UK Politics

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorSir Keir Starmer has kickstarted a “new era of devolution” as he commences his tour of the UK after just four days in office. The new prime minister and his deputy, Angela Rayner, met on Tuesday with the nation’s 12 regional mayors to discuss “a major programme of devolution”.Sir Keir spent Sunday in Scotland, where he met SNP first minister John Swinney. On Monday, he met political leaders at Stormont in Northern Ireland and The Senedd in Wales, including the nation’s first ministers, Michelle O’Neill and Vaughan Gething.Ms Rayner said for too long Westminster had “tightly gripped control” and “held back opportunities for towns, cities and villages across the UK”.What is devolution? In England, devolution is the transfer of powers and funding from national to local government. 12 areas of England, including London, Greater Manchester, the West Midlands and Tees Valley, have devolution deals giving powers over areas such as transport, housing and employment.Devolution referendums were held in 1997 in Scotland and Wales. On both sides of the Northern Irish/Irish border in 1998, referendums were held on the Good Friday Agreement. These resulted in the creation of the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales (now called the Senedd) and the Northern Ireland Assembly.Voters in some large cities in England elect mayors with regional responsibilities. Among them are Andy Burnham (Greater Manchester), Richard Parker (West Midlands), Dan Norris (west of England including Bristol and Bath) and Ben Houchen (Tees Valley).The UK government in Westminster remains responsible for policies which affect just England, as well as overall policy in several areas such as foreign policy.What does Labour want to do about devolution?Mayors gather outside Downing Street before a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer on Tuesday morning More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditor Hundreds of newly elected lawmakers trooped excitedly into Parliament on Tuesday after the U.K.’s transformative election brought a Labour government to power.The halls of the labyrinthine building echoed with excited chatter of the 650 members of the House of Commons — 335 of them arriving for the first time. That compares to 140 new lawmakers after the last election in 2019.The seat of British democracy took on a back-to-school feel, from the rows of lockers temporarily installed in wood-paneled corridors to the staff holding “Ask Me” signs ready to help bewildered newcomers.The new House of Commons includes the largest number of women ever elected — 263, some 40% of the total — and the most lawmakers of color, at 90.The youngest new lawmaker is Labour’s Sam Carling, 22. He is one of 412 Labour legislators elected last week who will cram onto green benches on the government side of the House of Commons. Opposite them will be a shrunken contingent of 121 Conservatives, a vastly increased number of Liberal Democrats, 72 strong, and a smattering of representatives from other parties including the environmentalist Green Party and the anti-immigration Reform UK.Even as the newcomers arrived, lawmakers who lost their seats last week were carting away the contents of their offices in boxes and suitcases. First job: electing a speaker The first task for lawmakers was electing a speaker to oversee the business of the House of Commons and try to keep the often unruly assembly in line.The speaker is chosen from the ranks of lawmakers and sets his or her party affiliation aside while they fill the impartial role.Lindsay Hoyle — originally elected for Labour to the speaker’s post in 2019 — was reelected unopposed. He promised lawmakers he would continue to be “fair, impartial and independent.”In keeping with tradition, the speaker feign reluctance and was dragged to the speaker’ chair by colleagues — a custom dating back to the days when speakers could be sentenced to death if they displeased the monarch.After tributes from party leaders including Prime Minister Keir Starmer and Conservative leader Rishi Sunak, the speaker-elect was taken to the House of Lords by an official known as Black Rod to receive Royal Approbation, the formal approval of King Charles III.Starmer said all lawmakers had a responsibility “to put an end to a politics that has too often seemed self-serving and self-obsessed, and to replace that politics of performance with the politics of service.”Sunak, fresh off the Conservatives’ crushing election defeat, agreed that “in our politics, we can argue vigorously, as the prime minister and I did over the past six weeks, but still respect each other.” Swearing in With a speaker in place, lawmakers were sworn in one by one, taking an oath of allegiance to the king and “his heirs and successors.” Members can swear on a religious text of their choice or make a non-religious affirmation. They must take the oath in English first, and can repeat it in Welsh, Ulster Scots, Irish Gaelic, Scottish Gaelic or Cornish.The longest-serving lawmakers — Conservative Edward Leigh and Labour’s Diane Abbott, known as the father and mother of the House — were sworn in first, followed by the prime minister and the Cabinet, senior members of the official opposition and then remaining lawmakers in order of their length of service.There are also seven lawmakers from Irish nationalist party Sinn Fein, who refuse to swear loyalty to the Crown and do not take their seats to protest U.K. control over Northern Ireland. Down to business After all MPs are sworn in — a task expected to take several days — the House of Commons will rise until July 17, when a new session will formally start with the State Opening of Parliament.The new government will set out its legislative plans for the coming year in a speech read by the king from atop a golden throne.The King’s Speech is expected to include plans to establish a publicly owned green power company called Great British Energy, change planning rules to allow more new homes to be built and nationalize Britain’s delay-plagued railways.Holding the government to account will be a much-reduced Conservative Party led, temporarily at least, by Sunak. The former prime minister will serve as leader of the opposition until the party picks a replacement. More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorSir Keir Starmer has praised Diane Abbott in his first speech in the Commons as prime minister. Addressing the new mother of the House, he said she “has done so much in her many years to fight for a parliament that truly represents modern Britain”.Ms Abbott later told the Commons: “I would also like to congratulate the 304 new members of Parliament, who entered Parliament after this election and say to them, it is a great job and you will never regret coming here.”In his first speech as Leader of the Opposition, Rishi Sunak described being an MP as the “greatest honour, privilege and responsibility” and added: “One of the great aspects of our system is no matter how high you rise, you still have that constituency which keeps you grounded.”It comes as the Labour government has ditched the phrase “levelling up” as Sir Keir met with England’s metro mayors this morning. Secretary of state Angela Rayner said Labour will govern in the nation’s interest, without gimmicks and slogans.“A government of public service means fixing the fundamentals to deliver for the British people,” she said.Show latest update 1720536922Green Party co-leader hopes Parliament can move to ‘less tribal form of politics’ Green Party co-leader Adrian Ramsay congratulated speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle on his appointment and added: “I can already say on behalf of the new cohort of Green MPs that we have been very pleased with the support you have given us when you’ve shown that you go out of your way to support new members in this House and support MPs of all parties to be able to hold the Government to account and represent (their) constituents.” “May I associate myself with the remarks of the Prime Minister about the importance of politics being about public service?“And I very much hope in this new Parliament, we can all move to a less tribal form of politics where we work together where we can agree and move things forward in the national interest.”( More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorJunior doctors hailed a “positive meeting” with Wes Streeting on Tueday, describing it as a “first step” towards ending their long-running dispute over pay. Dr Vivek Trivedi and Dr Robert Laurenson, co-chairmen of the British Medical Association’s (BMA) Junior Doctors’ Committee said there are no plans for further strike action “at the moment”, with further negotiations expected next week. It came after Mr Streeting said he was optimistic ahead of the talks with striking junior doctors, describing the change of government as “an important reset moment” in relations between the government and the (BMA).Dr Robert Laurenson (left) and Vivek Trivedi, the co-chairmen of the BMA’s junior doctors’ committee, spoke to the media after leaving the Department for Health (Lucy North/PA) More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorReform made gains in hundreds of seats across the country at last week’s general election, voting data shows. Though Nigel Farage’s right-wing challenger party only won five seats in parliament, Reform took 14 per cent of the national vote — exceeding the Lib Dems at 12 per cent.Reform made significant headway in over 100 seats, despite problems that arose with several candidates, many of whom were chosen in a scramble before the deadline.Reform gained over 19 per cent of the vote in 102 seats, spread over the country but largely concentrated in East Anglia and the Midlands. Crucially, Reform’s largest 100 swings in vote share are all in formerly Conservative seats.Reform came second in at least 55 seats, largely those where Labour won; ousting the Conservatives from a possible second place. Interestingly, the Lib Dems did not win any of the seats where Reform had the largest swings, suggesting that they successfully targeted distinct demographic areas. In fact, some of the highest swings in favour of Reform correlate to huge drops in the Conservative vote, as shown below.In Clacton, where Mr Farage won a seat for the first time, Reform took 46.2 per cent of the vote; while the Conservatives lost 44 per cent. The numbers are similarly comparable in all five Reform seats.In those five Reform seats, however, the strength of MP’s majorities varies greatly. On the highest end, Mr Farage holds 18.3 per cent over the Conservatives, while Reform’s majority in Great Yarmouth is only 3.5 per cent over Labour.Meanwhile, Reform MP James McMurdock won South Basildon and Thurrock by just 98 votes (0.2 per cent). More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorWatch as Suella Braverman and Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg address a Popular Conservatism post-election event on Tuesday 9 July.Ms Braverman has already hit out at “liberal Conservatives” after the Tory party’s defeat at last week’s general election.The former home secretary, who is among the likely candidates to succeed Rishi Sunak as leader of the Conservatives, told the National Conservatism conference in Washington DC the party had taken a “good hiding”.She put the blame for the defeat, in which the Tories lost more than 250 seats, on failures to keep their promises.Ms Braverman, who will speak via a video link to the Popular Conservatism post-election event alongside Sir Jacob and Lord Frost, also criticised the flying of the Progress Pride flag to “show how liberal and progressive we are” during her Washington speech.She was last week elected as MP in the redrawn constituency of Fareham and Waterlooville with a 6,000 majority. More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorOver a dozen anti-abortion MPs have lost their seats in the recent general election – sparking hopes abortion could soon be decriminalised.Some 15 Tory MPs with a record of voting against legislation that supports abortion rights lost their seats during the snap election last week – with Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Maria Caulfield, Fiona Bruce, Liam Fox, and Miriam Cates among them.Sir Jacob previously branded the legal procedure of abortion as morally wrong and a “cult of death” and has said he is even against terminations in cases of rape or incest.A list of 25 anti-abortion MPs, compiled by leading abortion provider British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and shared exclusively with The Independent, shows 10 MPs with a history of voting against abortion rights held onto their seats. This includes Labour MP Mary Glindon, DUP MP Carla Lockhart, the Conservative Party’s Iain Duncan Smith and others.BPAS chief executive, Heidi Stewart, said parliament could now be the most pro-abortion rights in its history.Iain Duncan Smith More

Support trulyindependent journalismFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorWatch live as new MPs are sworn into the House of Commons on Tuesday 9 July, following the general election.There will be 411 MPs representing Labour thanks to their landslide win, while the Conservatives form the opposition with 121 seats.The Liberal Democrats take 72 seats in the Commons, with the SNP on nine, Reform UK on five and the Green Party on four.Once the new arrivals are sworn in, Labour’s Diane Abbott will earn the symbolic title Mother of the House.The moniker is given to the female MP with the longest continuous service.Ms Abbott, 70, was first elected in June 1987 – becoming the first black woman elected to the House of Commons.Some believed that her ally, Jeremy Corbyn, would become Father of the House.But Sir Edward Leigh, 73, Conservative MP for Gainsborough, pipped him to the title, as he was sworn in moments before Mr Corbyn after the June 1983 election.Elsewhere, the youngest MP is believed to be Sam Carling, 22, the new Labour MP for North West Cambridgeshire.He narrowly won the seat, with Conservative candidate Shailesh Vara just 39 votes behind. More