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.CloseRead moreKemi Badenoch landed a major political coup when she secured a meeting with vice president elect J. D. Vance on her trip to Washington DC.The convivial meeting saw the pair share a picture of Mr Vance with his arm around Ms Badenoch and praising the new Conservative leader on X (formerly Twitter).He said: “Great to see the leader of the UK Conservatives, ⁦ Kemi Badenoch⁩ during her trip to the US. We discussed many topics, but I was unable to persuade her that coffee is much better than tea. Cheers, Kemi!”Ms Badenoch only retweeted Mr Vance’s post but Canadian MP Jamil Jivani who joined them in the meeting posted: “Thanks to the VP-elect and Kemi Badenoch for a great conversation in DC.”J.D. Vance met up with Kemi Badenoch 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.CloseRead moreDiplomatic tensions are rising over Sir Keir Starmer’s controversial Chagos Islands deal, with fears the UK government is unable to guarantee whether nuclear weapons will be able to be stored at the Diego Garcia base.Concerns have been raised about the strategically crucial but secretive joint UK/US base in the Indian Ocean after a written answer by defence minister Luke Pollard was unable to confirm further details.The issue has arisen because Mauritius, which is set to take ownership of the islands under Labour’s controversial deal, is part of the Africa nuclear weapons-free zone under the terms of the Treaty of Pelindaba.Any question marks over nuclear weapons at the base under a lease agreement could potentially hit the US even more than the UK.Questions are emerging over the impact of the Chagos deal on the operation of the Diego Garcia base 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.CloseRead more The foreign ministers of Germany, France and Poland on Saturday strongly condemned “the disproportionate use of force” against peaceful protesters and the targeting of the opposition and media representatives in Georgia.Mass protests in Georgia fueled by the governing party’s decision to suspend negotiations on joining the European Union entered a second week on Thursday, with police cracking down on demonstrators with increasing force. In their joint statement, the three foreign ministers called for the immediate release of opposition members. They demanded that “fundamental rights, including freedom of peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, must be upheld and protected as per Georgia’s constitution and international commitments.”The ruling Georgian Dream party retained control of parliament in a disputed Oct. 26 election, a vote widely seen as a referendum on Georgia’s EU aspirations. The opposition and the pro-Western president, Salome Zourabichvili, have accused the governing party of rigging the vote with neighboring Russia’s help and have boycotted parliament sessions.Opposition protests gained new momentum after the Georgian Dream’s decision last Thursday to put the EU accession talks on hold.Riot police have used water cannons and tear gas to disperse the rallies and beat scores of protesters, who threw fireworks at police officers and built barricades on the Georgian capital’s central boulevard. Hundreds have been detained and over 100 people have been treated for injuries since the start of the clashes.Another 50 protesters were detained Friday night, Georgian officials said Saturday. Police chased demonstrators through the streets of Tbilisi until the early morning hours of Saturday and violently detained some of them.The crackdown has drawn a strong condemnation from the United States. Speaking at a ministerial conference of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday denounced what he described as a brutal “repression of those calling for their country to stay on the path to closer ties with Europe.”On Saturday, Germany, France and Poland called on “Georgian Dream to deescalate tensions and open an inclusive dialogue with all political forces and representatives of civil society.” “We underscore our determination to support the democratic and European aspirations of the Georgian people,” the statement 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.CloseRead moreNigel Farage’s Reform UK has made a dramatic three-point jump in the polls in a week.The latest Techne UK tracker poll for The Independent appears to confirm a trend that voters are moving towards his brand of nationalist populism.The polling of 1,644 voters took place in the wake of Sir Keir Starmer’s reset speech at Pinewood Studios on Thursday and appears to suggest it failed to improve confidence in the Labour government.Support for Labour was down one point to 27 per cent – the lowest level since Jeremy Corbyn was leader – while Reform UK was up three points to 21 per cent. In addition, trust in Sir Keir’s government being on the right track fell four points from 33 per cent to 29 per cent in just a week.There was worse news for Tory leader Kemi Badenoch, who has been on a visit to Washington DC this week, with her party down two points to 25 per cent.Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has made a dramatic three-point jump in the polls in a week 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.CloseRead moreSir Keir Starmer is under fire after failing to mention the “epidemic” of violence against women in a major speech designed to relaunch his struggling government. During the election campaign, the prime minister had made a flagship pledge to voters to ensure the problem was halved in a decade. But leading domestic abuse charity Refuge said it was disappointed the prime minister failed to address the “horrifically high” levels of abuse and set “clear targets” to tackle it in his speech to reset his faltering government five months after stepping into No 10. Sir Keir had reiterated his pledge to crack down on violence against women in an interview as he backed The Independent’s Brick by Brick campaign to build a refuge for women and children fleeing domestic abuse.Keir Starmer speaks during his ‘plan for change’ speech at Pinewood Studios on Thursday 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.CloseRead moreA top Tory donor and peer has hit back at what he said was an unjust ruling after being stripped of his CBE following a series of controversies, including making derogatory remarks about Pakistanis and harassing a journalist.Lord Rami Ranger, who has donated around £1.5m to the Conservative Party since 2009, was made a CBE in 2016 for services to business and community cohesion.But a notice published in the London Gazette on Friday said the King had directed Lord Ranger’s CBE to be “cancelled and annulled”.The Forfeiture Committee, which decides on whether to strip someone of an honour, is understood to have taken the decision after considering social media posts made by Lord Ranger about the Sikh community, along with comments in the media about Pakistanis.It also considered the House of Lords Standards Commissioner’s finding in June 2023 that Lord Ranger had harassed and bullied Indian journalist Poonam Joshi in a series of tweets, the PA news agency understands.But the Tory peer hit back at the decision, saying he will explore “various legal avenues” to challenge the decision.Rami Ranger was made a CBE for services to business and community cohesion (Ian West/PA) 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.CloseRead moreElon Musk has responded to reports he is preparing to donate $100m (£79bn) to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party in what would be by far the largest in British electoral history.According to The Sunday Times, leading businessmen and Conservative Party officials believe that Musk could hand over the cash as a “f*** you Starmer payment” in his ongoing feud with the prime minister. At the end of last month, the controversial tech billionaire and “first buddy” of Donald Trump even shared a post on X claiming that Reform UK will win the next general election, captioning his repost with the word “yes”.Asked about the reports of the massive donation by ITV, Mr Musk denied reports he was planning to donate $100 million, but his response did not rule out another amount. Asked by ITV News if he was planning to give the upstart party £80m, he replied “no”.Controversial tech billionaire and “first buddy” of Donald Trump Elon Musk 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.CloseRead more The European Union said Friday it sent TikTok an urgent request for more information about Romanian intelligence files suggesting that Moscow coordinated influencers on its platform to promote an election candidate who became the front-runner in the presidential election. The 27-nation bloc’s executive branch is using its sweeping digital rulebook to scrutinize the video sharing platform’s role in the election, which ended with the far-right populist Calin Georgescu coming from out of nowhere to take top spot in the first round of voting. Declassified files released by Romanian authorities earlier this week suggest that a pro-Russia campaign used the messaging app Telegram to recruit thousands of TikTok users to promote Georgescu. It is unclear from the intelligence release whether Georgescu was aware of the alleged campaign or assisted in it.European Commission officials said they asked the video sharing platform to comment on the files and to provide information on actions that it’s taking in response. It’s the second time the commission has asked TikTok for information since the election’s first round of voting on Nov. 24, and comes a day after it ordered the Chinese-owned platform to retain all election-related files and evidence. TikTok did not respond immediately to a request for comment. “We are concerned about mounting indications of coordinated foreign online influence operation targeting ongoing Romanian elections, especially on TikTok,” Henna Virkkunen, the commission’s executive vice-president for tech sovereignty, security and democracy, said in a post on X. TikTok has 24 hours to respond to the EU request, officials told a press briefing in Brussels. Georgescu will face pro-EU reformist Elena Lasconi of the Save Romania Union party in a final vote on Sunday. “TikTok needs to step up resources to counter information operations ahead of the election weekend,” Virkkunen said. Georgescu’s unexpected rise in the polls has plunged the European Union and NATO country into turmoil and spurred the authorities to release the files. Romania’s intelligence services alleged that one TikTok user paid $381,000 to influencers on the platform to promote content about Georgescu. They said they obtained information that “revealed an aggressive promotion campaign” to increase and accelerate the candidate’s popularity.Some of the thousands of social media accounts used in the campaign were allegedly created years ago but were only activated in the weeks leading up to the first round vote, the files indicated. ___AP writer Stephen McGrath in Bucharest contributed to this report. More