UK Politics

A Reform UK council leader has resigned just weeks after being elected, leaving an 18-year-old in charge of hundreds of millions of pounds of public spending. Reform’s Rob Howard said it was with “much regret” that he was quitting as Warwickshire County Council leader, citing health challenges preventing him from “carrying out the role to the level and standard that I would wish”. It means his deputy, Reform’s 18-year-old George Finch, will take over as interim leader of the council until a permanent replacement is confirmed. The change means Mr Finch, a former member of the Conservative Party, is now responsible for the council, with £1.5bn of assets and a budget of around £500m. In his statement, Mr Howard said: “This has been a very difficult decision to take. “The role of leader is an extremely demanding role and regretfully my health challenges now prevent me from carrying out the role to the level and standard that I would wish. George Finch More

Britain’s first trade strategy for more than three decades has been unveiled as Keir Starmer tries to give businesses a helping hand to take on Donald Trump’s tariffs.With global trade and supply chains still in turmoil from President Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariff regime, the new trade strategy is the latest so-called Brexit freedom the prime minister has deployed to try to boost growth.The new strategy – which acknowledges the current “troubled waters” of global trade – sets out how the UK will unlock £5 billion for businesses and expand UK export finance (UKEF) capacity to £80 billion, delivering growth as part of the government’s Plan for Change.It comes just 10 days after Sir Keir finalised most of his deal with President Trump for the first post-Brexit UK-US trade agreement at the G7 summit in Canada. Both the president and prime minister hope that it will be the starting block for a number of other deals on future industries, including artificial intelligence.Sir Keir said: “What works for business, works for Britain. It means more jobs, more opportunities, and more money in people’s pockets. US President Donald Trump’s first meeting with Keir Starmer after his re-election (Carl Court/PA) More

Sir Keir Starmer has slapped down Wes Streeting after he claimed there is no budget for assisted dying. The health secretary last week said he is concerned MPs made the wrong choice by voting through Kim Leadbeater’s historic legislation last week. But asked about his remarks while on the plane to the Nato summit in The Hague, the prime minister – who voted for the Bill – decisively hit back, saying: “It is my responsibility to make sure the bill is workable, and that means workable in all its aspects.”“I’m confident we’ve done that preparation”, he added. While Cabinet ministers were asked to avoid weighing in too heavily on the debate, as MPs were encouraged to vote with their consciences rather than on party lines, Mr Streeting became a vocal critic of the bill in the lead up to the vote. Sir Keir Starmer pushed back at remarks made by Wes Streeting last week More

Sir Keir Starmer’s foreign aid cuts have led to a huge reduction in overseas vaccine funding that could lead to an extra 365,000 deaths by the end of the decade, campaigners have warned. Britain’s contribution to the Gavi international vaccine alliance has been cut by a quarter after the prime minister slashed the international development budget to fund a defence spending hike.Aid charity, the ONE Campaign, said the “harsh impact” of Sir Keir’s cuts will lead to almost 400,000 additional deaths, less money to educate girls and an increase in deadly conflicts around the world. Keir Starmer cut billions from the foreign aid budget to fund a defence spending boost More

European leaders in Nato have agreed to a historic increase in defence spending to 5 per cent of GDP – and praised Donald Trump for driving the uplift. Secretary general Mark Rutte fawned over the US president for intervening in the conflict between Iran and Israel, likening him to a “daddy” figure overseeing two warring sides and calling the US president “a man of strength” for piling pressure on allies to put more money into security against a backdrop of worsening global tensions and the war in Ukraine. The new spending pledge – 3.5 per cent of GDP on core defence by 2035, and 1.5 per cent on security and resilience measures – was described by Mr Trump as a “monumental win” for the US, Europe, and “Western civilisation”. He said Nato allies had shown an “unbelievable” love for their countries, conceding that the alliance is no longer a “rip-off” for the United States after having previously berated his fellow members for not contributing enough. Donald Trump speaks at a press conference during the Nato summit in The Hague More

A frustrated Sir Keir Starmer has told Labour MPs attacking his benefit reforms to “read the room” as he hit back against rebels lining up to vote it down next week.It came as deputy prime minister Angela Rayner finally broke cover to publicly to back Sir Keir’s controversial welfare reforms amid a growing rebellion of Labour MPs that threatens to topple the bill. With 122 Labour backbenchers now signed up to support an amendment on Tuesday next which would kill the welfare reform bill, the prime minister went on the attack. Warnings of potential deselections and a possibility the government collapse had previously failed.Starmer is getting frustrated over the rebellion More

Labour MPs are divided over the government’s controversial plans to cut welfare spending, as a growing backbench rebellion threatens to halt the measures.More than 120 Labour MPs have signed a “reasoned amendment” to the bill which would deliver the measures. If passed, this would effectively stop it in its tracks for the time being.The plans have received fierce backlash from charities and campaign groups since their introduction in March, when Rachel Reeves announced: “The Labour Party is the party of work. We believe that if you can work, you should work. But if you can’t work, you should be properly supported.”Ministers have revealed more details about their plans for welfare spending since this, but of those only two key measures are up for a vote on Tuesday.Netherlands NATO Summit More

Many expected this Nato summit to be the most significant since the Cold War ended. And as we enter the final day of the conference, it was clear they were right. With escalating pressure in the Middle East, the looming backdrop of war in Ukraine and an increasingly volatile US president, tensions on the global stage are the highest they have been in recent history. Britain’s decision to purchase 12 new F-35A jets – to be formally announced by the prime minister at a press conference today – is a big one. Ministers dubbed it the “biggest strengthening of the UK’s nuclear posture in a generation”, primarily because it restores a nuclear role for the RAF for the first time since the Cold War. Donald Trump has been pushing Nato allies to spend more on their own defence More