Markus Andrews

Britain’s former national security adviser has become the latest senior civil servant to raise questions about Sir Keir Starmer’s explanation for the collapse of a case against two alleged Chinese spies. Lord Sedwill, who held the post between 2017 and 2020 and has also served as cabinet secretary, said he found the prime minister’s position “very hard to understand”. He said “of course China is a national security threat to the UK”, directly, digitally, through espionage and through the country’s “aggressive” behaviour in the South China Sea. “I’m genuinely puzzled, to put it politely, about the basis on which this trial has fallen apart. We introduced the National Security Act because the Official Secrets Act was not fit for purpose,” he told The Crisis Room podcast.Mark Sedwill raised questions about Keir Starmer’s explanation of the collapsed case More

Withdrawing the UK from the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), once a fringe idea, has become a defining issue for political parties. Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, who previously opposed leaving, has now said the Conservatives will take the UK out of the convention if they win an election.Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has arguably made an ECHR exit central to its political identity. Even the Labour government has said it could reform the convention, or change how UK courts interpret the law.The case for leaving is often framed as one of “sovereignty”, particularly in relation to immigration laws and deportation powers.Politicians argue that the Strasbourg-based European Court of Human Rights, which enforces the ECHR, overrides “the will of the British people” and that democratic legitimacy demands withdrawal.But evidence shows that “the people” don’t actually want to leave.Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has arguably made an ECHR exit central to its political identity More

Nigel Farage is set to meet the billionaire owner of Manchester United before Christmas as Reform UK doubles down on its drive to woo business chiefs. The Reform leader will try to win over Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the founder of chemicals giant Ineos, who has amassed an estimated fortune of around £20bn.Sir Jim, who has been a fierce critic of Britain’s net zero drive, which Mr Farage and Reform also oppose, disclosed details of the meeting on a podcast. The Reform leader requested the meeting More

Sir Keir Starmer’s former top civil servant has questioned the prime minister’s explanation of how the case against two alleged Chinese spies collapsed. Simon Case, who served as cabinet secretary between July 2020 and December 2024, challenged Sir Keir’s assertion that the government’s hands were tied by the previous Conservative government’s stance on whether China was officially a threat. The director of public prosecutions, Stephen Parkinson, said this week that a trial involving two men – a former parliamentary researcher and an academic – accused of spying on behalf of China collapsed after the government refused to brand Beijing a threat to national security.Simon Case served as cabinet secretary between 2020 and 2024 More

Cabinet ministers have been warned they will no longer be able to dip into Treasury reserves to fund public sector pay rises in a bid to ease mounting pressure on government finances.Chief Secretary to the Treasury, James Murray, has written to ministers to remind them to keep a tight control of public spending and said access to reserves will only be granted on an exceptional basis.Any extra help paid to departments will also have to be paid back to the Treasury, as part of preparations for next month’s highly anticipated Budget.Mr Murray said: “To keep tight control on public spending, departments must take responsibility for managing pressures and making choices about priorities without relying on the reserve.“We must deliver the efficiency plans set out in June – reducing administrative budgets, including those of arms-length bodies and agencies – and deliver comprehensive digital transformation.”The chancellor Rachel Reeves is under growing pressure after gloomy economic figures led to predictions that she will have to raise taxes or break her own fiscal rules to plug a £50bn gap in Labour’s sums. But the crackdown comes just months after Labour offered above-inflation pay rises to most public sector workers shortly after entering power. Chancellor Rachel Reeves (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

Britain should embrace voluntary ID cards, Sir Keir Starmer has said, just weeks after announcing that digital identification will become compulsory to work in the UK.The prime minister said that while mandatory digital IDs “are very important” for employment, Britain could gain a “significant advantage” by adopting the cards for wider use.His comments came on a plane to India for a two-day trade visit to Mumbai, where he will hold meetings on how the South Asian nation uses digital ID.Opinion polls suggest support for the cards plummeted after the PM announced they would become mandatory to work in the UK by 2029, his flagship statement on the eve of the Labour conference last month. But the prime minister batted away suggestions he had killed off public support for the scheme, saying the IDs were important to meet his party’s manifesto pledge to tackle illegal migration.“We need to address the fact that too many people can come to this country and work illegally,” he said. “And that’s why ID mandatory for working is really important. I think there is a case to be made about the benefits for voluntary ID into other areas, and obviously we need to make that case.“I think it’s a really important discussion for us to have. So on the one hand, it’s mandatory for work, but I actually think it would be a good passport.Starmer poses with business leaders before jetting to India More

For much of this Tory conference in Manchester, the world’s oldest and once most successful democratic party looked like it was teetering on the edge of oblivion.Key shadow ministers were delivering their speeches to empty seats, people slept in the main hall, corporates had deserted in terms of stalls, and there were vast open spaces in a sparsely attended Manchester Central conference centre; the buzz of previous years replaced by an echoing despondency.The only queues were for the fringe events for the man who many believe will replace Tory leader Kemi Badenoch in the coming months – shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick.He seemed to be the man of the moment, the preferred speaker for anyone who wanted to hold an event, a genuine crowd puller.Kemi Badenoch with her husband, Hamish Badenoch, after making her keynote speech (Danny Lawson/PA) More