UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailAlex Salmond has warned Scotland’s embattled first minister Humza Yousaf that his Alba Party will only back him in a confidence vote if the SNP is open to a renewed push for Scottish independence.The no-confidence motion was lodged by Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross after Mr Yousaf dramatically collapsed the SNP’s power-sharing agreement with the Scottish Greens last week – leaving him at the head of a minority government in Holyrood.While there is no obligation for him to resign if he loses that vote, Labour has also called for a second vote of confidence in Mr Yousaf’s government, which would force all ministers to resign if passed and give MSPs 28 days to agree on a new first minister, or else trigger a Scottish parliamentary election.Humza Yousaf dramatically brought the Bute House Agreement to an end this week More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe use of mixed-sex wards has gone “through the roof” after the number of men and women being put in beds next to each other soared to nearly its highest level in a decade. Official figures from NHS England show the government’s strict rules against doing so were broken nearly 5,000 times in February alone.NHS leaders voiced concerns over the high number of breaches and warned that care that was “unthinkable a decade ago is at risk of becoming the new normal”.Shadow health secretary Wes Streeting said patients were left feeling humiliated and at risk, adding: “The use of mixed-sex wards has gone through the roof under the Tories.”The government outlawed mixed wards in the NHS in 2010. Under the guidance, patients should not share wards overnight, share bathroom facilities or have to walk through areas occupied by patients of the opposite sex to get to the toilets.When hospitals breach this they are required to report it to the NHS. Only in very few circumstances is mixed accommodation allowed – such as urgent admission to critical care. Despite promises more than a decade ago to eliminate mixed wards, The Independent has found:4,811 reported breaches in February, up from 3,789 last NovemberNurses warning “sky-high breaches” are the tip of the icebergEvidence that patients are suffering sexual assaults while on mixed mental health wardsOne woman was sexually assaulted while in the corridor by a male patient More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailAmy Gallagher is the Social Democrat Party candidate for London mayor. She is an NHS nurse and psychotherapist. She pledges “all woke and diversity, equity and inclusion programmes will be stopped” in London. “I will serve all Londoners equally with a colourblind policy – people will be judged on their character not skin colour. I will protect religious freedoms, women’s sex-based rights and gay rights. No more identity politics. Our spaces should be for everyone,” she added.Ms Gallagher garnered media attention after bringing legal action against the NHS, accusing it of forcing critical race theory on people.Her manifesto pledges include:‘Stand Up To Woke’ – she will fight a woke dogma she says is destroying London’s industries, culture, and atmospherePeople should be judged on the content of their character, not the colour of their skin, in accordance with the Equality Act 2010 and Martin Luther King Jr.“Make criminals scared again” and end gang violence in LondonEnding Ulez, low traffic neighbourhoods and “the war on cars”Increasing housing stock and reduce rents No more racialised divisive politics which drive people apartWe will not use the mayoralty as a platform for international “causes”End two-tier policing of political views and make the Met impartial againProtect women’s spaces with more visible policing and more police back on the beatEncourage a vibrant night-time economy which in turn will make our streets more occupied and safer for women alone at nightYou can read her full manifesto here.Voters can cast their ballot in person on 2 May, by post or by proxy. Find your nearest polling station here.Everyone will need to show photo ID at polling stations before they vote.The results will be announced at City Hall on Saturday 4 May.Read the full list of candidates here. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailSusan Hall is the Conservative Party candidate for London mayor. The Tory candidate is a former leader of the London Assembly Conservative group. Ms Hall launched her manifesto on 22 April – 10 days before the polls open. At the event, Ms Hall said she would scrap the Ultra Low Emission Zone (Ulez) expansion from day one in the job.She pledged to end a “war on motorists” by reviewing 20mph speed limits on main roads and low traffic neighbourhoods where they are said to be unpopular.The Conservatives would also extend Night Tube services, and reinstate travel discounts for over-60s during peak morning hours, her manifesto said.Ms Hall has also committed to recruit 1,500 more police officers, and set up two new police bases in every London borough, while taking action to crack down on knife crime, theft and women’s safety issues.Ms Hall said she would scrap the Ulez expansion from day one in the job More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLondon Mayor Sadiq Khan is the Labour Party candidate and is running for his third term after first being elected in 2016.The Labour incumbent launched his re-election campaign last month and accused the Conservatives of an “abject failure” on housing.He pledged to build 40,000 new council homes by the end of the decade to unleash the “greatest council housebuilding drive in a generation” if voted back in.He said the capital would go “much further, much faster” with Labour running both Downing Street and City Hall, without the Tories “holding us back”.The mayor vowed to deliver a “once-in-a-generation opportunity to make real inroads into solving London’s housing crisis” and “end the scandal of rough sleeping”.The plan to end rough sleeping would come at a cost of £10 million in new Ending Homelessness Hubs and help some 1,700 rough sleepers off the streets.The Labour incumbent launched his re-election campaign last month and accused the Conservatives of an ‘abject failure’ on housing More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Tory MP has launched a personal attack on Rishi Sunak’s as she claimed she was “more Reform” than most of Reform UK’s parliamentary candidates.Great Grimsby MP Lia Nici said the prime minister lacked the appeal of Boris Johnson, who helped her win as a Tory in the red wall seat in 2019 for the first time in 100 years.And she praised the policy platform of Reform, Nigel Farage’s right-wing challenger party, saying it has “a lot of ideas that people locally do like”.It comes as Mr Sunak comes under increasing pressure with a rebel plot reported to replace him with Penny Moundaunt.“I’m probably more Reform than most Reform candidates to be honest,” Ms Nici told Sky’s Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge.She added: “I’m constantly called a rebel but that’s because most people in Grimsby think in a similar way to me. So I hold our Government to account on that.“Reform have got a lot of ideas that people locally do like, but are they are a fully-formed political party, no they’re not.”Ms Nici also praised former Tory deputy chairman Lee Anderson, saying he is a “fantastic colleague”, but that he will not get the same “kind of support” in Reform as under the Tories.“If people vote for Reform this time around what we’ll get is a Labour government so you need to be careful what you wish for,” Ms Nici said.But Reform leader Richard Tice, who took over from Mr Farage, extended an olive branch to Ms Nici, inviting her to “give me a ring”.He told The Telegraph: “Lia is quite right that our Reform policies are very popular and it sounds like she should give me a ring. Lee has my number.”Richard Tice invited Lia Nici to speak to him on Reform UK after she expressed a degree of support for the party More

For free real time breaking news alerts sent straight to your inbox sign up to our breaking news emailsSign up to our free breaking news emailsDesperate Right wing Tory MPs are plotting to replace Rishi Sunak with Penny Mordaunt in a last ditch bid to avoid defeat at the general election, it is claimed.They are said to have hatched a “100 Days To Save Britain” plan whereby Ms Mordaunt, best known for wielding a ceremonial sword at the King’s coronation, would become PM.The extraordinary idea is reportedly in response to fears that the party could suffer massive losses in this week’s local elections.Tory jitters have been heightened by the shock defection of one of their MPs, ex-health minister and serving GP Dan Poulter to Labour. The rebels are said to believe that if Commons Leader Ms Mordaunt took power and launched a series of Right wing initiatives on tax and immigration and other issues it could avert a Labour landslide in the election later this year.One Tory rebel told the Sunday Telegraph: “The reality is that we are facing an extinction-level event. It’s for colleagues to decide if they want to go down with the ship.”However Ms Mordaunt is understood to have said that speculation about her is “codswallop”. Mainstream Conservatives say a lurch to the Right would make the party even less popular.And Ms Mordaunt’s Tory critics say that, aside from winning plaudits for her impressive style at the coronation, she lacks political skills.The rebels are said to have drawn up a five-point plan for a potential successor to Mr Sunak which would see them chalk up a series of “quick wins” before the election. A Tory MP told The Times: “My concern is that we don’t have a significant response to Reform. We have a leader who is ill-suited to appealing to voters in the Red Wall. He is seen as an out of touch multi-millionaire who doesn’t share their instincts. If we lose Tees Valley it will be beyond diabolical.”The five-point plan includes efforts to end the junior doctors pay dispute, cutting net migration, boosting defence spending, slashing the benefits bill and tougher sentences for serious offenders. Mr Sunak meanwhile is keeping the door open to a July general election, having again refused to rule out going to the country this summer. Amid speculation that a disastrous set of local elections results for the Tories could force his hand, the prime minister would not “say anything more than I’ve already said” on the date of the next election. He has previously said it will take place in the second half of 2024.Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has declined to rule out a July poll (Henry Nicholls/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailDr Dan Poulter has defected to the Labour Party, claiming the Conservatives have become a “nationalist party of the right”.The Central Suffolk and North Ipswich MP will sit on the Labour benches until the next general election, expected this autumn, when he has announced he will step down.Mr Poulter said he made the decision in part because of Sir Keir Starmer’s promised NHS reforms, accusing the Tories of not “understanding” the health service.Dr Dan Poulter signing his Labour Party membership form with Ellie Reeves, Labour’s deputy national campaign co-ordinator (Labour Party/PA) More