Markus Andrews

The ex-Labour MP who drunkenly punched a constituent has blamed Sir Keir Starmer‘s winter fuel cuts for the party’s loss of the once safe seat he held. Mike Amesbury, who quit parliament after being convicted of assault, said Labour’s loss in Runcorn and Helsby last week was due to “some big political mistakes from the government”.“I sincerely hope Keir Starmer, the Labour prime minister, and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, not only listen, but learn and respond,” he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme. Asked whether he felt responsible for having sparked the by-election by attacking 45-year-old constituent Paul Fellows, he pointed to Labour’s losses elsewhere in what was a disastrous set of local election results. As well as losing Runcorn to Reform by just six votes, Labour lost 187 councillors across England. Mr Amesbury said: “The constituents of Durham or up and down the country did not vote how they did because of my mistake.” But the ex-MP expressed regret for the incident, saying: “I live that moment every day of my life. Of course I regret that, and if I could turn back the clock and change things that evening I would have done the right thing and walked away.” He added: “I’ve paid a price and I will learn from those mistakes. And politically I want this government to succeed.” And he warned the government must not continue making “political mistakes”, citing Sir Keir’s winter fuel cuts and cuts to disability benefits. In a plea to his former colleagues, Mr Amesbury added: “People on those benches, now is the time to say, you are not being disloyal, but say ‘come on now’ to the leadership, ‘just think again on this’.“If we are serious about having two terms of a Labour government transforming this country for the better, we have got to listen to the electorate and do the right thing.” Nigel Farage celebrated his party’s victory in Runcorn More

The fallout from last week’s bruising local elections has ignited fierce debate over Labour’s decision to cut winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners – a move many insiders believe played a decisive role in the party’s poor showing at the polls.Labour lost nearly two-thirds of its councillors and even surrendered one of its safest parliamentary seats in Runcorn and Helsby to Reform UK. On doorsteps across the country, the means-testing of winter fuel payments surfaced repeatedly as a key issue.Chancellor Rachel Reeves introduced the cuts shortly after Labour came to power, arguing they were necessary to help plug a £22bn black hole in the public finances. The government says the savings are being redirected to the NHS and schools, but critics warn the policy risks pushing over 100,000 pensioners into poverty.Now, pressure is mounting on Sir Keir Starmer to rethink the cuts, with Wes Streeting hinting at a U-turn. Other senior Labour figures, backbench MPs and local leaders have previously called for a reversal of the cuts, warning the party risks alienating core voters.So we’re asking: what should happen next with the winter fuel payments?Vote in our poll and share your thoughts in the comments below. More

Romania’s interim president appointed a new prime minister on Tuesday, a day after Marcel Ciolacu stepped down following the failure of his coalition’s candidate to make the runoff in a rerun of the presidential election.Ilie Bolojan signed a decree to appoint the serving interior minister, Catalin Predoiu of the National Liberal Party, to helm the government until a new one can be formed. The interim post can be held for a maximum of 45 days, during which they have limited executive powers.The shake-up comes after the coalition’s candidate, Crin Antonescu, came third in Sunday’s first round presidential vote, far behind top finisher hard-right nationalist George Simion and pro-Western reformist Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan.After casting his ballot on Sunday, the 56-year-old veteran politician Predoiu said he voted for a presidency that “will ensure balance, cooperation and dialogue in political life” and called it an “important moment for the whole country.”Romania held the rerun months after a top court annulled the previous race following allegations of electoral violations and Russian interference, which Moscow has denied. The unprecedented decision plunged Romania into its worst political crisis in decades.Sunday’s vote underscored strong anti-establishment sentiment among voters and signaled a power shift away from traditional mainstream parties. It also renewed the political uncertainty that has gripped the European Union and NATO member country.Ciolacu, who came third in last year’s voided presidential race, told reporters Monday outside the headquarters of his Social Democratic Party, or PSD, “Rather than let the future president replace me, I decided to resign myself.”He added that one aim of forming the coalition last December — after the failed election — was to field a common candidate to win the presidency. After Sunday’s result, he said the coalition now “lacks any credibility.” It is made up of the leftist PSD, the center-right National Liberal Party, the small ethnic Hungarian UDMR party and national minorities.Sunday’s vote was the second time in Romania’s post-communist history, including the voided election cycle, that the PSD party did not have a candidate in the second round of a presidential race.As in many EU countries, anti-establishment sentiment is running high in Romania, fueled by high inflation, a large budget deficit and a sluggish economy. Observers say the malaise has bolstered support for nationalist and far-right figures like Calin Georgescu, who won the first round in the canceled presidential election. He is under investigation and barred from the rerun.Simion, the 38-year-old frontrunner in Sunday’s vote and the leader of the Alliance for the Unity of Romanians, will face Dan in a runoff on May 18 that could reshape the country’s geopolitical direction.In 2019, Simion founded the AUR party, which rose to prominence in a 2020 parliamentary election by proclaiming to stand for “family, nation, faith and freedom.” It has since become Romania’s second-largest party in the legislature.Dan, a 55-year-old mathematician and former anti-corruption activist who founded the Save Romania Union party in 2016, ran on a pro-EU platform. He told the media early Monday that “a difficult second round lies ahead, against an isolationist candidate.” More

Reform UK will ban councils from flying Ukraine’s flag in support of the war-torn country, allowing only the union, county and St George’s flags on council buildings. Councils across the country have flown the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people. “No other flags will be permitted to be flown on its flagpoles, balconies, reception desks or council chamber walls,” chairman Zia Yusuf said. As well as banning the Ukraine flag, Reform’s plan would prevent councils from displaying pride flags. British and Ukraine flags fly side by side on many government buildings More

A newly elected councillor has quit Reform UK after she was suspended over a social media post just days after being elected. Donna Edmunds, who was elected in Hodnet in Shropshire, was suspended for writing on X, formerly Twitter, that she was planning to defect from the party after the local elections.Ms Edmunds on Sunday had written on the platform that she had been suspended from the party “pending an investigation”. She had previously posted about waiting for the party’s ousted MP Rupert Lowe to set up a challenger party “and then I will defect”. The row marked a chaotic start to life as a party of government for ReformWhen trying to quit the party, Ms Edmund found that her only option was to cancel the auto-renewal of her payment, so she technically will remain a member until the year is up. But she launched a tirade against Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, declaring that he “must never be prime minister” and is a “terrible leader”.She said: “A good leader knows that you bring your team with you, that you champion their successes as the team’s successes. “A bad leader claims personal credit for every win and stabs people in the back.” Ms Edmunds also said she no longer has to “watch what I say” and so called for the jailed far right activist Tommy Robinson to be freed from jail, describing him as a “political prisoner”. Her suspension and decision to quit the party just days after the local elections marks a chaotic start to Reform’s life as a party of government, having won control of ten councils as well as the mayoralties of Greater Lincolnshire and Hull and East Yorkshire. The party also came under fire on Monday for vowing to ban all flags from council buildings except the Union Jack and St George’s flag, meaning Ukraine and pride flags would be barred from being flown by public authorities. Reform was later forced to clarify that county flags would also be allowed. It also came as The Independent revealed Reform mayor Dame Andrea Jenkyns’ vow to get rid of council diversity officers as one of her first acts in Lincolnshire has fallen flat as the county council doesn’t employ any.And it emerged the party offers home working despite having vowed to put an end to working from home in local authorities it controls. A Reform UK spokesman said: “The reason for her suspension is that she posted on social media that she intended to defect to another party. We will not comment further until the completion of the investigation.”Mr Farage hailed the results as “the end of two-party politics” and “the death of the Conservative Party” as Reform picked up 10 councils and more than 600 seats in Thursday’s poll.As the Tories faced a Reform surge in the North and parts of the Midlands, the Lib Dems put the squeeze on their vote further south, gaining more than 100 councillors.Labour also suffered a devastating set of results, losing a by-election in one of its safest seats as well as 187 councillors. Ms Edmunds was asked to comment. More

Romanian Prime Minister Marcel Ciolacu announced his resignation on Monday, a day after the governing coalition’s joint candidate failed to advance to the runoff in the European Union country’s critical presidential election rerun.The coalition’s candidate, Crin Antonescu, finished third in Sunday’s first round vote, putting him narrowly behind Bucharest Mayor Nicusor Dan, and far behind hard-right nationalist George Simion — who decisively took first place.“Rather than let the future president replace me, I decided to resign myself,” Ciolacu, who came third in last year’s annulled presidential election, told reporters after a meeting at the headquarters of his Social Democratic Party, or PSD. Before the meeting Monday, Ciolacu stated that one of the conditions of forming the coalition last December was to field a common candidate to win the presidency. More

Reform UK will ban councils from flying Ukraine’s flag in support of the war-torn country, allowing only the Union flag, county flags and St George’s flags on council buildings. Councils across the country have flown the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people. “No other flags will be permitted to be flown on its flagpoles, balconies, reception desks or council chamber walls,” chairman Zia Yusuf said. As well as banning the Ukraine flag, Reform’s plan would prevent councils displaying pride flags. British and Ukraine flags fly side by side on many government buildings More

Tory MPs will hold meetings this week to discuss how to remove their leader, Kemi Badenoch, as panic grows over the future of the party following Reform’s success in the local elections.Two senior backbenchers have confirmed to The Independent that they are calling meetings with fellow parliamentarians to discuss ousting the Conservative Party leader.“We cannot continue as we are and she [Ms Badenoch] is just not up to the task,” one of the MPs said.The moves come after the Tories lost 15 councils and 674 seats last week in devastating results which put the future of the party at risk. At the same time, Nigel Farage declared his party has now taken the place of the Conservatives as the main opposition to Labour as it won 676 seats and overall control of 10 councils.One Conservative MP said: “These results were actually worse than last year’s general election. We have somehow gone backwards.”Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives suffered a heavy defeat on Thursday, losing hundreds of councillors and control of 15 councils (Jacob King/PA) More