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      Watch live: Nigel Farage gives first speech as MP after Reform makes gains in 2024 General Election

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      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 ThomasEditorWatch live as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage holds a press conferece on Friday (5 July) after he won a Commons seat in his egth attempt.Mr Farage promised his party would “stun all of you” as it picked up four Commons seats in the general election.Reform received more than four million votes, around 600,000 more than the Liberal Democrats, but thanks to the first-past-the-post system they won just four seats.Mr Farage will be joined in the Commons by former Tory Lee Anderson, party chairman Richard Tice and former Southampton FC chairman Rupert Lowe in being elected to Parliament.Speaking after winning the Clactom seat, Mr Farage said: “They’ve been around for 190 years. They’ve been amazingly resilient. But this could be, I think this is the beginning of the end of the Conservative Party.”Mr Farage also said there is now a “massive gap on the centre-right of British politics and my job is to fill it”.He added it is not just the Tories he is taking on, saying “we’re coming for Labour” and “this is just the first step of something that is going to stun all of you”. More

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      General election: Keir Starmer’s first speech as Labour prime minister in full

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      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 ThomasEditorBritain’s new prime minister, Sir Keir Starmer, promised to rebuild trust in politics and restore hope to the nation after a landslide Labour victory in the general election.Standing at the door to No 10 Downing Street, Sir Keir said the “urgent” work for change would start today.He pledged to put the NHS “back on its feet”, provide secure borders and safer streets and introduce clean British power to cut energy bills.He paid tribute to departing prime minister Rishi Sunak, who led the Tory’s worst election result in the party’s history.After 648 of the 650 Commons seats had been declared after polling, Labour had a majority of 176 with 412 seats.Newly elected Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer gives a speech at his official London residence at No 10 Downing Street (James Manning/PA) More

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      SNP admits Scottish independence is ‘a hard sell’ after losing 38 seats

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      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 ThomasEditorThe SNP has just 18 months to save the case for Scottish independence after suffering a drubbing in the general election, its Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has admitted.The nationalists lost their position as Scotland’s dominant party in the House of Commons, losing 38 of 47 their seats – mostly to a resurgent Labour – and dealing a huge blow to their hopes of securing another independence referendum.It’s their lowest number of seats at Westminster since 2010, and means they have dropped from the third-largest party, with a question every week at PMQs, to the fourth-largest.With all but one of the 57 Scottish seats declared, Labour hold 37, the SNP nine and the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats each have five; a recount in the Inverness, Skye and West Ross-shire seat will not restart until 10.30am on Saturday.Labour is now the biggest party in Scotland, England and Wales – the first party to achieve this since Tony Blair’s Labour government of 2001.Stephen Flynn described the results as a black day for the SNP More

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      The last goodbyes: Watch Tory leaders resign throughout the years

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      Rishi Sunak stood in the rain and apologised after leading the Conservatives to their worst ever election result as a Labour landslide swept Sir Keir Starmer to No 10 on Friday morning (5 July).The outgoing prime minister also said he would quit as Tory leader once arrangements are in place to choose his successor, potentially triggering another round of Conservative infighting as MPs scramble to replace him.But he is not the first to stand in front of the famous black door of No 10 to announce his resignation.Here, The Independent takes a look at some of the most famous last goodbyes from leaders of years gone by. More

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      ‘Lefty lawyer’, Mark Darcy inspo but ‘lacking star power’: How American media covered UK’s new PM

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      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 ThomasEditorThe UK has a new political leader and a new ruling party after Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won a historic landslide victory in the nation’s general election on Thursday.Winning 412 seats to just 122 for Conservatives, Rishi Sunak’s party spectacularly crashed out of power after 14 years.Britain’s short-lived former prime minister Liz Truss (who put in an appearance at CPAC in February) lost her seat, as did a host of other prominent Tories.Meanmwhile, MAGA ally Nigel Farage finally won a seat for his right-wing Reform UK party, in what marked his eighth attempt at joining the House of Commons.Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has already rushed to Truth Social to congratulate his old ally while remaining silent on Starmer’s triumph.President Joe Biden is expected to join other world leaders in putting in a call to Starmer as he enters 10 Downing Street later on Friday, with whoever wins November’s presidential election expected to forge a bond to ensure the fabled “special relationship” between the United States and Britain remains in rude health.But how has America’s news media reacted to these seismic political developments across the Atlantic? And what do they make of the UK’s new leader?Sir Keir Starmer is the UK’s new prime minister after the Labour party won the election in a landslide More

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      Election night TV review: From Sky News’s extended guttural grunting to the BBC’s disjointed duo

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      Support trulyindependent journalismOur 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 ThomasEditorFind out moreThere are very few moments of history that are scheduled. Usually, they arrive with the sound of a gunshot in Sarajevo, or a stifled cough in the Wuhan wet market, but little warning. Elections, however, are that rarest of things: history arriving right on time, and just when we’re expecting it.This is a fact that captivates newspaper journalists, radio commentators and, more than anyone, television broadcasters. Election nights are, at their heart, a televisual event, offering up a viewing marathon for Haribo-chomping political nerds. But the moment when the exit poll is released – as polls close at 10pm – is also a chance for broadcasters to stamp their ownership on a moment of change. And it is a moment that has, generally, belonged to our public broadcaster, the BBC.The job of announcing the exit poll on the BBC belonged, for many years, to David Dimbleby, before he handed over to his anointed successor, Huw Edwards, in 2019. But Edwards has had a tricky couple of years and, in his stead, the BBC brought in Clive Myrie – a veteran news presenter, who also took over the Mastermind hot seat from John Humphrys – and former political editor Laura Kuenssberg. They made a strange, indecisive combo: Myrie is an adequate, if not especially nimble, emcee, whereas Kuenssberg has come to represent much of the BBC’s struggles with impartiality. Their Mad Libs version of the announcement – alternating sentences as they ran through the projection – had nothing of the gravitas of Dimbleby or Edwards.Follow live coverage of the general election hereSky’s election team included (from left) Trevor Phillips, presenter Beth Rigby, political editor Kay Burley, Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham and former Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson More

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      Keir Starmer sends message to Rishi Sunak in first speech as prime minister outside 10 Downing Street

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      Sir Keir Starmer thanked Rishi Sunak for his service to the country in his first speech as prime minister outside 10 Downing Street on Friday ( 5 July).After he was greeted by applause and cheers from supporters, the new Prime Minister took to the lectern.He said: “I have just returned from Buckingham Palace, where I accepted an invitation from His Majesty the King to form the next Government of this great nation.“I want to thank the outgoing prime minister Rishi Sunak. His achievement as the first British-Asian prime minister of our country, the extra effort that that will have required, should not be underestimated by anyone. And we paid tribute to that today.“We also recognise the dedication and hard work he brought to his leadership.” More

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      Keir Starmer and wife enter No 10 for first time after Labour election win

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      Watch the moment Sir Keir Starmer entered 10 Downing Street for the first time as prime minister, alongside his wife Victoria.Labour won a landslide in Thursday’s general election, which saw former premier Liz Truss and a dozen Tory cabinet members lose their seats.Sir Keir became the new PM after meeting King Charles at Buckingham Palace, following the resignation of Rishi Sunak.Cameras caught the moment the Labour leader stepped inside his new residence for the first time, shortly before 1pm on Friday.In his first speech as PM, Sir Keir promised a government “unburdened by doctrine” and to fight for people’s belief in a brighter future. More