life”. It comes after Elon Musk drew condemnation from Downing Street for telling demonstrators at a London rally organised by Tommy Robinson to “fight back” or “die”.“The threat from Reform goes beyond their climate denying agenda,” Mr Miliband said in a speech on the final day of the Labour Party conference. Miliband issued a dramatic intervention on Elon Musk on the final day of the Labour conference More

Sir Keir Starmer has announced a dramatic U-turn over international human rights laws that have been criticised for making it harder to deport asylum seekers.The prime minister said the government will review the way British courts apply the controversial European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), which could mean asylum seekers are no longer able to avoid being sent back to their home country by claiming they could face torture as a result.And they may be barred from demanding the right to stay in the UK on the grounds that it would separate them from their families.The announcement marks another major policy reversal by Sir Keir, a former human rights lawyer, who has defended the ECHR in the past and comes as the prime minister steps up his attacks on Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, dubbing the small boats he is trying to stop crossing the English Channel “Farage boats”.Charities and human rights campaigners attacked Sir Keir over the planned changes, warning that the prime minister risked turning “from a human rights lawyer to a human rights shredder”. And Liberty director Akiko Hart said any changes were “unlikely to make a material difference to migration figures and risk setting us on a path to undermining the rights of every person in Britain”. But the chairman of Migration Watch UK, Alp Mehmet, said Sir Keir’s comments are “meaningless and suggest nothing will happen”.In an interview with the BBC, Sir Keir denied he is “tearing up” the ECHR but stated: “We need to look again at the interpretation of some of these provisions and we have already begun to do that work in some of our domestic legislation.”He said the review concerns Articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR concerning “cruel and inhumane treatment” in an asylum seeker’s home country and the “right to a family life”.The government is also reviewing other conventions relating to “refugees, torture and children’s rights”, he said.“All international instruments have to be applied in circumstances as they are now,” the prime minister said. “We are seeing mass migration in a way we have not seen in previous years. Those genuinely fleeing persecution should be afforded asylum – that is a compassionate act, but we need to look again at the interpretation of some of those provisions – not tear them down but look at the interpretation.”Starmer has said he will review the way courts apply the European Convention on Human Rights More

Reform will “betray” every young person and future generations by waging a war on clean energy, Ed Miliband is expected to say.The Energy Secretary will announce a host of initiatives aimed at bringing energy bills down and boosting green jobs during his speech at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool on Wednesday.But he will also use his speech to attack Reform leaders who said they would “declare war” on green energy projects, which are being championed nationwide by the Labour government.It comes as Labour have been drawing battle lines at the conference to take on Reform, who they are trailing in the polls.Mr Miliband is expected to say: “What is so exciting about clean energy is that it can answer that call for a different kind of economy … run for working people.“It offers the biggest opportunity for job creation for decades. Skilled jobs in proud professions.“And behind these statistics is the potential for each and every one of these jobs to change the lives of working people and their communities,” he will add.“Reform would wreck everything we are doing. They’ve said they would ‘wage war’ on clean energy.“Let’s spell out what this war means. A war on the workers at the Siemens wind turbine factory in Hull. A war on the construction workers building carbon capture and storage in Teesside. A war on the working people of Britain.“Reform’s war on the future would betray every young person in our country and every person yet to be born.”Ed Miliband will slam Reform’s policy on green energy in his speech More

Sir Keir Starmer has vowed Labour will never surrender Britain to Reform UK as he came out fighting to defend his government’s record and attack Nigel Farage’s fake patriotism.In an impassioned 54-minute speech at the Labour conference in Liverpool on Tuesday the prime minister pledged to defend British flags from the far right after a summer in which they became the focus of culture wars.And he outlined his vision for the country based on a “true patriotic” agenda that rejects Nigel Farage’s claim that Britain is broken.Keir Starmer said Nigel Farage ‘doesn’t believe in Britain’ More

Rachel Reeves is expected to lift the controversial two-child benefit limit in November’s Budget, as officials look at a number of options – including a “tapered” system. The chancellor is under intense pressure to scrap the “cruel” policy, brought in by Tory chancellor George Osborne, which campaigners say would be the biggest single measure that could take children out of poverty.The government has set up a taskforce on child poverty, and the chancellor has said she expects to respond to its recommendations when she unveils her Budget in November. The chancellor is under intense pressure to scrap the policy More

The Labour Party conference in Liverpool is drawing to a close, with Sir Keir Starmer having given his main stage address on Tuesday afternoon. From delegates voting to demand ministers act to prevent “the commission of a genocide in Gaza” to Sadiq Khan joking about sharia law and Hugh Grant being barred from an event for failing to RSVP, these are the things you may have missed throughout the four-day congress ahead of its closing day on Wednesday. Sir Keir Starmer delivers his main stage address at the Labour conference More