Markus Andrews

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseReform UK supporters have been offered paid tours of parliament in an apparent breach of House of Commons rules, it has emerged.Nigel Farage’s party has emailed some activists offering tours with an MP for up to £300 as part of a fundraising drive.Rules for MPs explicitly forbid the offering of access in exchange for payment.In 2020, Green Party former MP Caroline Lucas was found to have breached parliamentary rules by giving a tour of the Commons in exchange for a £150 contribution to a fundraising campaign.She apologised for the “completely unintentional” breach and said the money had been returned.After becoming aware of Reform’s apparent breach, the right-wing party is offering a refund to those who purchased the tickets.A party spokesman said the ticketholders had been given refunds More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseAlex Salmond has died having failed to achieve just two of his great ambitions – make Scotland an independent country, and judge the annual Tartan B*****s contest for the worst Scottish political story of the year, held at the strictly private Christmas dinner for Holyrood hacks.The first he almost achieved in 2014, the second he begged each year to be allowed admittance to, when he hosted festive curry nights for journalists at the first minister’s residence Bute House. It suited his tastes for revenge and humiliating others.My first memory of meeting Salmond involved walking down Union Street in Aberdeen in 2007 and watching as people ran out of shops to come and shake his hand and talk to him.The only other two British politicians I have witnessed receiving such adulation were Boris Johnson and Nigel Farage, who in many ways shared the populist ingredients to change the UK story. Salmond brought the SNP to power and almost delivered independence, Farage delivered Brexit and destroyed the Tories.Alex Salmond speaks at a North Macedonia conference hours before his death More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseBritain’s top pollster has warned that the Conservatives cannot win whether Robert Jenrick or Kemi Badenoch ends up winning the Tory leadership contest.Professor Sir John Curtice described the pair, battling it out in the last stage of the race to succeed Rishi Sunak, as “unknown quantities” who do not have what it takes to turn the party’s fortunes around.“In short, despite their ideological stance, neither Ms Badenoch nor Mr Jenrick is necessarily well set to heal the electoral divide on the right,” he wrote in a damning article for The Independent.Robert Jenrick has painted himself as the serious candidate in the race More

Conservative Party leadership candidate Robert Jenrick would make Jacob Rees-Mogg Tory party chairman More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseThe business secretary has slapped down his cabinet colleague Louise Haigh for attacking a major ferry operator on the eve of Sir Keir Starmer’s investment summit.Jonathan Reynolds said the transport secretary was not speaking for the government when she dubbed P&O Ferries a “rogue operator” and called for the firm to be boycotted.It followed a 24-hour scramble in Downing Street after P&O’s owner threatened to pull a £1bn investment in a new Thames freeport – timed to coincide with the crucial summit – in response to the transport secretary’s remarks.Labour is trying to drum up investment into the UK to help kickstart the sluggish economy. Business and Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds slapped down Louise Haigh over the comments More

Former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond dies aged 69Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseTributes have poured in for the longtime Scottish first minister Alex Salmond after his sudden death aged 69 shocked the world of politics in which he was a senior figure for decades.The current Alba leader passed away on Saturday afternoon at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy Forum in the North Macedonia lake-resort town of Ohrid, the party’s general secretary Chris McEleny confirmed.He had made a speech at the event, and the party said it understood he suffered a heart attack at lunch in a crowded room, although there will be a post-mortem examination to confirm the cause of death.Mr Salmond served as first minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014 and was leader of the Scottish National Party on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014, with contemporaries from across the political spectrum expressing their condolences.British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer led the tributes, describing Mr Salmond as a “monumental figure of Scottish and UK politics” for more than 30 years.Former first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon paid tribute to her “mentor”, while Scotland’s current first minister John Swinney said Mr Salmond “fought fearlessly” for Scottish independence.Alba Party deputy leader Kenny MacAskill said the party “grieves the loss of their founder and leader”.Show latest update 1728784800Salmond said he was unsure if his relationship with Sturgeon could ever be mendedAlex Salmond said he was unsure if his relationship with Nicola Sturgeon could ever be mended.Speaking in a BBC documentary, Salmond And Sturgeon: A Troubled Union, which was broadcast last month, he said: “I don’t really do hurt feelings very much … but it’s a big regret that Nicola and I are no longer on speaking terms.”Reflecting on her relationship with Mr Salmond and its breakdown, Ms Sturgeon said he was “for a long time, a very positive force in my life”, adding: “But I think I had to learn how to be myself.”Nicola Sturgeon with Alex Salmond while on the general election campaign trail in Inverurie in the Gordon constituency More