UK Politics

Rishi Sunak is becoming a weekly columnist for The Sunday Times, expressing his desire to engage in “a weekly conversation with readers”. The former Conservative prime minister, who currently serves as the MP for Richmond and Northallerton, will contribute to the newspaper’s business section. His column is set to cover a range of subjects including technology, politics, and the economy.It will appear in both print and digital editions from this weekend.“As a long-time reader of The Sunday Times business pages, I’m honoured to be joining a great team as a columnist,” Mr Sunak said.“In an era of profound change, I’m really looking forward to a weekly conversation with readers about the forces reshaping the world economy, from global politics to technology.”Former prime minister Rishi Sunak More

A Tory MP who is seen as a possible future leader of the party has been condemned for calling for the deportation of legally settled families in order to make the UK mostly “culturally coherent”. In comments that have been dubbed “deeply concerning and unpatriotic”, Katie Lam said she thinks large numbers of people with legal status in Britain should “go home”. Her remarks drew cross-party criticism, with Labour MP Richard Quigley saying they show “how far the Tory party have fallen”. Green Party leader Zack Polanski told The Independent that the comments were “yet another example of Farage saying jump and the old parties saying ‘how high?’”, while Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey urged Tory leader Kemi Badenoch to condemn the comments. Speaking to The Sunday Times, Ms Lam had said: “There are also a large number of people in this country who came here legally, but in effect shouldn’t have been able to do so. Green Party’s Zack Polanski questioned what Lam meant by ‘culturally coherent’ More

Maccabi Tel Aviv has said it will decline any tickets offered to their fans for their Europa League fixture against Aston Villa next month.It comes as Keir Starmer’s government had been working with West Midlands Police and Birmingham City Council to ensure fans from both sides could attend the fixture at Villa Park, Birmingham, on November 6.In a statement released on Monday, the Israeli club said that a “toxic atmosphere” had put the safety of fans wanting to attend “very much in doubt”.It said: “The wellbeing and safety of our fans is paramount and from hard lessons learned, we have taken the decision to decline any allocation offered on behalf of away fans and our decision should be understood in that context.“We hope that circumstances will change and look forward to being able to play in Birmingham in a sporting environment in the near future.”Maccabi Tel Aviv said the club will not offer tickets to their fans for the Aston Villa fixture in November More

Lucy Powell has issued a major challenge to Sir Keir Starmer’s authority, insisting that she will push the prime minister to reconsider the direction of the party in a bid to rescue Labour from its dismal poll ratings.The Manchester Central MP is widely regarded as the frontrunner in the deputy leadership race against education secretary Bridget Phillipson, with voting set to close on Thursday and the result declared on Saturday.Speaking to The Independent, Ms Powell insisted that if she is declared the winner on Saturday morning, her mandate will be “that we need to make some changes to how we operate” as she admitted the party has “not been able to control the agenda… we’ve made some mistakes, some missteps”.She says the leadership has failed to listen to MPs, most notably over the welfare rebellion which shook the government before the summer and which she believes was a key factor in her losing her cabinet job. “I wasn’t [happy about the welfare cuts], and I fed back that there were issues with it, and it was going to be a real challenge. I offered solutions and ways forward and all of that. And if that’s why I was sacked, then so be it,” she said.Lucy Powell is planning to shake things up should she become deputy leader More

The speaker of the House of Commons has hinted at a possible security crackdown in the wake of the China spy scandal, as he said he was speaking to officials about “access arrangements”.Sir Lindsay Hoyle said he had sought legal advice on how to “pursue this issue in other ways”, days after telling MPs he was “very angry” over the collapse of a case against two men accused of spying for China.Ministers are continuing to face questions over why prosecutors dropped the charges, which has sparked a political row over who is to blame for the failure to prosecute.Speaking in the Commons on Monday afternoon, Sir Lindsay said: “I remain disappointed by what has happened in this case. The security minister told MPs there’s ‘nothing’ Keir Starmer could have done about the case falling apart More

A senior backbench MP has called for parliament to beef up the King’s powers so that he can permanently strip Prince Andrew of his titles.Rachael Maskell, the MP for York Central, said the disgraced royal has an association with the city, citing a poll which found the vast majority of residents want him to have his Duke of York title formally removed. He has been forced to voluntarily give up his titles, but the only way Andrew can be fully relieved of them is through an act of parliament. And Ms Maskell said the monarch should be given the power to formally remove royal titles “not just for this incident, but for any future occurrence, indeed, any titles at all, including peerages”. She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “I didn’t come into parliament to discuss princes and princesses. “But a simple clause could be added to a constitutional bill or a private member’s bill; it would take very little time at all, but would give increased powers to the monarch to be able to have those duties into the future.“We have seen the pain, heard the pain and are learning more from victims and survivors. I think as a result of that, it would be appropriate to have legislation in place for this occurrence.” Prince Andrew has given up his Duke of York title More

Rachel Reeves has indicated further cuts to welfare are likely under this Labour government as she looks ahead to her second autumn Budget.The chancellor has indicated that more tax rises and spending cuts can be expected at the fiscal event, as analysis from the respected Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) finds that the Treasury will need to find at least £22bn to tackle weak economic growth.Asked about changes to the benefit system on Channel 4 News, the chancellor said: “We can’t leave welfare untouched,” adding: “We can’t get to the end of this parliamentary session and I’ve basically done nothing … We have to do reform in the right way and take people with us.”The government was forced to abandon £4bn in proposed cuts to disability benefits in July after Labour MPs mounted a backbench rebellion against the plans.While some changes to Universal Credit are still set to come into effect in April, these are unlikely to yield any major savings.Rachel Reeves has indicated further cuts to welfare are likely More

Four Reform UK councillors have been suspended after a video was leaked to the press showing the leader of the party’s flagship local authority telling council members to “suck it up”.Reform UK took control of Kent County Council (KCC) after winning 57 of the 81 seats at the local elections in May, overturning a 30-year Tory majority.Footage of an online meeting in which KCC leader Linden Kemkaran could be seen berating backbench councillors when they questioned her was leaked to the press on Saturday.A Reform UK spokesperson said: “Cllrs Paul Thomas, Oliver Bradshaw, Bill Barrett and Maxine Fothergill have had the whip suspended pending investigation, following evidence that they brought the party into disrepute.” Kent County Council leader Linden Kemkaran pictured with Reform UK leader Nigel Farage earlier this year More