UK Politics

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentFormer Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Willams has warned it may be “impossible” for Christians and people of other strong religious views to represent the Lib Dems after the party appeared to officially cast out two of the giants of its recent history.Lawyers acting for the party in a dispute with a former candidate, who was deselected over his Christian beliefs, have stated in their defence document that the party of former leader Charles Kennedy and Baroness Shirley Williams “was over”. Both Baroness Williams and Mr Kennedy were religious and held conservative views on issues such as abortion.The stunning statement has caused ructions behind the scenes among Lib Dem MPs, many of whom are practising Christians, including leader Sir Ed Davey who had promised to end attacks on Christian beliefs.Shirley Williams, who died three years ago, opposed abortion More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentIf another referendum on the UK’s membership of the EU was held today it would result in Brexit being reversed, according to a new poll.A clear majority of all voters say they would opt to rejoin the EU.Strikingly, support for overturning the UK’s decision to cut its ties with Brussels among Generation Z – who were too young to take part in the 2016 referendum – is by a two-to-one margin.The public thinks Brexit has made almost everything worse, from the economy to immigration, cost of living, NHS, wages, exports and Britain’s standing abroad to hopes of keeping Scotland and Northern Ireland in the union.While Brexit has slipped in the league table of public concerns, a second referendum is seen as likely at some point.The findings of a survey by Redfield & Wilton follow moves by Sir Keir Starmer to boost Britain’s connections with the EU.Despite having been a strong opponent of Brexit, the prime minister has made it clear he has no intention of reviewing the decision based on a 52-48 majority in the referendum eight years ago.Speaking to reporters in Wales, two days before July’s general election, Sir Kier said: “I’ve been really clear about not rejoining the EU, the single market, or the customs union, or returning to freedom of movement.“I’ve been equally clear that I do think we can get a better deal than the botched deal we got under Boris Johnson – on the trading front, on research and development, and on security.”Sir Keir’s supporters say a second referendum would be divisive and a distraction from his main target of repairing public finances and public services.Other prominent Labour figures have been more outspoken.In an interview with The Independent editor-in-chief Geordie Greig, former prime minister Sir Tony Blair said Brexit had failed and triggered “unprecedented mass immigration”.Former PM Tony Blair told Independent editor-in-chief Geordie Greig the UK has weakened itself with Brexit More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentLiberal Democrat activists and MPs will sing a sweary anti-Brexit song at the party’s annual conference in Brighton on Monday.At the notorious “Glee Club” event for attendees of the jamboree, punters will belt out a rewritten version of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious titled Who Swears, Wins.The song opens with a jibe about the Brexit referendum having “not gone our way”, before descending into a sweary tirade about Britain’s departure from the European Union.The main line of the song, sung to the tune of the Mary Poppins duet, is: “B****cks-bloody-b***er-knackers-f***ing-c**t to Brexit.”Sir Ed waving from a jet ski as he arrived in Brighton More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentLabour has been accused of being “cruel” over cuts to the winter fuel payment as figures emerged showing almost 800,000 pensioners who need the benefit will lose it this winter.Keir Starmer is facing increased pressure with Unite, the party’s biggest union backer, reportedly submitting a motion to Labour’s party conference calling for the prime minister to reverse the controversial move.It comes as figures released by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) showed 780,000 low income pensioners who do not claim certain benefits to make them eligible will lose the fund, worth up to £300 a year.Unite’s motion to the party’s conference this month, reported by Sky News, presents a potential rift among members. The union’s general secretary Sharon Graham told the outlet: “There is no question that Britain is better off under Labour… but people voted for change and they now need to see that change.“The government needs to dump its cruel winter fuel policy… I make no apology for holding Labour’s feet to the fire.”Under Labour’s means-testing of the benefit, only pensioners who receive pension credit or certain other benefits will continue to receive the allowance – but many, although eligible for the benefits, have not applied.Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the move passed through Parliament last week is necessary to help fill a “£22 billion black hole” in the public finances. The government expects to save about £1.3 billion through the measure.It will see a total of 10 million people stripped of the allowance this winter.Sir Keir Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves put forward means-testing of the winter fuel allowance More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentBoris Johnson described Tory backbenchers as “spineless chicken s***” for repeatedly criticising his top adviser Dominic Cummings, the former head of the 1922 Committee of Conservative MPs has claimed.In a memoir about his time leading the powerful committee of backbenchers, Sir Graham Brady has laid bare the backroom deals behind the most turbulent decade in Tory history.In a telling extract about the former prime minister, Lord Brady has detailed how Mr Johnson was so irritated by criticism of Mr Cummings’ infamous lockdown-breaking Barnard Castle trip that he dubbed Conservative MPs “spineless chicken s***”.When challenged that ‘no sane’ person would have driven their family to test their eyesight, as Cummings claimed, Johnson replied, ‘he’s not sane’ More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentThe Liberal Democrats have called for freedom of movement for young people within the EU, piling pressure on Labour to reconsider such a scheme.The party, now Britain’s third biggest after a surge in July’s general election, said the idea was a “common sense” move to improve the prospects of young people in the UK.With Sir Keir Starmer embarking on a reset of relations with the European Union, the Lib Dems have joined a growing chorus of campaigners calling for a youth mobility scheme.The party is calling for the extension of an agreement Britain already has with countries including Australia and Japan, which lets 18 to 35-year-olds move and work freely between countries for up to two years.Ed Davey’s party is piling pressure on Labour to pursue closer ties with the EU More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentFormer defence secretary Ben Wallace has said he is “disappointed” by the “tug of war” discussions between US President Joe Biden and PM Sir Keir Starmer about Ukraine amid an apparent delay on a decision on the use of long-range missiles.Sir Keir has said the UK and US have come to a “strong position” in their quest for a resolution to the conflict in Ukraine following his meeting with President Biden on Friday. The prime minister described his discussions with Mr Biden as “long and productive”, but he would not be drawn on what the pair had decided regarding Ukraine’s potential use of Storm Shadow weapons against Russian targets.Sir Keir and Biden met in the Blue Room at the White House on Friday More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentAn ex-immigration minister has warned the Tory party’s“Stop The Boats” slogan fuelled the violent far right riots that erupted across the UK last month.Lord Timothy Kirkhope, the Conservative Party’s former immigration minister, argued discussions about migrants had fostered a climate of hostility towards refugees ahead of August’s violent unrest.He told the BBC that the “Stop the boats” rhetoric had inadvertently whipped up “emotionally” charged sentiment and had been hijacked by those “in support of more extreme views and activities”.It comes after rioters attacked mosques, ambushed riot police, set fire to a hotel housing migrants and torched a public library and Citizens Advice Bureau building in the aftermath of the fatal stabbing of three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed holiday club in Southport at the end of July.There were multiple incidents of ethnic minorities being attacked on the streets. In the aftermath of the Southport stabbing, false information spread rapidly online claiming the suspect was a Muslim asylum seeker who came to the UK on a small boat crossing.Rishi Sunak made the ‘Stop the boats’ message a key part of his campaign to clamp down on migration More