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 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

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 former Bank of England governor has slammed the chancellor’s pre-election tax promises as “irresponsible” and called on her to hike income tax. Mervyn King, who ran the Bank from 2003 to 2013 and was the chancellor’s boss when she worked there, said Rachel Reeves made “silly” promises on tax before the general election and should row back on them in government. Lord King also questioned the chancellor’s self-imposed fiscal rules, urging Ms Reeves to set rules in a way that would allow her to borrow more and boost government spending. In the general election campaign, Labour promised not to hike VAT or income tax. The party also ruled out reversing a Tory cut to employee national insurance contributions, despite economists warning it was unsustainable at the time. In her first Budget, Ms Reeves instead increased employer national insurance contributions, with the aim of raising around £25 billion a year. But Lord King told Sky News she raised the wrong tax by doing so. Mervyn King was the chancellor’s boss at the Bank of England – this week he said she made the wrong call on the tax to raise in her Autumn Budget 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 moreRussia and China will be the beneficiaries of Keir Starmer’s plans to slash the foreign aid budget, a former deputy foreign secretary has warned in a stark message to the prime minister.Sir Keir defended his controversial cuts saying he would use the cash to hit back at “tyrants” like Putin, as he bowed to pressure from Donald Trump to boost defence spending to 2.5 per cent of GDP just hours before jetting to meet the US President at the White House. But Andrew Mitchell warned the move would actually aid Russia, three years after its illegal invasion of Ukraine. And he suggested Labour had turned its back on its own principles, pointing out that Sir Keir argued against reductions to the overseas aid budget under the Conservatives. Keir Starmer has been told Russia and China will benefit from plans to slash the foreign aid budget More