UK Politics

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseTory leadership frontrunner Kemi Badenoch has launched a blistering attack on Keir Starmer’s “lack of statesmanship” as the transatlantic row between Labour and Donald Trump continued to blow up.Sir Keir has denied accusations of “election interference” but Ms Badenoch accused him of being a “student politician” whose politics have “not evolved since he was a teen”.Ms Badenoch was speaking exclusively to The Independent as the Trump campaign filed a legal complaint against Labour for “election interference”.The Trump campaign has cited Sir Keir’s chief of staff Morgan McSweeney and director of communications Matthew Doyle, who attended the Democratic convention in Chicago.Trump’s team have filed a legal complaint about Labour alleging election interference More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseElon Musk has declared war on a campaign group founded by Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff, just hours after Donald Trump accused the Labour Party of interfering in the US election in an extraordinary attack.The tech billionaire accused the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH) of “violating US criminal statutes against foreign interference in elections”. He said he and his team are “going after” the CCDH and their donors after a report from the Disinformation Chronicle newsletter claimed to have uncovered a strategy document from the group which included a plan to “Kill Musk’s Twitter”.The report also claims the CCDH sought out meetings with Democratic senators in an attempt to lobby against Mr Musk’s ownership of X. The organisation was founded by Morgan McSweeney, who was appointed as Sir Keir’s chief of staff earlier this month, but he hasn’t been involved since 2020.On Tuesday, the Trump-Vance campaign filed a complaint with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) accusing the party of illegal foreign campaign donations.It came after scores of Labour activists including frontline politicians flew across the Atlantic to help campaign for Kamala Harris’s election on 5 November.Already sources in the Trump-Vance campaign have suggested that the intervention could be part of wider legal action if they lose to Kamala Harris on 5 November.One Washington source at a rightwing think tank linked to the Trump campaign told The Independent: “It is an incredibly foolish move on the part of Labour, and hugely damaging to the special relationship. “I honestly did not think it was possible for any government to be as corrupt and incompetent as the last Tory government, but this Labour government has actually managed to be more incompetent.”Sebastian Gorka, Trump’s former deputy general assistant in the White House, said: “It is all part of the subversion culture.” “Whether it is getting Twitter to suppress the Biden laptop story or get 51 spooks lie about it or hide the fact Biden was senile. It’s who they are”, he told The Independent. Others though are warning the Trump campaign that the tactic could backfire with Nigel Farage previously being a high profile cheerleader on the former President’s campaign trail.Musk has been locked in a long running feud with the CCDH, with the tech billionaire last year bringing a lawsuit agains the campaign group, seeking to blame it for “tens of millions of dollars” in lost advertising revenue after the nonprofit reported on hate speech and misinformation on X. But the case was dismissed by a federal judge in March 2024, with a CCDH spokesperson saying: “CCDH’s research held up a mirror to Elon Musk’s increasingly toxic and ugly platform, and rather than do the right thing and tackle the hate and lies disfiguring X, Mr Musk chose instead to sue the mirror.”It has campaigned for improvements to online safety as well as having previously criticised multiple social media sites including Facebook, Twitter and TikTok.The CCDH has been contacted for comment. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseThe UK risks suffering a shortage of drinking water by the mid-2030s, a Labour cabinet minister has warned. Environment secretary Steve Reed said without investment in the country’s creaking infrastructure, the system could run into crisis. His warning came as it emerged that water companies want to raise bills by 84 per cent by 2030. Mr Reed described the proposed price hikes as “eye-watering” – but said the issue was not one for ministers.He told LBC Radio: “We’re all facing a shortage of water within a decade and a half if we don’t act now.”Water companies want to raise bills by 84 per cent by 2030 More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseLabour peer Waheed Alli has been found to have committed four breaches of Lords rules over his declarations in the register of interests.The prominent donor, who gave thousands of pounds worth of clothes and gifts to Sir Keir Starmer and his wife, has apologised after being instructed to by the Lords commissioner for standards.Lord Alli faced an investigation over his alleged failure to register his interests as a director of charity The Charlie Parsons Foundation and the company Silvergate BP Bidco, of which he owns more than half.Lords standards commissioner Martin Jelley also investigated Lord Alli’s late registration of his interest as an unpaid director of another company, MAC (BVI).“While I consider each individual breach of the Code to be minor, I have found there to be four breaches in total, and have therefore recommended that Lord Alli write a letter of apology to the chair of the conduct committee, Baroness Manningham-Buller,” a report by Mr Jelley said.Lord Alli became embroiled in the freebie scandal which engulfed Sir Keir Starmer’s government More