UK Politics

Welfare benefits for UK citizens only under Reform, Farage saysNigel Farage has been warned his controversial plans to introduce stricter rules for legal migrants will spark “tear families apart”.The Reform UK leader says he wants to abolish indefinite leave to remain after five years and force applicants to renew their visa every five years.The party said the proposals would “lead to hundreds of thousands of people having to apply and ultimately losing their settled status in the UK.”But campaigners have branded the “Trump-style plan” as unconscionably cruel”. “You only have to look to the US to see how this kind of policy can play out where masked gangs are abducting people in the street and tearing families apart,” Naomi Smith, chief executive of Best for Britain, said.“Reform’s Trump-style plan to deport thousands of people from the UK who have the legal right to be here, and who even may have been here for decades, would not only be economically devastating but unconscionably cruel.”Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said the plans had no basis in reality, while the mayor of London Sadiq Khan called them unacceptable.‘Britain is my home – but Farage’s new plan has me fearing for my future’The Independent’s Alex Ross reports:Brener Seixas, who works in London, pays taxes through his above-average salary while volunteering for a housing association cooperative in Lewisham. He also runs a Brazilian film festival, which takes place next month.Despite having lived in the UK for four years, the 34-year-old, who is preparing to apply for ILR status in March, said Reform UK’s radical policy on immigrants had left him feeling insecure about his future.He told The Independent: “The proposals to scrap ILR, and force people like me to reapply repeatedly for the right to stay, don’t just change the rules on paper – they make me feel like a guest who can be asked to leave at any time, no matter how much I’ve invested in this country.”Brener Seixas arrived in the UK from Brazil, and now works as a research manager, contributing to the UK through taxes on his income and voluntary work with a housing association More

Reform UK has said it could deport hundreds of thousands of legal migrants from the UK and severely tighten the rules for people looking to migrate to the country under new plans unveiled by Nigel Farage. Sharing disputed figures that claim the policy would save more than £200bn, the party said that, if it comes to power, it would scrap indefinite leave to remain (ILR), the main route by which migrants are able to settle in the UK and which is open to people who have worked and lived in the UK legally for five years. Reform claimed the plans would undo the “Boris wave” of migrants ushered in by the former Conservative prime minister. This refers to around 800,000 migrants who came to the UK under “relaxed” post-Brexit migration rules introduced by Boris Johnson’s government, and who will soon begin to qualify for permanent residence. Mr Farage claimed this group were “going to be a huge burden on the state”.It is unclear where the alleged savings of more than £200bn will come from and how they have been calculated More

Zarah Sultana has said she will call off legal action in a move of reconciliation in her bitter feud with Jeremy Corbyn over their fledgling party.In a statement, the left-wing MP said she would put the argument behind her “for the sake of the party” and acknowledged that supporters felt “demoralised” over the row engulfing Your Party, which she established with Mr Corbyn. Earlier this week Ms Sultana claimed she faced a “sexist boys’ club” amid a furious row over the party’s membership system. Last Thursday, supporters were urged to officially sign up and give the party financial backing – but this was later described by Mr Corbyn as an “unauthorised email”. Hours later, he warned people not to sign up to the link. On Friday Ms Sultana said she had instructed “specialist defamation lawyers” after she was “the subject of a number of false and defamatory statements” about her launch of the membership system.But in a post on Sunday night, Ms Sultana said she was “determined to reconcile” and was in talks with Mr Corbyn.“For the sake of the party, and as an act of good faith, I will not be pursuing legal proceedings despite the baseless and unsubstantiated allegations against me,” she wrote in a statement posted on X. “Fascism is growing at the door. The stakes are too high for failure to be an option.”Zarah Sultana, MP for Coventry South, has promised reconciliation with Jeremy Corbyn More

Cigarette-style health warnings should be placed on social media apps to protect children from harm, the Liberal Democrats will say.In a drive to make the internet safer for young people, the party also wants to introduce a “doomscrolling cap” which would prevent their social media feeds from endlessly providing new content.Victoria Collins, the Lib Dem science and technology spokesperson, will lay out the plans in a speech at the party’s conference in Bournemouth on Monday.“If we are going to take on this multibillion-pound industry we need to be brave,” she will tell the conference.Ms Collins will add: “We have long recognised that where online content poses a threat to public health, we need to know. That’s why I’m calling today for addictive social media apps to come with mandatory health warnings for under-18s.“Just like cigarettes or alcohol, these addictive products carry well-documented risks, especially for young people.“The evidence is clear that excessive use of these apps exposes children to mental health issues, to anxiety, sleep disruption and to real harm to attention spans. Don’t they deserve to know that?”The intervention into the field of protecting children on social media comes after party leader Sir Ed Davey continued his spat with tech boss Elon Musk.Sir Ed has called for Ofcom to investigate Mr Musk’s X platform for allowing images of child abuse and self-harm instructions to proliferate.The US-based businessman has been critical of Sir Keir Starmer’s Government for introducing the Online Safety Act, aimed at protecting children online, but which Mr Musk says has a chilling effect on free speech.Sir Ed is expected to attack Mr Musk in his conference speech on Tuesday.His party’s science spokesperson Ms Collins also turned up the heat on the Government for not going far enough to defend children from harmful online content.She said: “Peter Kyle, until recently the science secretary, has mooted time caps or curfews on addictive social apps – but moves on to another department leaving behind a record of failure.“The Government must finally deliver and introduce a doomscroll ban, that caps the amount of time children can spend on these addictive apps.”Polling commissioned by the Lib Dems ahead of the tech-focused speech found 80% of parents of school-aged children have reported at least one negative behaviour in young people because of excessive phone usage.The poll, carried out by Savanta, interviewed a representative sample of 611 UK parents of school-aged children online between August 22 and 26. More

London Mayor Sadiq Khan has declared himself “indifferent” to Donald Trump, asserting he has “more important things to worry about” following the US president’s claim that he requested Sir Sadiq’s exclusion from state visit events. This latest exchange escalates an ongoing feud, which saw Mr Trump earlier this week label Sir Sadiq “among the worst mayors in the world.” The US president alleged that Sir Sadiq had expressed a desire to participate in the state visit, but Mr Trump stated he “asked that he not be there.”Asked to respond to Mr Trump’s claim, the mayor of London told the PA news agency on Sunday: “I’ve not really given it much thought.“I am indifferent to President Trump.“I literally (have) more important things to worry about.”There has been a long-running war of words between Mr Trump and the Labour mayor, who accused the American leader of encouraging divisive far-right politics around the world as he landed in Britain on Tuesday.U.S. President Donald Trump, left, and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer look at each other as they shake hands during a press conference at Chequers near Aylesbury, England, Thursday Sept. 18, 2025, at the conclusion of President Trump’s second UK state visit, with the previous one taking place in 2019 during his first presidential term. (Leon Neal/Pool Photo via AP) More

Sir Keir Starmer has taken the historic step of recognising the state of Palestine, marking a major milestone in the push towards peace in the Middle East as Israel continues its offensive in Gaza.The move comes after the UK shifted its position in July and laid down the gauntlet to Israel, saying recognition would happen if it did not meet a list of demands, including a ceasefire.While it is largely symbolic, the move will spark fury in Israel and represents a key divergence between UK and US foreign policy, with Washington resisting pressure to follow suit.“In the face of the growing horror in the Middle East, we are acting to keep alive the possibility of peace and a two-state solution, that means a safe and secure Israel alongside a viable Palestinian state,” Sir Keir said on Sunday.Keir Starmer has announced Britain’s recognition of a Palestinian state More

Rachel Reeves is facing a backlash over plans to impose VAT on taxi fares, with critics warning the charge will hit rural residents and make it more expensive for disabled people to attend medical appointments.Campaigners have warned the chancellor that taxing cab journeys will push up the cost of trips outside of London, hitting those living in the countryside hardest. And they have highlighted figures showing that the NHS spends £460m a year on private hire vehicles and taxi journeys to non-urgent medical appointments, arguing that VAT on cab fares would pile pressure on the already strained health service’s budget. Rachel Reeves is facing a backlash over plans for a so-called ‘taxi tax’ More

Ed Davey has said he is the political leader who can halt Nigel Farage’s path to power, as he accused the Reform UK leader of being a “plastic patriot”.The Lib Dem leader insisted he was not afraid of the Reform UK frontman, whose party is ahead of both Labour and the Tories in the polls. His bold claim came as Techne UK’s latest poll revealed that one in eight of those who voted Lib Dem at last year’s election have already switched to Reform.But although Mr Farage’s party has rocked Sir Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch and left the Conservatives and Labour on the ropes, the Lib Dems are slowly gaining in the polls.Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey said his party could take votes from Reform (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More