UK Politics

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorA new Labour MP has apologised and said she “deeply regrets” recently unearthed offensive tweets. Lauren Edwards, the new MP for Rochester and Strood made comments about Estonians, Parliament’s cleaners and a halal restaurant, in the now-deleted posts. In one, Ms Edwards wrote: “I want these f****** Estonian r****** out of my flat now!”She said she had made a “significant error of judgement” in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.Lauren Edwards has apologised after old Tweets resurfaced (UK Parliament/PA)The posts date from more than a decade ago, between 2009-2011.Ms Edwards, who worked as a parliamentary researcher for Labour MPs including Barbara Keeley, Teresa Pearce and Lisa Nandy until 2013, also tweeted: “Are the cleaners on recess too? My desk has so many coffee rings it looks like Saturn.”Another, which appeared to respond to an account called Baroness Wrenthorpe, said: “Baroness Wrenthorpe text me from Walthamstow to say he’s seen a halal Pakistani Chinese Grill place. Hope he’s not suggesting we go there.”On Thursday, she said she had been recently made aware of a small number of tweets she postedover a decade ago “which I now deeply regret.”They were a significant error of judgement on my part, and I apologise wholeheartedly.”She added that: “Since becoming a local councillor and more recently an MP, I have seen first-hand the importance of bringing communities together and working with tolerance and respect for all in our society.”I pledge to use my platform to continue that important work and dedicate myself to serving all residents of Rochester and Strood.”Former Tory MP Kelly Tolhurst called the comments ‘divisive and unpleasant’ (House of Commons/PA) More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorNigel Farage has doubled down on his much-criticised claims about the Southport stabbings, as new polling shows the Reform UK leader’s popularity has plummeted. Following the killings of three girls last week, Mr Farage claimed “the truth was being withheld” about the suspect and has gone on to allege the riots that followed were due to a lack of information provided to the public by authorities. It was false claims shared about the suspect’s name and faith on social media that whipped up anger that contributed to the racist riots that have blighted England in the last week, with nearly 500 people now arrested. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has been criticised for his response to the riots More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorElon Musk has been tricked by fake news on his own platform after reposting an image of a fake news headline about the UK’s response to riots.It comes as the billionaire faces ongoing criticism about his engagement with, and handling of, misinformation.The owner of social media giant X reshared an image posted by Britain First co-leader Ashlea Simon; a screenshot which purported to show a headline from the Daily Telegraph website, claiming the Government was considering creating temporary detainment camps on the Falkland Islands for those arrested during the recent riots.However, the Telegraph quickly debunked the image, posting to its official account on the platform: “The Telegraph is aware of an image circulating on X which purports to be a Telegraph article about ’emergency detainment camps’.“No such article has ever been published by the Telegraph.”Mr Musk and Ms Simon have since both deleted their posts, but not before Mr Musk’s post was seen by hundreds of thousands of his followers – of which he has 193 million – and other users.The SpaceX and Tesla owner has been heavily criticised in recent days for a number of posts about the disorder in the wake of the Southport stabbings and was called “deeply irresponsible” by Justice Secretary Heidi Alexander for posting that “civil war is inevitable” in the UK.Both X and Mr Musk have come under increased scrutiny since the businessman took over the site in late 2022, with the billionaire himself engaging with misleading content and accounts known for spreading misinformation on a number of occasions.In recent days he has posted a number of images and memes stoking division around the anti-immigration protests and disorder in Britain, recently reposted a misleading video of US vice president Kamala Harris that had been manipulated by AI, and has previously engaged with accounts known to have spread misinformation on a number of topics, including Covid-19 and vaccine safety.His approach to running the platform has been heavily criticised after he substantially cut staff numbers and changed the site’s verification and content moderation systems, saying he wanted to allow “absolute free speech”.Under his leadership, the company has also restored the accounts of many figures previously banned for breaking site rules around hate speech, including in some from the UK such as Tommy Robinson – real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – and Katie Hopkins.Elon Musk branded the Prime Minister ‘two-tier Keir’ in a series of tweets on Tuesday (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA) More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorLabour has suspended a councillor over a speech at a counter demonstration calling for the throats of anti-immigration protesters to be cut.Dartford councillor Ricky Jones has been suspended by the party over the video, which shows him in the middle of a cheering crowd at a protest in Walthamstow, east London, organised to stop the far-right from targeting asylum centres and the offices of lawyers helping asylum seekers.In the speech on Wednesday evening, he said: “We need to cut all their throats and get rid of them.”He followed his speech with leading a chant of “free, free Palestine.”Ricky Jones is a councillor in Dartford More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorBillionaire social media boss Elon Musk has launched another attack on the British authorities attempting to tackle far right hate riots in the UK.The owner of X (formerly Twitter) posted “woke stasi” this morning in response to the director of public prosecutions Stephen Parkinson promising to prosecute people who post or report material that incites racial hatred on social media platforms.Musk also retweeted a post by the co-leader of the far right Britain First party Ashlea Simon with the comments “detainment camps”. Simon had tweeted an image of a fake story about Starmer considering building emergency detainment camps in the Falkland Islands with the claim “we’re all being deported to the Falklands”. The image had been made to look as though the story was published by the Telegraph, but the Telegraph issued a statement saying: “No such article has ever been published by the Telegraph.“Politics UK editor Joh Self claimed that Musk’s tweet, which was since deleted, was seen by “almost 1 million people in 15 minutes”. He added: “Utterly dystopian”.Elon Musk branded the prime minister ‘two-tier Keir’ in a series of tweets on Tuesday (Kirsty Wigglesworth/PA) More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorSir Keir Starmer is under pressure to cancel any holiday plans after a week of riots across the UK, with new polling showing that 71 per cent of people think the prime minister should not go away.He was reportedly due to go on holiday last Monday, but No 10 confirmed that he would be spending the week working from Downing Street as violent disorder swept cities across the UK.While Downing Street did not confirm whether the prime minister had any other holidays booked for the rest of August, there was speculation he may have planned a rescheduled trip for later this month.New polling, conducted by YouGov, saw 71 per cent of people say he should not go on holiday next week. Just 14 per cent said he should take a break, while a further 14 per cent said they don’t know.Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has rejected accusations of ‘two-tier policing’ as a ‘non-issue’ (James Manning/PA) More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorSir Keir Starmer has been warned that “tinkering” with Britain’s EU deal will not rescue the economy and bring about the increase in growth or productivity his government has aimed to achieve.The warning from the independent all-party pressure group European Movement has come with a shopping list of things the new Labour government needs to achieve in order to restore confidence in Britain as a safe place to invest.It follows a devastating report by economic think tank the National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) which showed that “Brexit uncertainty” has harmed external investment in the UK, damaged productivity – particularly in regions like the Midlands which voted for Leave – and held the UK back from recovering from the pandemic compared to other Western countries.Responding to the report, Richard Kilpatrick, campaign manager of the European Movement UK said: “To grow the economy and invest in our public sector, to build the hospitals and schools that our communities need, we need to accept that Brexit has failed to deliver in every area. Starmer has disappointed many by saying there will be no attempt to rejoin the EU or its single market and customs union More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorThousands of angry viewers have sent complaints to the broadcaster watchdog Ofcom over Good Morning Britain presenter Ed Balls interviewing his wife Yvette Cooper on Monday 5 August.It comes in a busy week for the watchdog which also published a letter it had sent to social media companies including Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) over misinformation and videos being shared on their platforms.Ofcom today announced that 8,201 people had complained about Good Morning Britain (GMB) on 5 August following the decision by the popular breakfast show to allow presenter Ed Balls to interview his own wife over her political role as home secretary.The Balls/ Cooper interview attracted thousands of complaints More