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    Reform MP James McMurdock resigns whip over allegations of business impropriety

    A Reform UK MP has resigned the party whip pending an investigation into allegations of business impropriety before he was elected, the party’s chief whip has said. James McMurdock will sit as an independent while a probe takes place over the allegations, which he said are likely to emerge in the press this weekend. Reform’s chief whip Lee Anderson said: “At Reform UK, we take these matters very seriously and James has agreed to cooperate in full with any investigation.” James McMurdock voluntarily gave up the whip More

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    Rachel Reeves to announce review of workplace pensions contributions — here’s what it could mean

    Rachel Reeves is set to announce an overhaul of the pensions regime when she delivers a speech at Mansion House this month. The chancellor is due to appoint a commission to look at the adequacy of the pensions system, including the level of savings among the self-employed, the state pension and auto-enrolment rates. The proposal was announced last July after Labour won the general election, but put on hold after the chancellor’s brutal tax-hiking Budget created anger at the pressure piled on businesses.Rachel Reeves is set to announce a planned overhaul of the pensions system More

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    Police issue warning over Palestine Action protests after group proscribed as terrorist organisation

    The police have warned protesters against demonstrating in favour of Palestine Action after it was proscribed as a terrorist group by the government. Protesters are planning to gather in Parliament Square on Saturday holding signs supporting Palestine Action, according to campaign group Defend Our Juries.In a letter to Yvette Cooper, protesters said: “We do not wish to go to prison or to be branded with a terrorism conviction. But we refuse to be cowed into silence by your order.”A ban against Palestine Action has come into effect (Lucy North/PA) More

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    The leadership rumours inside Labour that speak volumes about Starmer’s future

    The images of Rachel Reeves crying on the frontbenches during PMQs on Wednesday – just hours after the government was forced into a humiliating £5bn climbdown on welfare – were stark. It looked like Sir Keir Starmer’s top team was on the brink of falling apart. But the following day, the prime minister came out fighting, insisting his chancellor – who also looked notably more cheery – was here to stay. A minister in tears would make news any day of the year. But on a day when questions over the prime minister’s leadership were already splashed across the papers, just days before he was due to mark one year in office, the image was even more jarring for Labour – and only served to add fuel to growing questions about whether or not he is the right person for the job.For weeks now, there have been whisperings of a possible leadership bid by Angela Rayner. The housing secretary’s repeated attempts to shut down the rumours – saying she has no desire to hold the top job – have done little to dampen speculation.The rumours speak volumes about the level of disaffection within the party over Sir Keir’s leadership and the direction of government. Labour won a thumping majority at last year’s general election. They had a clear mandate to deliver their so-called ‘plan for change’ and there was a real sense of optimism. But just one year on, that optimism is well and truly gone. After repeated attempts to reset the narrative, the prime minister’s authority has been damaged, while brutal polling shows that voters have turned away.Sir Keir Starmer is about to mark one year in office More

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    Reeves refuses to rule out tax rises after ‘damaging’ welfare bill U-turn

    Rachel Reeves has avoided ruling out future tax rises after admitting the government’s concessions on its welfare reforms had been “damaging”.The government narrowly avoided a major Commons defeat on Tuesday in the wake of a backbench rebellion after it performed a U-turn on plans restrict eligibility for the personal independence payment (PIP).But as she faced questions about how the climbdown would affect the Treasury, the chancellor warned there would be “costs to what happened”.The original welfare proposals had been part of a package that ministers expected would save up to £5bn a year – with economists warning that tax rises are now likely to plug a gap left by the concessions to rebels.Ms Reeves said: “It’s been damaging. I’m not going to deny that, but I think where we are now, with a review led by [disability minister] Stephen Timms, who is obviously incredibly respected and has a huge amount of experience, that’s the route we’re taking now.”Chancellor of the Exchequer Rachel Reeves (Jacob King/PA) More

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    A year of Keir: the first 365 days of Starmer in power

    Sir Keir Starmer is marking his first year in Downing Street after suffering the shortest honeymoon of any prime minister in history, despite winning a massive 411 seats and a working majority of 156.After 365 days of his premiership, Labour is lingering in the polls at 23 per cent, behind Nigel Farage’s insurgent Reform UK (28 per cent), and one of the defining images of this government so far may be chancellor Rachel Reeves in tears in the Commons earlier this week.When Starmer took office he promised growth and benefits for “working people”, but his national insurance tax rise has left fewer jobs and an economy that is stagnating.He has, though, pledged a 2.8 per cent increase to the NHS spending budget over a three-year period, amounting to a £30bn rise by 2028.Sir Keir has been a success on the international stage, with three trade deals and a pivotal role in the war in Ukraine and crises in the Middle East. He will have brought defence spending up to 2.5 per cent of GDP by April 2027 and aims to get to 3 per cent in the next parliament.The prime minister has become the “Trump whisperer”, winning over the erratic US president while rebuilding Britain’s international relationships and reputation around the globe. Despite the weakness of his position at home, with some in Labour suggesting he could be ousted as early as May next year, he remains the last reasonable option for a leader with fiscal responsibility at the head of a party that wants to take the brakes off spending and raise taxes.But he marked his first anniversary with a significant rebellion, which saw him ditch welfare reforms that would have saved his government £5bn a year, largely on disability benefits.Losing ground in the pollsThough Labour won 411 of 650 seats in last year’s general election, the party took home a more moderate 33.8 per cent of the national vote on a turnout of just 60 per cent, with some describing it as “the loveless landslide”. Labour lost 10%of its vote share since the electionNow, one year later, polls from Techne show that just 23 per cent of voters would opt for Labour in a general election. Yet the past year has seen Reform UK make an unprecedented climb in the polls, at 28 per cent of the vote (according to Techne) – leaving the Tories reduced to 18 per cent.Labour still leads among younger voters, finding favour with 29 per cent of 18- to 34-year-olds. But older voters have turned to Farage and Reform, now the first-choice party for a third of voters aged 55 and over.Added to this, confidence in the government is running at an all-time low of just 25 per cent, and Sir Keir’s personal net favourability has fallen to a new low of -46, according to YouGov.Freebies and giftsPart of his rapid loss in popularity came when it emerged that Sir Keir, his wife Lady Victoria and a number of senior cabinet ministers had received controversial free gifts. These included hospitality at Arsenal, worth £8,750 per game, for the PM to watch his favourite football team.£39,000clothes and accommodation donated to the PM by Lord AlliSir Keir received nearly £19,000 worth of work clothes and several pairs of glasses, as well as £20,000 worth of accommodation, from Waheed Alli, the former chair of online fashion retailer Asos. The PM also received a £4,000 ticket from the Football Association to see Taylor Swift at Wembley Stadium. It also emerged that he had failed to declare a gift of clothes for his wife Victoria from Lord Alli.Mastering the trade dealThe UK has negotiated two major trade deals, while a third has come in the form of a “Brexit reset” with the EU. The UK-India trade agreement was years in the making, but was finally signed in May this year. The deal represents a £25.5bn boost to trade, according to government estimates. Meanwhile, as Donald Trump unleashed tariffs across the world, the UK came out relatively unscathed – a feat that has largely been attributed to Sir Keir’s negotiations with his US counterpart. £6.5bn savedfrom negotiating a US tariff deal (estimated)By bringing down automotive tariffs from 25 to 10 per cent, and eliminating levies on British cars, the US-UK trade deal is estimated to cut the blow from tariffs in half – from £10.8bn to £4.3bn, according to analysis revealed by The Independent. The tariff on steel, though, remains at 25 per cent and is subject to more negotiations.Voting recordIn the past year, Sir Keir voted just nine times in parliament, three of which were in the last month. The prime minister has blamed international engagements for his absences.9 votesby Starmer in parliament since becoming PMHe has weighed in exclusively on welfare, assisted dying, immigration, winter fuel payments and the Budget.By contrast, his predecessor Rishi Sunak voted 22 times in his first year as prime minister. Ups and downs in immigrationSir Keir’s Labour can claim a victory in tackling migration, one of its manifesto pledges. This government has in part overseen the largest drop in net migration in recent history, down from 739,000 in the year ending June 2024 to 431,000 in the year to December 2024. At least six months of this period was under his predecessor Rishi Sunak’s government, with net migration already dropping from its peak in June 2023. These figures are the lowest in over three years, following spiralling immigration post-Brexit. Net migration is still twice as high as pre-Brexit levels, and far from the 100,000 target set by David Cameron. Small boat arrivals paint a far less optimistic picture. The number of people crossing the channel has increased significantly under Labour, by 34 per cent. There have been around 42,000 small boat arrivals in the year ending 30 June 2025, compared to 31,000 in the previous year, and the figure is on course to exceed the peak of 45,000 in 2022.Resignations and rebellionsSir Keir has already faced eight resignations by ministers, most notably international development minister Anneliese Dodds, who quit over brutal cuts to the UK’s aid budget from 0.5 per cent of GDP to 0.3 per cent. Two ministers resigned over cuts to disability benefits, while Treasury secretary Tulip Siddiq stepped back amid a corruption investigation involving her aunt, Sheikh Hasina, a former prime minister of Bangladesh. Just weeks after the election, Labour suspended seven MPs who voted against the whip for an amendment to scrap the two-child benefit cap, while a further 42 abstained. 7Labour MPs voted against the whip last JulyThree MPs – John McDonnell, Apsana Begum and Zarah Sultana – have still not been readmitted into the Labour fold nearly 12 months later. Ms Sultana has since announced she is starting a new party with former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.The government’s welfare bill, which passed just this week by 335 to 260 votes, faced major criticism for risking a restrictive system that could limit benefits for those who need them most. A total of 49 Labour rebels voted against it. A year of U-turnsIn 12 months, Sir Keir has reversed or significantly altered his stance on five major political issues.In addition to watering down this week’s welfare bill, Sir Keir announced that winter fuel payments will be extended to a further 7.5 million pensioners, after raising the threshold for eligibility early in his government to help fill a black hole of £22bn Ms Reeves claimed to have found in the country’s finances. 5significant U-turns by StarmerBefore the election, Labour promised it would not increase national insurance payments, but then increased employer national insurance contributions by 2 per cent.Sir Keir also finally agreed to launch an inquiry into grooming gangs, after months of deeming it unnecessary and describing those calling for one as “far right”. He also said that the “Waspi” women would not receive compensation for the increase in the state pension age, having promised before he was elected that a Labour government would compensate them.Inflation and debtOverall, inflation has gradually increased over a year of Labour governance, landing at 3.4 per cent in May. This is up from 2.2 per cent in July 2024, the month of the general election, leading to concerns about interest rates.Critics have claimed that after the last Tory government brought inflation down to 2.2 per cent, Labour are now beginning to lose control of it again. £2.86 trillionpublic sector debtThe UK’s national debt stands at £2.86 trillion, up by £130bn since the general election, according to the Office for National Statistics. Overall, debt makes up 96.4 per cent of Britain’s gross domestic product (GDP), according to the latest figures – up from 95.9 per cent last May. This is despite fiscal rules limiting debt imposed on the Treasury by Ms Reeves.This climbing debt comes with a hefty interest bill, to the tune of £5.6bn a year. Benefits and unemployment 9% of the budgetis spent on working-age benefitsAn analysis by The Independent earlier this year found that the number of disability benefit recipients in the UK has risen more than other countries since Covid. However, the state spends less on welfare overall compared with other European countries. Nonetheless, welfare spending made up nearly a third (28 per cent) of the Labour government’s first Budget, at £303bn, with the majority going towards state pensions and benefits for the elderly population. Working-age benefits alone cost £117.6bn, around 4.2 per cent of GDP, which is more than defence and education spending. At the same time, the UK is the only G7 nation that has seen economic inactivity increase since Covid. It currently stands at 21.3 per cent of working-age people.But economic inactivity has gone down over the first year of Sir Keir’s Labour government, from 9.47 million people up to June last year, to 9.19 million people in the latest figures (April 2025).The number of payrolled employees dropped by 115,000 in the last year following the 2 per cent national insurance increase. The UK unemployment claimant count for May 2025 increased on the month and the year to 1.735 million.Female MPsLast July, the UK parliament became the most diverse in British history, in terms of both gender and ethnicity. Four in 10 MPs are women, with 263 female MPs elected across most parties in parliament.72%of women in parliament are Labour MPsThe majority of this group (72 per cent) are Labour representatives, with nearly half of all Labour MPs being women (190 out of 403).There are seven female politicians in the cabinet, including deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and chancellor Ms Reeves. More

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    We now know what Starmerism is – but the prime minister lacks an inspirational vision

    It usually takes years in power before a political leader’s name is followed by an “-ism” to define their guiding philosophy.But as Sir Keir Starmer marks his first anniversary as prime minister, he has already offered up “Starmerism” as a concept for himself without even bothering to wait for the usual friendly commentator to invent it for him.Some portray it as his unfortunate nicknames “two tier Keir” (from the rows over justice and welfare) or “never here Keir” (from his many trips abroad) as his defining terms, but he clearly has something very different in mind.His definition of “Starmerism” actually slipped out when he was taking questions from journalists on the plane as he flew out to Canada for the G7 summit.Starmer with his wife Victoria More

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    Reform UK run council removes all trans books from children’s library section

    A Reform UK-run council has removed all transgender-related books from children’s sections in its libraries, the leader has announced.Kent County Council leader Linden Kemkaran said in a post on social media the books will be removed with immediate effect in a “victory for common sense in Kent”.Councillor Paul Webb, cabinet member for communities and regulatory services at the council, said that he acted to remove all the books after concerns from a resident.In a video posted on X, he said: “I was recently contacted by a concerned member of the public who found trans ideological material and books in the children’s section of one of our libraries.“I looked into it and this was the case. I have issued an instruction for them all to be removed from the children’s section of any of our libraries. They do not belong in the children’s section of our libraries.“Our children do not need to be told they were born in the wrong bodies and from today this will stop.”It is understood that the books will not be completely removed but rather relocated to different sections in libraries.Linden Kemkaran (front centre), leader of the Reform UK Kent County Council group, with the Reform UK councillors More