UK Politics

Union members stage protest ahead of Labour winter fuel allowance debate at the party conference in LiverpoolYour support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseMy recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyondEric GarciaWashington Bureau ChiefSir Keir Starmer has left the Labour Party conference to join world leaders at the United Nations in the US to deliver his first speech as prime minister. He will use his address to the UN General Assembly to promise that his government will deliver “global leadership” as the Middle East teeters on the brink of all-out conflict and the bloody war in Ukraine grinds on.On a tough week after calling for the return of “sausages” in Gaza during a conference gaffe, Sir Keir has been defeated in a vote to reverse the cut to the winter fuel payments. The non-binding motion, named An Economy for the Future and tabled by Sharon Graham of the Unite union and the Communication Workers Union (CWU), was passed by a show of hands in a rowdy hall at the Labour Party annual conference. In a show of defiance, Unite’s general secretary Sharon Graham called Labour members to rebel against the policy as she shouted: “This is not what people voted for.”The motion called for means testing of the winter fuel allowance to be scrapped and for an end to fiscal rules which prevent borrowing to invest, as well as the introduction of a wealth tax.eShow latest update 1727276155Starmer: We will listen carefully to Zelensky’s demands for Ukraine military aidUkraine’s desire to use western missiles to strike targets in Russia will not be the “sole issue” in Volodymyr Zelensky’s “victory plan”, Sir Keir Starmer said.The US and UK have so far refused to give Kyiv permission to use the missiles they have supplied against targets in Russia, despite repeated pleas from Mr Zelensky.The Ukrainian president has said that he is having to fight with his hands tied because he is unable to use the weapons to strike Russian airfields and military facilities which President Vladimir Putin is using to launch deadly air raids, missiles and drones.Sir Keir is in New York for the United Nations General Assembly, where Mr Zelensky will present his plan for the next stage of the war to his allies.The prime minister said: “I do think it’s going to take quite a bit of time at the UN General Assembly. And I think that’s really important, because it’s at a critical stage.“Obviously, President Zelensky has a plan that he wants to walk through with all of us – we knew that was going to happen.“The support for Ukraine is resolute. We supply quite a lot of capability already under the last government; we’ve increased that under this government – that’s not a criticism of the last government – and we will always listen very carefully to what Ukraine says it needs by way of capability.”Salma Ouaguira25 September 2024 15:551727275739Diane Abbott urges Starmer to ditch winter fuel payment cut following voteSalma Ouaguira25 September 2024 15:481727275223 Why can Starmer still axe winter fuel payments after losing key vote?Labour delegates have voted in favour of a non-binding motion calling to reverse the controversial cut to the winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.In an embarrassing blow to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, he now faces mounting pressure over the policy that has been criticised for being disproportionately harmful to the poorest pensioners.The motion, tabled by Sharon Graham of the Unite union, was narrowly carried by a show of hands in a rowdy hall at the Labour Party annual conference.The outcome of the vote will now test Starmer’s ability to manage dissent within the party. Questions remain about whether he will reverse the policy or not:Salma Ouaguira25 September 2024 15:401727274023Escalation in Israel-Hezbollah war ‘deeply troubling’, Swinney saysScotland’s First Minister has said the escalation of violence in the Israel-Hezbollah war is “deeply troubling” and that any Scots caught up in the “awful conflict” should have safe passage out of Lebanon.UK citizens are being urged to leave Lebanon as Israel launched an intense series of air strikes earlier this week.Hezbollah today fired a ballistic missile at Tel Aviv, the first time it has targeted central Israel since the exchanges broke out around Israel’s northern border.Speaking to journalists, John Swinney said the Scottish government would work with the UK government to ensure any Scots in Lebanon can leave safely.He said: “I’m deeply concerned about the situation in Lebanon, as I have been about the situation in Gaza for almost a year.”Mr Swinney added: “The escalation in violence is deeply troubling and the loss of innocent life is unconscionable.“So, we need to have a solution to the Middle East conflict. We need to have a de-escalation of the conflict.”Salma Ouaguira25 September 2024 15:201727272856Windrush report expected to reveal roots of scandal after delays to publicationThe long-awaited publication of a report into the roots of the Windrush scandal is key to reinforcing transparency around government, a campaigner has said.The Home Office previously refused to publish the Historical Roots Of The Windrush Scandal report after a request under the Freedom of Information Act.Earlier this month, a First-Tier Tribunal judgment said the department must disclose the report to the requester, but it is understood Labour has decided to go further and is expected to publish the report on the government website soon.In 2022, the Guardian said that, according to a leaked copy of the document, the report concluded the origins of the “deep-rooted racism of the Windrush scandal” lie in the fact that from 1950 to 1981 “every single piece of immigration or citizenship legislation was designed at least in part to reduce the number of people with black or brown skin who were permitted to live and work in the UK”.During this year’s election campaign, Labour pledged to offer “a fundamental reset moment for the Windrush generation, with respect and dignity at its very core”.Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said in June that if elected he would ensure “urgent reform” of the compensation scheme to make it more efficient, a restoration of the Windrush Unit to the Home Office, and a Windrush commissioner “to be the voice of families affected”.Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer attends a coffee morning with members of the Windrush generation at a school in Vauxhall, London More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentWatch live as world leaders take part in the 79th annual UN General Assembly high-level debate on Wednesday 25 September.Sir Keir Starmer is expected to deliver a speech later in the day on conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.The prime minister is in New York for the General Assembly this week, where Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will also present his plan for the next stage of the war to his allies.Sir Keir has suggested the UK will listen carefully to Mr Zelensky’s demands for military aid, and said that Kyiv’s desire to use western missiles to strike targets in Russia will not be the “sole issue” in their “victory plan”.The US and UK have so far refused to give Ukraine permission to use the missiles they have supplied against targets in Russia, despite repeated pleas from Mr Zelensky.The Ukrainian president has said that he is having to fight with his hands tied because he is unable to use the weapons to strike Russian airfields and military facilities which Vladimir Putin is using to launch deadly air raids, missiles and drones. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House Correspondent Michael Gove, who was a longtime U.K. Cabinet minister under successive Conservative Party governments, has been appointed as the editor of The Spectator, one of the world’s oldest political magazines.Wednesday’s announcement came little more than two weeks after billionaire hedge fund manager Paul Marshall bought the magazine via his company Old Queen Street Ventures. The Spectator has a long-standing reputation of supporting the Conservative Party and providing intellectual ballast to its discussions both in and out of power. Marshall is already the co-owner of U.K. channel GB News, which launched three years ago as a right-leaning, Fox News-style alternative to mainstream news channels. “Alongside his political and journalistic nous, Michael brings a love of books, philosophy, art, opera — and a mischievous sense of humor,” said Freddie Sayers, chief executive of new owner OQS. “He is perfectly suited to this role, and I can’t wait to work together to bring The Spectator to new audiences.” Gove, who served in the successive governments of Prime Ministers David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak, will take up his new role at the start of October. Gove served in a variety of Cabinet positions from 2010 until July, when the Conservative Party suffered its worst election defeat for nearly two centuries. The Tories lost power after 14 years, with the Labour Party taking the reins.Before he became a lawmaker after the 2005 general election, Gove had been a prominent journalist at The Times and considered a close confidante of its owner Rupert Murdoch.The Spectator is one of the world’s oldest politics and current affairs magazines, established in 1828 in London’s Old Queen Street, which has given its name to Marshall’s OQS venture. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentDelegates at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool have voted to reverse the government’s controversial cut to winter fuel payments, in a blow to Sir Keir Starmer.While motions at the party conference are non-binding, and the government is not required to respond to them, the vote highlights major division within the party over the controversial policy.In July, Rachel Reeves announced that older people not in receipt of pension credits or other means-tested benefits will no longer receive winter fuel payments from this year onwards.The decision came as part of a series of spending cuts to address a black hole in the public finances left by the previous Conservative government announced in July by the chancellor.The winter fuel payment is a payment of either £200 or £300 to help pensioners with their heating bills.Delegates at the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool have voted to reverse the government’s controversial cut to winter fuel payments, in a damaging blow to Sir Keir Starmer’s authority More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House Correspondent Members of Britain’s governing Labour Party dealt Prime Minister Keir Starmer a blow on Wednesday, rejecting his decision to cut payments that offset winter heating costs for millions of retirees.The vote on the final day of Labour’s annual conference is not binding, but it’s a setback to Starmer’s efforts to unite his center-left party around the contentious measure.Since winning office in July, Starmer has cautioned that the dire state of the public finances inherited from the last Conservative government means he must make hard choices such as ending the winter fuel allowance, worth between 200 and 300 pounds ($262 and $393), for all but the poorest pensioners.Trade unions that are among Labour’s funders and allies organized resistance to the cut at the conference in Liverpool, northwest England. They forced a vote on a demand for the decision to be reversed. It was narrowly passed in a show-of-hands vote amid cheers and jeers in the conference hall.“I do not understand how our new Labour government can cut the winter fuel payment for pensioners and leave the super-rich untouched,” said Sharon Graham, general secretary of the Unite union, to applause from delegates. “This is not what people voted for. It is the wrong decision and it needs to be reversed.”Unite boss leads ‘save the winter fuel’ protest at Labour conferenceThe government has promised the withdrawal of the heating allowance will be offset by an above-inflation increase in the state pension and other measures to reduce poverty.Work and Pensions Secretary Liz Kendall told delegates that the cut “wasn’t a decision we wanted or expected to make.” But she argued that “this Labour government has done more to help the poorest pensioners in the last two months than the Tories did in 14 years.”Starmer tried to unite the party and appeal to a skeptical electorate in his first conference speech as prime minister on Tuesday, telling voters exhausted by years of political and economic turmoil that better times are on the way — if they swallow his recipe of short-term pain for long-term gain.He said he would make “tough decisions” — code for public spending restraint and tax increases — to achieve economic growth to fund schools, hospitals, roads, railways and more.Starmer acknowledged some of those decisions would be unpopular, but said: “We will turn our collar up and face the storm.” More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentWes Streeting has warned against “killing the NHS with kindness”, as he vowed not to back down in his mission to reform the health service.Giving a speech on the main stage of the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool, the health secretary said the NHS is “broken but not beaten”, accusing the previous Conservative administration of having betrayed the service by leaving it “totally unprepared for tomorrow”.Mr Streeting told delegates on the final day of the conference that the government won’t put “protecting the reputation of the NHS above protecting patients”.This came after Lord Ara Darzi’s independent investigation into the state of the NHS, published in September, concluded that the service is in a “critical condition” amid surging waiting lists and a deterioration in the nation’s underlying health.Referencing the report, the health secretary said: “I know the doctor’s diagnosis can sometimes be hard to hear. But if you don’t have an accurate diagnosis, you won’t provide the correct prescription.Wes Streeting has warned against “killing the NHS with kindness”, as he vowed not to back down in his mission to reform the health service More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentLabour delegates have voted in favour of a non-binding motion calling to reverse the controversial cut to the winter fuel payments for millions of pensioners.In an embarrassing blow to prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, he now faces mounting pressure over the policy that has been criticised for being disproportionately harmful to the poorest pensioners.The motion, tabled by Sharon Graham of the Unite union, was narrowly carried by a show of hands in a rowdy hall at the Labour Party annual conference.Sir Keir has emphasised the need for economic stability, but union leaders successfully argued that the cuts undermine Labour’s promise of change and are economically unsound.The outcome of the vote will now test Starmer’s ability to manage dissent within the party. Questions remain about whether he will reverse the policy or not.Union members campaigning at conference More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentWatch as Wes Streeting and Bridget Phillipson speak at the Labour Party conference on Wednesday 25 September.Mr Streeting, the health secretary, has called for a “national debate” about the prospect of banning smoking outside pubs.A restriction is being considered by the government as part of a range of measures which will be set out shortly, he has said.Ministers are examining what can be done to help smokers quit and to “deal with the scourge of second-hand smoke and passive smoke.”“We definitely want to see smoking phased out in our country, we committed to that in our manifesto,” Mr Streeting told Sky News ahead of his speech.“We want to make sure this generation of children are the healthiest generation that ever lived and therefore they will never be able to legally buy cigarettes.”Asked if he will ban smoking outside pubs, he said: “Look, that’s one of the measures that I’m considering, and I’m up for a national debate on this issue.” More