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Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer and his wife Victoria arrived at a polling station to cast their votes in the local and London Mayoral elections today.Voters head to the polls on Thursday (2 May) in a series of local elections seen as the final test of public opinion before Rishi Sunak goes to the country later this year.A total of 11 mayoral contests are also taking place, including for the London mayoralty between frontrunners, Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan and Tory challenger Susan Hall.Sir Keir arrived to vote in his Holborn and St Pancras constituency early on Thursday. More

Conservative London Mayor candidate Susan Hall arrived early to cast her vote in the local elections on Thursday (2 May).Ms Hall. dressed in a purple jacket, arrived at Hatch End Lawn Tennis Club to cast her vote earlier today.Voters head to the polls on Thursday in a series of local elections seen as the final test of public opinion before Rishi Sunak goes to the country later this year.A total of 11 mayoral contests are also taking place, including for the London mayoralty between frontrunners, Labour incumbent Sadiq Khan and Tory challenger Ms Hall. More

Jeremy Hunt has responded to former Conservative deputy chairman Lee Anderson’s claims that Rishi Sunak “treated him badly” by suspending him from the party.The prime minister suspended Mr Anderson from the party in February, following a racist rant he made about Sadiq Khan on GB News.Appearing on ITV show Peston on Wednesday (1 May), Mr Hunt was quizzed about what happened.He said: “Lee Anderson made his choice, and he has chosen to leave the Conservative Party.“I think it is very sad that he did that.” More

Sir Keir Starmer has revealed the moment he considered quitting as Labour leader.Sir Keir admitted he thought of stepping down as leader after Labour lost both the Hartlepool by-election and council seats in 2021.In an interview with Sky News on Wednesday (1 May), he said: “It really hit me because my job was to turn around the party and take us from defeat to success and losing hurts in politics.“It was a very very low moment.”Sir Keir added: “I did [consider quitting] because I didn’t feel that I should be bigger than the party and that if i couldn’t bring about the change then there should be a change.” More

Sir Keir Starmer has denied reports he would retain the Rwanda scheme if elected.The Labour leader told Sky News he does not believe in the scheme and criticised Rishi Sunak’s government for “losing control of the borders”.“I don’t think it will work, I know we have to stop the boats and I want to get going with our plan on day one,” Sir Keir said.“I’m absolutely determined to tackle this problem, because the government has lost control of the borders. What I’m not going to do is flog a dead horse.” More

The moment immigration enforcement removed migrants from homes for deportation to Rwanda was filmed on video released by the Home Office on Wednesday, 1 May.A series of operations were carried out this week with more due to take place soon, the Home Office said.It has not been confirmed how many people were detained or where they were taken into custody.Footage shows authorities raiding homes and removing people before detaining them in a vehicle.It comes after Rishi Sunak’s controversial Safety of Rwanda Act became law last week. More

Commons speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle told off MPs for behaving like teenagers during a heated Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday (1 May).Sir Lindsay told members to “stop banging on furniture” and said “We are not in the sixth form now” as he threatened to remove them from the Commons over their inappropriate behaviour.Sir Lindsay’s comments came as Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer faced each other in the Commons ahead of local elections in 107 local authorities across England tomorrow (2 May). More

Theresa May has ruled out a David Cameron-style return to politics once she steps down at the next election.Speaking at a Chatham House event on Tuesday (30 April), Mrs May was asked by an audience member whether she would consider a return to frontline politics.She replied: “I set up a global commission on modern slavery and human trafficking last October.“I have just spent a day in New York at the United Nations talking about that global commission with some of my fellow commissioners and it is taking more time than I expected.“That is why I am stepping down from Parliament, so I think I am going to have plenty to do.” More