UK Politics

Keir Starmer is facing increasing pressure over his pledge to “smash the gangs” after it emerged that a man deported under his flagship “one in, one out” deal with France has returned to the UK on a small boat.In a double blow for the prime minister, the number of small boat migrants who have arrived in the UK so far this year has also passed the total for the whole of last year. Just 42 people have been returned so far under the agreement, announced with great fanfare by the prime minister and French president Emmanuel Macron. Under its terms, for each small boat migrant sent back across the Channel an asylum seeker will be allowed to enter the UK from France under a legal route.At the time, Sir Keir said it was a “breakthrough moment” which would “turn the tables” on the people smugglers – but a Downing Street spokesperson on Wednesday said the policy was not a “silver bullet” to tackle the problem. People thought to be migrants wait in the sea to board a small boat in Gravelines, France More

The person thought to be the last remaining candidate to chair the grooming gang inquiry has withdrawn from contention, plunging the probe into fresh chaos.Jim Gamble, a former police officer, has taken his name out of the running.A Home Office spokesperson said on Wednesday that they are “disappointed that candidates to chair that inquiry have withdrawn”. In a letter to the home secretary, Mr Gamble said that there was a “highly charged and toxic environment that has surrounded and influenced the appointment process”. He also said that “among some” victims and survivors there is a “lack of confidence due to my previous occupation exists”.Mr Gamble went on: “The reaction to the appointment process has been defined more by the vested interests of some, as well as political opportunism and point-scoring, rather than by the cross-party consensus required to address such a serious national issue.“Victims and survivors, who have been let down so often in the past, deserve better than to be used as leverage for short-term gain by anyone. Moving forward. I hope they remain at the absolute centre of this inquiry.”A former police officer in Northern Ireland, where he was head of the Belfast region for the now-disbanded Royal Ulster Constabulary Special Branch, Mr Gamble led the Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command of the National Crime Agency until 2010.Mr Gamble’s departure follows Annie Hudson, a former director of children’s services for Lambeth in London, who was reported to have pulled out on Tuesday. Four survivors have also resigned from the inquiry’s victims and survivors panel. They cited concerns that the individuals being considered to chair the probe had connections to the police or social services.They also cited a “toxic environment” and proposals to widen the scope of the inquiry.The Home Office spokesperson said on Wednesday: “The grooming gang scandal was one of the darkest moments in this country’s history. “That is why this government is committed to a full, statutory, national inquiry to uncover the truth. It is the very least that the victims of these hideous crimes deserve.”We are disappointed that candidates to chair that inquiry have withdrawn. This is an extremely sensitive topic, and we have to take the time to appoint the best person suitable for the role.“The home secretary has been clear: there will be no hiding place for those who abused the most vulnerable in our society.”Earlier on Wednesday Sir Keir had attempted to save the struggling probe by announcing that Baroness Louise Casey was being brought in to “support the work” of the inquiry. He told MPs that “injustice will have no place to hide”, adding that the “door will always be open” to those survivors who quit the probe’s survivors’ panel, should they wish to return. Responding to Kemi Badenoch at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir said: “The inquiry is not and will never be watered down. Its scope will not change.” He also said: “I can tell the House today, Dame Louise Casey will now support the work of the inquiry and it will get to the truth.“Injustice will have no place to hide.”Baroness Casey previously led a “national audit” of group-based child sexual exploitation that found “many examples” of organisations shying away from discussion of “ethnicity or cultural factors” in such offences “for fear of appearing racist”.Her findings, published in June 2025, prompted Sir Keir to order the creation of the national inquiry. More

Sir Keir Starmer has backed calls for Prince Andrew to be hauled in front of MPs to give evidence in parliament, following revelations about his living situation. Amid mounting pressure on the disgraced royal to give up his 30-room Windsor mansion after it emerged he had paid only a peppercorn rent for more than 20 years, the prime minister called for “proper scrutiny”. Addressing Sir Keir at Prime Minister’s Questions, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey asked: “Given the revelations about the Royal Lodge, does the prime minister agree that this House needs to properly scrutinise the crown estate to ensure taxpayers’ interests are protected? A new poll showed that four out of five Britons want Andrew to be formally stripped of his titles More

The most senior civil servant in government is on the verge of being sacked, it is understood, adding to a growing image of turmoil in Sir Keir Starmer’s Downing Street operation. Cabinet secretary Sir Chris Wormald is understood to be at risk of being ousted in the new year, amid growing concerns about his performance in the role. It comes despite the prime minister reorganising his top team just last month, conducting a full cabinet reshuffle, days after replacing the top civil servant in his No 10 team, Nin Pandit, who previously served as Sir Keir’s principal private secretary. One senior Labour source told The Times that Sir Chris is now seen to be the “embodiment of Whitehall groupthink”, with ministers privately criticising the civil servant for a lack of dynamism and an excess of caution. There are growing concerns about Chris Wormald’s performance as cabinet secretary More

Watch live as Sir Keir Starmer and Kemi Badenoch face off in Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday (22 October).The government’s inquiry into the grooming gangs scandal is likely to be on the cards after four abuse survivors resigned from their roles in the victims and survivors liaison panel panel this week.Two survivors, Fiona Goddard and Ellie Reynolds, resigned on Monday (20 October), with two unnamed women following them on Tuesday (21 October).The women have accused ministers of sidelining their voices and hoping to widen the inquiry in order to deflect focus away from Labour-led councils.”This sense of control and stage-management has left many of us questioning whether our voices truly matter, or whether we are being used to legitimise decisions that have already been made,” said one of the women who wished to remain anonymous.Speaking after the resignations, Shabana Mahmood insisted the scope of the inquiry will not change and “will never be watered down on my watch”.Sir Keir is also expected to face a grilling over calls to strip Prince Andrew of his dukedom, which would require an act of Parliament. It comes after Andrew gave up his Duke of York Title last week, ahead of the publication of accuser Virginia Giuffre’s memoir.Sir Keir and Badenoch’s latest head-to-head also comes just hours after new Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures showed that inflation in the UK has held at 3.8% for the third month in a row.Angela Rayner is also due to make a personal statement to the Commons following her resignation as deputy PM in September. She stepped back from the role following her admission that she failed to pay the correct stamp duty on her Hove £800,000 flat. More

Lawyers, GPs and accountants will reportedly face higher taxes as Rachel Reeves looks to top up the Treasury’s coffers by targeting the wealthy.In her Budget next month, Ms Reeves is expected to announce a charge on workers who use limited liability partnerships, raising £2 billion as she tries to fill a hole in the public finances estimated at between £30 billion and £50 billion.The UK has 355,760 partnerships, with 86,030 of them having employees, according to Money.co.uk. They are particularly common in the legal world. Partnerships do not pay employer’s national insurance of 15 per cent because partners are treated as self-employed. Partners also pay a lower rate of employee NI.But Ms Reeves is preparing to announce changes to the system in her Budget, as reported by The Times.She will impose a new charge on partnerships in an effort to “equalise the tax treatment”. But the charge is expected to be levied at a slightly lower rate than employers’ rate of national insurance.Lawyers commonly work in partnerships so escape employer NI More

Pressure is mounting on Prince Andrew to give up his Windsor mansion and “take himself off to live in private” as a group of MPs urges the government to formally strip him of his dukedom. Shadow justice secretary Robert Jenrick said the public is “sick” of the disgraced royal, after it emerged he had paid only a peppercorn rent on his 30-room mansion for more than 20 years. Andrew announced he will give up use of his royal titles amid renewed focus on his links to Jeffrey Epstein. The prince vehemently denies the allegations that Virginia Giuffre, whose posthumous memoir Nobody’s Girl was officially published on Tuesday, was forced to have sex with him three times after being trafficked by the billionaire financier.“He’s embarrassed the royal family time and again,” Mr Jenrick said, adding that Andrew has behaved “disgracefully”. “He should really now leave public life forever, stop having any subsidy from the taxpayer whatsoever and go and lead an entirely private life. The public are sick of Prince Andrew and the damage that he’s done to the reputation of our royal family and this country.” Activists from the anti-monarchy group Republic protest on Tuesday at the gates to Royal Lodge where Prince Andrew lives More

There’s an old phrase in south Wales: “A one-legged donkey could run for Labour and people around here would still vote for it”. But on a rainy morning in the former mining town of Caerphilly, it is clear that the saying no longer rings true. Two days before a crucial by-election, there is no doubt that Sir Keir Starmer will struggle to retain this constituency, which has been considered a Labour stronghold since 1918. Polls currently show the governing party is heading for a total washout, with a two-horse race emerging between Nigel Farage’s right-wing Reform party and the Welsh nationalists, Plaid Cymru. Reform UK leader Nigel Farage with candidate Llyr Powell during a visit to Caerphilly More