UK Politics

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreSir Brian Leveson is to lead a “once in a generation” review of the courts system in England and Wales to deal with the spiralling backlog of cases.Justice secretary Shabana Mahmood has announced that the retired judge, most famous for chairing the inquiry into press standards a decade ago, with the instruction that “no reform is off the table” to deal with the crisis.It means that the right to a jury trial could be removed from a whole series of offences apart from the most serious and magistrates could be empowered to hand out sentences beyond their current maximum of 12 months.The review will run alongside a sentencing review being carried out by former justice secretary David Gauke and is expected to report in the spring of 2025.Sir Brian Leveson will lead the review of the courts system More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreTony Blair has revived his former government’s failed policy of ID cards in a digital form to tackle the challenges the world is facing on immigration, health and taxes.Writing for The Daily Mail, the former prime minister claimed that the lesson of Donald Trump’s victory in America is that “any politician today, who is promising management of the status quo and not fundamental change of it, will lose.”Sir Tony noted: “Our taxes are high; our spending and levels of public debt are high; and our service outcomes are poor. So, we spend more on the NHS than ever before, with more staff than ever before – and the service is coming apart at the seams.”He insisted that the UK and other countries he works with through the Tony Blair Institute need to adopt a radical new approach for the future by embracing artificial intelligence (AI) and digital ID.Tony Blair wants digital ID to be rolled out More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreAngela Rayner has announced that councils will be forced to surrender large parts of the green belt to achieve immediate new housing targets.The move comes as ministers scramble to deliver their pledge to build 1.5 million new homes over five years. Under the plans, local authorities will have to review the green belt’s boundaries.And they will have to use “grey belt” land, Sir Keir Starmer’s term for low-quality areas of the green belt, to meet ambitious mandatory targets to build 370,000 new homes a year.Responding to the plans, Kevin Hollinrake, shadow housing secretary, said: “Labour will bulldoze through the concerns of local communities. If Labour really want homes to be built where they are needed, they must think again.”And Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Gideon Amos accused Labour of “ignoring local communities. He added:” The new homes we need must be genuinely affordable and community led, not dictated from Whitehall diktat.”‘The question is where the homes and local services people expect are built, not whether they are built at all’ More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreMinisters are poised to pave the way for major criminal justice reform after new figures seen by The Independent revealed the dire state of the courts system.Details of a major review are expected to be unveiled by justice ministers tomorrow as they wrestle with average waiting times for trials which are at their longest for more than a decade. Among the catastrophic details revealed are:Rape victims have to wait on average almost a year (48 weeks) to have their day in courtThe average waiting times for court dates for rape, murder and GBH trials all rose by at least 12 weeks – three months – between 2014 and 2023There were 36 murder trials delayed last year, an increase of 350 per cent since 2014 when just eight required reschedulingIn 2021, the Conservatives promised to cut the court backlog by 7,000 cases by March 2025 but on their watch, it actually increased by more than 7,000Mahmood said demand for prison places is still rising faster than supply More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreLGBT veterans will receive up to £70,000 each to acknowledge the historic wrongs they experienced in the Armed Forces, the Ministry of Defence is expected to announce on Thursday.Defence secretary John Healey is also set to announce veterans will have their ranks restored and discharge reasons amended, according to a leaked memo. A ban on lesbian, gay and bisexual people serving in the armed forces was lifted in 2000, while transgender people were officially allowed to openly serve in 2014.Former LGBT military personnel dismissed or discharged because of their sexual orientation will reportedly receive £50,000, while additional payments of up to £20,000 will be handed to veterans serving personnel who were negatively impacted by the ban from 1967 to 2000 during their time in service.Under the ban, serving members of the forces discovered to be LGBT were subject to brutal interrogation, and dismissal.Defence Secretary John Healey has previously spoken about the state of the armed forces inherited from the Tories (Jonathan Brady/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreSir Keir Starmer has claimed a victory in his Brexit reset, striking a fishing deal with the European Union which the government estimates to be worth £360m. Following negotiations with the EU for 2025 fishing quotas, the UK has secured 150,000 tonnes of fishing opportunities – 15,000 tonnes more than in 2024 – ministers announced on Wednesday.They said the deal amounts to £360m in fishing opportunities for British fishing fleets and highlights “all parties’ continued commitment to manage fisheries sustainably”.Fishing rights were a constant source of tension following the UK’s exit from the EU, with Britain and France finding themselves in a stalemate on the issue under Boris Johnson in 2021 after dozens of French boats were denied fishing licences for UK waters and France threatened to block ports to British vessels.But Sir Keir has attempted to reset relations with Brussels after years of tense relations under successive Conservative administrations.The prime minister struck a fresh fishing deal with the EU More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreNew Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is embroiled in a diplomatic row over comments she made about the African country where she grew up.The vice-president of Nigeria has hit out at the Tory MP accusing her of “denigrating her country of origin.”But her spokesman hit back, saying that the outspoken politician “tells it like it is… and she stands by what she says.” Ms Badenoch has made a number of critical comments about Nigeria, where she lived until she moved to the UK in her teens.Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch is embroiled in a diplomatic row (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreStrike threats by the unions representing teachers and nurses have been joined by other public sector workers as disquiet over a cap on pay rises increases.The Fire Brigades Union (FBU) general secretary Matt Wrack, a former Trades Union Congress (TUC) president, has made it clear that his members could also go out on strike if demands for a 5 per cent pay settlement are not met next year.Unions representing teachers and nurses are upset at the plans to only award their members 2.8 per cent next year as chancellor Rachel Reeves tries to keep a handle on ballooning public spending.Already the chancellor has put up taxes by £40 billion in her first Budget and she has now told departments they need to find 5 per cent of savings.Rachel Reeves called for every government department to cut costs by 5 per cent (Dan Kitwood/PA) More