Markus Andrews

Sir Keir Starmer will resist growing demands from British business leaders to provide more UK visas for highly skilled workers from India.While flying to Mumbai for a two-day trade visit with more than 100 business chiefs, the prime minister said opening up visas for Indian workers to come to the UK “isn’t part of the plan”, he added.India reportedly pushed for far more visa access to the UK when the two countries were finalising their trade deal earlier this year. But while heading on his first major trade mission to India, which comes after a UK-India trade deal was struck earlier this year, the prime minister told journalists: “The issue is not about visas. It’s about … engagement and investment and jobs and prosperity coming into the United Kingdom.”Sir Keir also reiterated that, when it comes to visas, ministers were considering whether to punish countries who refuse to take back people deported from the UK. The government is “looking at whether there should be a link between visas and returns agreements,” he said, though he added this would not apply to India, with which the UK has a successful returns agreement.The PM has pledged to cut net migration to the UK and has come under intense pressure to cut both legal and illegal immigration from Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party and Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives. But he is also under pressure to find some economic good news on his whirlwind trade visit, following warnings of a £50bn black hole in the government’s finances and widespread forecasts Rachel Reeves will have to raise taxes in November’s Budget. Keir Starmer with the huge trade delegation at Heathrow More

Kemi Badenoch is set to announce a “golden rule” for the economy in her conference speech on Wednesday as she desperately tries to restore the Conservative Party’s credibility on the nation’s finances.With millions of Britons still reeling from the impact of Liz Truss’ disastrous mini-Budget, the Tory leader will attempt to restore voters’ trust in the party’s handling of the economy by pledging that half of all money saved from cuts must be put towards shrinking the deficit.The other half would go on spending or cutting taxes to boost the economy, under the move that she will pledge to introduce if the Tories are re-elected to government.The announcement in her keynote speech for the Tory conference in Manchester on Wednesday comes as shadow cabinet members admit that the party is “struggling to even get a hearing with the public”.With the party consistently polling in the mid teens with around half the support of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, the conference has been noticeable for how few have attended and the low level of interest in policy announcements.Mrs Badenoch reflected on her party’s difficult journey (Peter Byrne/PA) More

The British steel industry has been plunged into crisis after the European Union announced plans to slap 50 per cent tariffs on UK imports. In what is a major blow to Sir Keir Starmer’s mission to reset relations with the bloc after Brexit, the European Commission revealed plans to double the current level of 25 per cent, while reducing tariff-free import volumes to 18.3 million tonnes a year – a 47 per cent reduction.The director general of UK Steel said the fresh tariffs would be “devastating” to the industry, which currently exports 78 per cent of its steel to the EU. The increase comes after the industry is still dealing with the impact of 25 per cent tariffs on imports to the US, imposed by Donald Trump.The prime minister has said he is in discussions with both the US and EU about the tariffs, saying the government is strongly supportive of the steel industry. European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen More

Gender critical campaigners have been accused of making “hateful” and “extremist” remarks at an event at the Conservative Party conference in Manchester after suggesting those who support trans rights have “broken brains” and that so-called gender ideology is “an evil”. Speaking on a panel event on the fringes of the conference, titled ‘After the Supreme Court Ruling: what next for sex-based rights’, Fiona McAnena, director of campaigns at Sex Matters, referred to trans women as “a man in a dress”. Meanwhile, Kate Barker, CEO of the LGB Alliance, claimed the medical establishment has been captured by “fanciful and malign ideology that tells gay people that they can be cured by making grotesque and permanent changes to their body”. Speakers on a panel titled ‘After the Supreme Court Ruling: what next for sex-based rights?’ More

Tory grandee Lord Heseltine has warned Kemi Badenoch that the party’s attacks on migrants are “not the Conservative way to rebuild power”.In a damning attack on her leadership, the former deputy prime minister has used a speech at the conference in Manchester to blast the rhetoric of the current leadership, warning that the inflammatory language “encourages the worst sort of prejudice”.In his speech at a European Movement event at the Conservative Party conference, Lord Heseltine suggested taking such a hard right approach to politics is unconservative.His comments comes amid a growing row over comments made by shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick, who said he had not seen “another white face” while filming a video in the Handsworth area of Birmingham. He later doubled down on his remarks, saying the UK’s second city “did look like a slum”.Lord Heseltine warned that instead of aping Reform UK, the Tories “must make clear that we will never have any part in the populist extremism of Nigel Farage”.Lord Michael Heseltine has been a strong critic of the Tories’ lurch to the right in recent years More

Robert Jenrick has doubled down on his comment about not seeing “another white face” while visiting the Handsworth area of Birmingham, reiterating that it “did look like a slum”.The shadow justice secretary defended his remarks, insisting that he “won’t shy away” from issues of integration and his comments about white faces were just an “observation”.Speaking during a live recording of The Telegraph’s Daily T podcast at the Conservative Party conference, Mr Jenrick said there are “pockets” of towns and cities that are largely segregated and that “we should not back down” from talking about them, adding that there was not a “mix of people on the streets” when he visited.Robert Jenrick has faced criticism for his remarks about Handsworth in Birmingham More

Robert Jenrick has launched an unprecedented assault on Britain’s judiciary, vowing to scrap the independent sentencing council and sack dozens of judges he accused of “open borders activism”. The shadow justice secretary claimed to have uncovered a slew of judges “with links to open borders charities” who are broadcasting left-wing views on social media. “They dishonour generations of independent jurists who came before them, and they undermine the people’s trust in the law itself,” he said, adding that “judges who blur the line between adjudication and activism can have no place in our justice system”. The shadow justice secretary claimed to have uncovered a slew of judges ‘with links to open borders charities’ More