UK Politics

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentTalks between leading nations on how to tackle the growing threat of cyber attacks are to be convened by the UK on Monday as part of a three-day summit on the issue.Ministers will be joined by representatives from the US, EU and others for talks on how to strengthen global cybersecurity workforces, including through boosting skills and developing new professional standards.The talks come in the wake of a number of high-profile cybersecurity incidents globally, including the cyber attacks on Transport for London and NHS providers, as well as the global IT outage which shut down global transportation systems and other infrastructure.This is a shared challenge, which is why we’re bringing together global allies to discuss and agree steps to keep us safe online, improve cyber skills and protect our economy and public servicesCyber security minister Feryal ClarkLast week, the UK designated data centres as Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) in order to give the sector greater protection and support from cyber incidents, blackouts and environmental disasters.As well as the international collaboration on the issue, the Government has announced a new scheme to fund the providing of new cyber skills training at universities, local councils and businesses in regions across England and Northern Ireland to help bolster security, as well as to help organisations developing new technologies for use in cyber defence.Cyber security minister Feryal Clark said: “The UK needs a significant improvement in its cyber defences after the previous government failed to strengthen our cyber laws – we’re fixing that.“Later this year, we’ll bring forward new measures to better protect the nation from cyber crime and our new regional skills programme will support the next generation of cyber talent and innovators.“But this is a shared challenge, which is why we’re bringing together global allies to discuss and agree steps to keep us safe online, improve cyber skills and protect our economy and public services.” More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentSir Keir Starmer insisted he does not want to get involved with people’s personal life choices when questioned on whether he wants to persuade people to have more children.The issue was put to the prime minister amid growing concern the birth rate in the UK, and many Western countries, is leading to population decline and long-term issues with an ageing population.But when asked if he had any ideas on how to persuade people to have more children in Britain and if he thought the birth rate needed to rise, it provoked an impromptu laugh from Sir Keir during a flight to Washington.The prime minister had been asked: “What can you do?”Starmer laughs with journalists at a question during his flight to Washington More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentFour-week waits for a GP appointment could be on course to reach a new record high this year, new analysis suggests.The Liberal Democrats, who carried out the research, said fixing the GP crisis is critical and are campaigning for everyone to have the right to see a GP within seven days.Health and social care has been a much-discussed topic by the party leader in Brighton this weekend, as their autumn conference has continued.According to the party, NHS data suggests in the seven months to July 2024 there were 10.3 million waits of four weeks or longer for a GP appointment.Sir Ed Davey said the focus of improving the NHS should be on social care More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentThe Liberal Democrat chief whip has questioned the commitment of Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson to their roles as MPs.At the party’s autumn conference in Brighton, Wendy Chamberlain suggested constituency work appeared not to be the priority for the Reform UK MPs, both of whom host shows on GB News.Months after it was revealed Mr Farage was the highest-paid MP outside of parliament, with a £98,000-a-month GB News gig, Ms Chamberlain backed potential plans to stop MPs hosting shows outside parliament.And speaking to The Independent at her party conference, Ms Chamberlain said: “The saddest thing of all is communities like Clacton and Ashfield are the ones that actually need the most assiduous constituency MPs to get underneath the casework.“It suggests [where] your priorities are, if you are earning more from doing that kind of stuff (TV) than you are as a constituency MP… I’d be interested to know what the constituency experiences are to date.“You just need to look at Nigel Farage’s record in the European Parliament, he was doing more outside it than inside.” In response, Mr Farage, who was in Chicago on Friday in this third visit to the US in just over two months, told The Independent: “I don’t know whether she goes on holiday.“I have not this year but I am fulfilling diary commitments. We are making good progress in Clacton.”Asked what Sir Keir Starmer’s government needed to do to halt the rise of Reform before the next election, Ms Chamberlain said he had to “deliver on a fundamental and basic level”.Reform won five seats at the general election, but had a 14.3 per cent share of the vote – higher than the Lib Dems, which received a 12.2 per cent share.Ms Chamberlain’s comments came on the second day of the Liberal Democrats’ autumn conference, with Sir Ed Davey promising the Lib Dems “will hold [the Government] to account” when they disagree, adding that the party believes there needs to be “reform and investment” in the health service.Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Sir Ed said his party “absolutely will challenge the Government where we disagree with them”, and pledged to be a “better opposition than the Conservatives”.He later added: “We’re worried that in the NHS debate, they’re talking about reform before investment, when we think there needs to be reform and investment.“So we will hold them to account, but we will be different from the Conservatives because being constructive means you have a different tone.” More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentSir Ed Davey has said Ukraine should be allowed to use Western weapons to strike inside Russia, becoming the latest senior figure to urge a change of course from Sir Keir Starmer.After Boris Johnson and five former defence secretaries called for Kyiv to be allowed to use British-made Storm Shadows to strike Russian targets, the Liberal Democrat leader joined a growing chorus calling for a shift in stance.Foreign secretary David Lammy said on Sunday morning that talks are continuing with the US and allies about giving Kyiv permission to use UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to hit Russian airbases and military sites which are being used to launch attacks on Ukraine.The Liberal Democrat leader said Ukraine should be allowed to fire British-made missiles into Russia More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentThe deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats has painted the Tory leadership contenders as extreme, saying they have “weird politics” and are obsessed with culture war issues voters do not care about.Echoing the attacks used by Democrats against Donald Trump and JD Vance in the US presidential election, Daisy Cooper told journalists: “Their politics is weird, their choice of issues is weird, they talk about issues that are not relevant to most people in the country.”Speaking at the party’s annual conference in Brighton, Ms Cooper added: “They are constantly focusing on culture war issues, the European Convention on Human Rights, when ordinary voters are saying ‘I can’t see a GP, I can’t see a dentist, my child is on a mental health waiting list’.“And they are talking about these very niche issues, quite frankly, for the majority of the public and they just look incredibly out of touch.”Daisy Cooper said the Tory leadership hopefuls are focused on ‘weird issues’ More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentWhen the government plane took off from Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington on Friday evening, Keir Starmer came down to have some small talk with the travelling pack of journalists handing out packs of M&Ms from the White House signed by Joe Biden.But the smile on his face, easy-going casual look and football banter hid what had proven to be an extremely difficult 48 hours for the prime minister in what had culminated in a diplomatic failure.The lesson of the excursion was perhaps that it is far easier to make “tough choices” regarding thousands of Britain’s pensioners potentially dying in a cold winter than it is to sort out a rabid dictator Vladimir Putin threatening to use nukes.Both Downing Street and the Foreign Office (FCDO) staff at the embassy did their best to play down the significance of the trip. But – despite their denials – this meeting of an outgoing lame-duck US president and the recently elected prime minister was mostly about one major issue: whether to allow Ukraine to use long-range Storm Shadow missiles against targets in Russia. Keir Starmer and David Lammy headed to the US for the bilateral meeting More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentBoris Johnson and five ex-defence secretaries have called for Sir Keir Starmer to go it alone and allow Ukraine to use British-made missiles to strike Russia – as foreign secretary David Lammy appeared to play down the importance of Shadow Storm missiles.The former prime minister, as well as Grant Shapps, Ben Wallace, Gavin Williamson, Penny Mordaunt and Liam Fox, said Kyiv should be allowed to use the long-range missiles against Vladimir Putin – even without the backing of Joe Biden and the US.The group has warned Sir Keir that any future delay risks strengthening Putin’s hand in the war.However, Mr Lammy, when asked on Ukraine’s request to use the missiles on BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, shared other ways the UK was supporting Ukraine, such as providing training to troops.He added: “No war is won with any one weapon, that is the case.”The increase in pressure on Ukraine’s request follows talks between Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Biden in Washington that did not produce an agreement on whether the UK and US would give permission to Kyiv.Further discussions are due to take place at the United Nations later this month.Foreign secretary David Lammy, appearing next to Sir Keir Starmer outside the White House this month, appeared to play down the importance of the long-range missiles on Sunday morning More