UK Politics

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreIt was the meeting that could well define Keir Starmer’s premiership and the most important set of discussions between a British PM and a US President in decades. Sir Keir and Donald Trump met in the White House for the first time since last month’s inauguration with an agenda that included issues from securing lasting peace in Ukraine to tariffs and a potential US-UK trade deal. Here we run down the PM’s wins and losses from the historic encounter. In an unexpected win Sir Keir will surely be celebrating, Trump’s threats of tariffs on imported goods to the US now appear to be aimed more at EU than the UK. In a press conference after their Oval Office meeting, the president suggested that a US-UK trade deal could be signed “rather quickly” and might mean that tariffs on UK goods into the US would be unnecessary. “I think there’s a very good chance that in the case of these two great friendly countries, I think we could very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs,” the president said.The two leaders met at the White House More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreSir Keir Starmer delivered a diplomatic success on Thursday as he appeared to charm Donald Trump into cooperation on major issues during his visit to the White House.Even before formal talks had begun, the prime minister looked to have secured a number of concessions on areas including trade and Ukraine.In front of reporters and cameras in the Oval Office, their meeting began with a flourish from Sir Keir as he produced a letter from King Charles inviting the US president to make a second state visit to Britain.A pre-visit will initially take place at Balmoral, but Mr Trump could also address a joint sitting of parliament at Westminster. As the president accepted the invitation, Sir Keir emphasised that he is the first president to have secured two state visit invitations.President Trump, who dominated the news conference, was also flattered when the prime minister thanked him “for changing the conversation on Ukraine”.But there were some awkward moments, including when Mr Trump mocked the prime minister, asking: “Can you take on Russia by yourselves?” – at which Sir Keir only laughed.In good news for Sir Keir, Mr Trump endorsed his controversial Chagos Islands deal, which hands the territory to Mauritius. This is a blow to Nigel Farage, who has been leading a lobbying effort to overturn the agreement.The president also appeared to warm to the idea of supporting a security backstop for Ukraine, while emphasising his intention to impose trade tariffs on the EU – but not the UK.“I think there’s a very good chance that in the case of these two great friendly countries, I think we could very well end up with a real trade deal where the tariffs wouldn’t be necessary,” Mr Trump said.By the time the two leaders and their respective teams – including British foreign secretary David Lammy and Labour chief of staff Morgan McSweeney, and on the US side, vice-president JD Vance and secretary of state Marco Rubio – went to have lunch and engage in formal talks, the prime minister was well on his way to securing some of the key goals from his visit.Mr Trump described the leaders’ relationship as “tremendous”, adding: “We get along very famously.”And he said Britain’s troops “would not need the support of America” if attacked by Russia in Ukraine, “because they are very good”, but conceded that America “would have Britain’s back”.While he did not completely rule out the imposition of tariffs on Britain, he said the EU “took advantage of the US”, referring to the bloc having a large trade deficit.On the long-running saga of the Chagos Islands deal, Mr Trump said: “I have a feeling it is going to work out very well. I think we will be inclined to go along with your country.”He even awkwardly complimented the prime minister’s wife, Lady Victoria.Asked about common ground between the two leaders, Mr Trump said: “He loves his country and so do I.” He added: “I’m very impressed with him, and very impressed with his wife: she’s a beautiful, great woman.”Mr Trump also appears to have been pleased about Sir Keir’s boost to Britain’s defence spending – a policy decision the prime minister is set to reinforce this weekend when key EU leaders including Volodymyr Zelensky join him for a weekend conference in London.However, there were some tense moments. One hiccup came when Mr Vance repeated his criticism – which he made at the Munich Security Conference earlier this month – that European governments, including Britain’s, had retreated from their values and ignored the concerns of voters on migration and free speech.Sir Keir retorted: “We’ve had free speech for a very, very long time in the United Kingdom. Britain has a long history of free speech, and will have a long history of free speech going forward.”Mr Trump also said that he trusts Vladimir Putin, adding that he is confident that Russia’s president will “keep his word” in the negotiations over Ukraine.And he laughed at a question about why he had called President Zelensky a dictator. “Did I say that?” he said, apparently joking. “I don’t believe I said that. Next question.” There was also uncertainty about the nature of any security backstop for Ukraine against Russia. Mr Trump appeared to suggest that the presence of US employees extracting minerals as part of the vaunted commercial deal would provide Kyiv with a guarantee against Putin.“I don’t think anybody is going to play around if we’re there with a lot of workers,” Mr Trump said. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreWatch as Sir Keir Starmer and Donald Trump hold a joint press conference after their crunch talks on Ukraine and defence on Thursday, 27 February.Earlier that day in the Oval Office, the US president said he and the UK prime minister “get along famously” and accepted an invitation that Sir Keir delivered from King Charles III for a second state visit to the UK.Sir Keir is visiting Washington to push the reluctant Mr Trump to provide a US “backstop” to prevent Vladimir Putin from launching a fresh assault on Ukraine after any peace deal.They are also discussing Sir Keir’s Chagos deal after concern from Downing Street that the Republican administration would veto the deal, which hands over the archipelago to Mauritius.But speaking alongside Sir Keir, the president said Britain has agreed a “strong lease” on the military base, adding: “I think we will be inclined to go along with your country. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreKeir Starmer is facing calls to raise reports Donald Trump’s administration pressed the Romanian government to lift travel restrictions that allowed Andrew Tate to leave the country where he is facing trafficking charges.Alicia Kearns, the former chair of the Commons foreign affairs committee, said the prime minister had to make clear to Mr Trump that the Tate brothers “have charges to face in Romania and UK”, when he meets the US President in the White House. The controversial social media influencer, 38, and his brother Tristan, 36, are facing a string of criminal charges in Romania including rape, human trafficking and exploiting women. Both deny all the charges.Andrew Tate flew out of Romania on Thursday morning (Andreea Alexandru/AP) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreA rearmament drive paid for by slashing the UK’s foreign aid budget shows the “completely wrong priorities” of the Labour government, Diane Abbott has said as she slammed Sir Keir’s policy. The veteran Labour MP said it demonstrated there was a “chasm” between the decision and the values of her party, arguing the move would not add to the UK’s security and was “morally indefensible”. She also accused “fading world powers” of believing that a failure to defeat Russia in Ukraine would undermine their standing in the world, leading to “extraordinary and panicked measures”. Diane Abbott has hit out at her party leader’s policy More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreA regulator has been accused of a “lack of ambition” over the Online Safety Act, with one charity warning that tech sites can do less on safety and still comply with the new rules because of a “checklist” approach.Andy Burrows, chief executive of the Molly Rose Foundation, said new online safety laws have some “pretty clear systemic weaknesses” in how Ofcom is implementing them, and called for the Government to intervene and create a strengthened version of the Act.Speaking to Sky News, Mr Burrows said the current approach of Ofcom setting out codes of practice for tech platforms to follow meant that some of the biggest sites could “scale back” their safety measures and still be compliant with the Online Safety Act.“What we’re seeing from Ofcom is a distinct lack of ambition,” Mr Burrows said.“They are being cautious in the face of really pronounced, urgent challenges but that has also exposed some pretty clear systemic weaknesses with the way the original Act was drafted.“One of the big problems right now is that, essentially, if some of the big tech platforms comply with a checklist that Ofcom has set out in its codes of practice then they’re taken as being compliant.“What that essentially means is that some of the big tech services – the Metas of this world, the TikToks of the world – could actually scale back what they currently do and be taken as compliant. That’s not what Parliament envisaged.”Mr Burrows said the Molly Rose Foundation has recently met the Prime Minister on the issue, and is calling on him to commit to a “new Act that can strengthen this regime”.The Molly Rose Foundation was set up by the family of Molly Russell, who chose to end her life aged 14, in November 2017, after viewing suicide and self-harm content on social media.Under the Online Safety Act, the largest tech platforms have to follow Ofcom’s codes of practice on issues such as illegal content and protecting children from online harm, which requires them to remove illegal material from their sites and ensure they have systems in place, such as age verification, that prevent children from accessing harmful content.Fines of up to 10% of global turnover – potentially billions of pounds for the biggest firms – are possible for those found to be in breach.But Mr Burrows said the Molly Rose Foundation’s “fear” is that the UK was “going backwards” on children’s online safety.He highlighted Meta’s recent announcement that it was rowing back on using third-party fact checkers in the US and would instead implement a user-based community notes system, as well as loosen some of its content policies around certain issues in the name of free speech, as a sign of tech giants pulling back from online safety.“What we’ve seen from some of the big tech companies, from (Meta boss) Mark Zuckerberg since Donald Trump’s election, is a bonfire of safety measures here in the UK,” he said.Mr Burrows urged Sir Keir Starmer and Technology Secretary Peter Kyle to listen to parents in the UK rather than “geopolitical pressures now from the US and elsewhere” calling for looser regulation of tech firms.He said: “Our polling shows 85% of parents want a new Act and I think if the Government has the ambition and the bravery to fix this Act and to tackle these issues once and for all, parents watching this right across the country this morning will cheer the Prime Minister on.”An Ofcom spokesperson said: “Our codes of practice set out robust measures – many of which are not currently being used by the largest and riskiest platforms – that will significantly improve safety for all users, especially children.“The stipulation that firms will be compliant with their safety duties if they implement all the measures in our codes is one that’s built into the legislation.“If providers fail to meet their duties once they’re in force, we won’t hesitate to use our robust enforcement powers.” More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreMinisters have been urged to ban degrading, violent and misogynistic pornography including making it illegal to publish videos of women being choked during sex.A major review of the industry has proposed giving regulator Ofcom the power to police porn sites plagued with “harmful” material. The review, commissioned by Rishi Sunak and carried out by Tory peer Gabby Bertin, said porn depicting non-fatal strangulation is “rife on mainstream platforms”. Baroness Bertin said porn websites are ‘rife’ with choking videos More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreKeir Starmer has refused to rule out more spending cuts and tax rises ahead of Rachel Reeves’ spring Budget on 26 March.But speaking to journalists on a trip to meet President Donald Trump in Washington DC, the prime minister has tried to calm fears claiming that the worst news was delivered in the Budget in October.Sir Keir was attempting to deal with dire warnings from a number of economic thinktanks who have warned that he has little headway to afford his spending plans with growth at minimal levels.Starmer and Reeves are plotting the Budget More