Indy TV

Angela Rayner was filmed dancing behind DJ decks at an Ibiza nightclub with Fisher and Denise Van Outen.Footage posted to the TV presenter’s Instagram page showed what she described as a “surprise DJ booth rave up” with the deputy prime minister.Rayner wore a red dress as she partied with the Australian music producer, singing along to a dance remix of Gotye’s “Somebody That I Used to Know.”She was filmed jumping and dancing as smoke cannons erupted at the venue. More

Nigel Farage has branded smokers the “heroes of the nation in terms of the amount of taxation they pay”, in response to a potential cigarettes ban outside pubs.The Reform UK leader lit up a cigarette outside the Westminster Arms shortly before 6pm on Thursday (29 August), less than 400m from the Prime Minister’s official residence in Downing Street.Sir Keir Starmer earlier told reporters the loss of lives because of smoking are “preventable” and that his ministers would “take decisions” on an outdoor cigarettes ban.According to leaked Whitehall papers, ministers could extend the indoor smoking ban to beer gardens, university and hospital campuses, sports grounds, children’s play areas and small parks. More

Liberal Democrats leader Sir Ed Davey has said his party will attempt to block the government’s proposed move to end the winter fuel allowance to some pensioners, describing the move as the new administration’s “first big mistake”.Sir Ed said Labour MPs and others across the House will be “genuinely worried” about the move after correspondence with constituents.Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the government is withdrawing winter fuel payments from millions of pensioner households not in receipt of benefits.The Liberal Democrat leader believes the move would “hit millions” so a vote in parliament is needed, urging the government to “think again”. More

Sir Keir Starmer admitted that things are “worse than we ever imagined” as he warned of the government’s forthcoming Budget in his first key speech as prime minister on Tuesday, 27 August.The PM said his warning came due to a £22bn “black hole” in public finances, claiming to have found out last week that the Conservatives had borrowed almost £5bn more than the Office for Budget Responsibility expected.Sir Keir also defended his decisions to release some prisoners early and means-test the pensioners’ winter fuel allowance as “tough actions” are needed to fix the country’s foundations. More

Labour minister Pat McFadden has told pensioners concerned about plans to restrict winter fuel payments that it is “not a decision (Labour) wanted to take”.Speaking on BBC Breakfast on Sunday (25 August), Mr McFadden said: “When we came into office we found billions of pounds of unfunded spending commitments… so we had to make a very difficult decision.“It’s really important that people know that if they’re entitled to Pension Credit they’ll still get this benefit. There are an estimated almost 900,000 pensioners who are entitled to Pension Credit who don’t currently claim it.“We will do everything we can to encourage people to claim this. We want people to claim things they’re entitled to.” More

Journalist Nick Robinson has revealed the moment he thought a “furious” prime minister was going to hit him.The BBC presenter recalled attending a G20 summit in 2009, with the then prime minister Gordon Brown.Robinson discussed the moment with No. 10 communications director Simon Lewis on the BBC Radio 4Today podcast on Friday (16 August).He said: “It’s the closest I have ever come to a serving politician hitting me. I genuinely thought Gordon Brown was going to hit me at one stage, he was so furious.” More

Jess Phillips has said she “could have phrased” a tweet shared after gangs of men in balaclavas turned out in Birmingham “better”.The Home Office minister wrote that “rumours have been spread that a far right group were coming and it was done entirely to get Muslim people out on the street to drive this content. It is misinformation being spread to create trouble” after masked men threatened a Sky reporter in Birmingham earlier in August.Phillips’ post came after groups of men gathered outside a mosque in the Bordesley Green area following rumours that the far right were planning on targeting it.Ms Phillips later said: “We felt it wasn’t real what was being told… that people were coming to harm them was undoubtedly to cause upset and fear and that’s exactly what it did.” More

Elon Musk’s comments on far-right rioting in the UK were “unjustifiable,” justice minister Heidi Alexander has said in condemnation of the X/Twitter owner.The head of the social media network replied to a video on the platform depicting rioting in the UK with a claim that “civil war is inevitable.”Mr Musk’s comments came as violence spread across the UK following the deaths of three children in a stabbing attack in Southport last week.Rioting followed the spread of false claims online that the suspect, identified as 17-year-old Axel Rudakubana from Lancashire, was an asylum seeker who had arrived in the UK by boat. More