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 moreCloseDonald Trump’s presidential campaign has accused Sir Keir Starmer’s “far-left” Labour Party of interfering in the US election.The Trump-Vance campaign filed a complaint with the US Federal Election Commission (FEC) accusing Labour of illegal foreign campaign donations.In a statement, the campaign’s co-manager Susie Wiles campaign claimed: “The far-left Labour Party has inspired Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric.“In recent weeks, they have recruited and sent party members to campaign for Kamala in critical battleground states, attempting to influence our election.”The complaint referenced a Washington Post report that suggested “strategists linked to Britain’s Labour Party have been offering advice to Kamala Harris about how to earn back disaffected voters and run a winning campaign from the center left”.The Trump campaign has accused Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party of interfering in the US presidential election 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 moreCloseFour new badge activities have been launched for the Scouts, backed by GCHQ’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), to help young people learn how to stay safe online.The activities will form part of the Digital Citizen Badge and have been designed to teach children aged eight to 14 how to protect their devices and keep their data safe.The new activities have been launched during Cyber Security Awareness Month, and encourage young people good cybersecurity habits.Specifically, the four activities for the Scouts are focused on strong passwords, recognising phishing emails, understanding fundamental cyber security principles and identifying the importance of regularly backing up key digital assets.The activities have been designed alongside cybersecurity experts from the NCSC.Sally Milner, Scout partnership manager, said: “Keeping your digital assets safe is a key modern life skill and here at the Scouts we want to help young people develop digital skills as well as the more traditional team work, navigation and leaderships skills.“In 2024, it’s just as important to know how to keep your data safe as it is to work in a team or navigate using a map; it’s our mission to help young people develop all these key skills, and others so they are fully equipped to live and operate effectively in the modern world.”Sarah Lyons, NCSC deputy director for economy and society, said: “Empowering young people with the skills to navigate the digital world safely is crucial.“By equipping Scouts with essential knowledge about online safety, we help ensure they can protect themselves against cyber threats and make informed choices in an increasingly digital society.” 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 moreCloseSir Keir Starmer has scored the first major breakthrough in his great Brexit reset with a landmark new defence deal with Germany.Less than four months into his premiership, the prime minister has struck an agreement with the most influential and powerful member state in the European Union.Under the plans, German aircraft in the Luftwaffe, Germany’s air force, will operate from a base in Britain to help protect the North Atlantic from the growing threat from Russia, while around 400 jobs are set to be created in a new munitions factory in the UK.Defence secretary John Healey said the agreement represented a “major strengthening of Europe’s security” and was a “milestone moment” in the UK’s relationship with Germany.But the prime minister was urged to go further in strengthening the UK’s relationship with the EU and seize other areas of cooperation.Keir Starmer is greeted by German chancellor Olaf Scholz ahead of a meeting between the two and other leaders 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 health secretary Wes Streeting’s partner has reportedly been appointed to a senior role at Labour headquarters, which will see him earn over £100,000 each year.Joe Dancey is set to become to party’s new executive director of policy and communications, a role that is second only to the general secretary, and will see him attempt to solidify Sir Keir Starmer’s majority for the next five years.The move is likely to provoke further commentary and criticism of the internal politics at Downing Street, which has seen a number of positions filled by those with family links to the party’s leading figures.Sir Keir Starmer has faced commentary around the staffing of top jobs at Downing Street and Labour HQ (Stefan Rousseau/PA) 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 biggest review of the water industry for almost four decades will be launched today after a series of scandals involving sewage dumping in Britain’s lakes and rivers.A commission headed by former deputy governor of the Bank of England Sir Jon Cunliffe will be tasked with working out how to “fix Britain’s broken water industry” amid concerns that the regulator Ofwat is set to allow bills to be hiked to pay for repairs.The commission, is a joint venture between the UK and Welsh governments, comes after Sir Keir Starmer’s government introduced legislation which will ban bonuses for water industry executives and potentially threaten jail with criminal charges for major leaks in the system.But there is anger that the review will not look at taking failing water companies back into public ownership.United Utilities has been accused of failing to report sewage dumping in Windermere in the Lake District (Owen Humphreys/PA) 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 moreCloseTory leadership contender Kemi Badenoch has hit out at Boris Johnson‘s Partygate fines. The former prime minister was found to have lied to parliament over late night bashes in Downing Street while the rest of the country was under Covid restrictions. And he was fined when he received a fixed penalty notice for a birthday party in No 10 when such events were banned. Asked about Covid-era restrictions, Ms Badenoch hit out at the fines.Conservative leadership contender Kemi Badenoch 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 moreCloseAround a third of UK businesses have urged Sir Keir Starmer to cut post-Brexit red tape in order to support British trade, with campaigners bemoaning “unimagined new layers of bureaucracy”.A survey, conducted by Santander, found that 31 per cent of companies want to see a reduction in post-Brexit regulatory requirements, including customs procedures, obtaining appropriate licences for trading, and strengthened mutual recognition of professional standards and qualifications across Europe.Since the UK left the EU in January 2020, the government has put in place a number of trade regulations for overseas goods, including border controls, customs declarations and health certifications.The UK economy is set to have grown 1.1% this year, the International Monetary Fund has said (John Macdougall/PA) 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 moreCloseAn inmate gave a “big up” to Sir Keir Starmer and posed with a Bentley after being released from prison early as part of the government’s policy to free up prison space.Daniel Dowling-Brooks, 29, was celebrating with his friends, mother and sister on Tuesday after they picked him up in a convoy of a white Bentley and black Mercedes G-Class outside of HM Prison Swaleside.The 29-year-old told reporters he had been in prison on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent, for seven years for kidnap and grievous bodily harm of someone who owed money to his friend – however, he was leaving seven weeks earlier than planned.The father-of-two said the first thing he would do is “go to McDonald’s, go to my hostel and follow all the rules”.On being released, he said: ‘I kidnapped someone who owed my friend money. I tied him up and had him at gunpoint. I beat him up. It was bad but not as bad as they made out. I’m so sorry for it though. Dowling-Brooks poses in front of a white Bentley as he celebrates being released outside HM Prison Swaleside on the Isle of Sheppey, Kent More