UK Politics

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has revealed his favourite Nando’s order, and it includes a controversial side dish. He disclosed his preferred order from the peri-peri chicken restaurant when questioned by a girls’ team at Wantage Town FC.Mr Sunak said his Nando’s order was a half chicken, medium spiced, with chips and broccoli, adding: “It’s good broccoli”. The Prime Minister said he also likes to “mix it up” sometimes and get boneless chicken thighs.Mr Sunak gave his order when questioned by a girls’ team at Wantage Town FC More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Tories are desperately scrambling to get up to 141 candidates in place ahead of the deadline at 4pm on Friday.Among the last ditch selections will be party members in Central Suffolk and North Ipswich tonight making a decision on whether to adopt party chairman Richard Holden amid a row that he is being “parachuted” into the constituency after “going on a chicken run” from the north east of England.The seat was left open as a result of Dr Dan Poulter defecting to Labour from the Conservatives a few weeks before the election was called. When the election was called it is understood that 191 constituencies did not have a Conservative candidate, this was added to when 10 Tory MPs including Michael Gove decided to quit. Estimates leave that number still at 141 although this has been denied by some party sources.Tory chairman Richard Holden is an MP looking for a seat More

Starmer says he would be prepared to deploy nuclear weapons if needed to defend UKSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA major new general election poll predicts the Conservatives are heading for electoral disaster as Rishi Sunak and Sir Keir Starmer battle it out on their campaign trails. Redfield and Wilton has published its second nationwide poll since the election was called at 3pm on Monday, having asked 10,000 respondents how they will vote on 4 July. They put the Tories on just 20 per cent, 26 points behind Labour. And at 5pm, a YouGov poll is due to show the projected winner, the size of the majority, as well as the makeup of the House of Commons and the names of any MPs set to lose their seats.It comes after a mega-poll published over the weekend suggests the Tories could win just 66 seats in parliament.The result would be a Labour landslide, with Sir Keir Starmer’s party securing 476 MPs – a majority of 302 – once tactical voting has been taken into account.Show latest update 1717426171‘Tories are facing a catastrophe, a complete wipeout’Director of research Philip van Scheltinga said: “After a week and a half of campaigning, the polls have changed, and the Conservatives are no longer facing a big loss on July 4. Instead, they are now facing a catastrophe, a complete wipeout.”Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 June 2024 15:491717425039PM’s approval rating drops, poll showsAccording to the poll, Rishi Sunak’s approval rating is down by 17 per cent. Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 June 2024 15:301717423714Labour to take majority, newly published mega-poll showsRedfield and Wilton’s survey of 10,000 voters published today sees Labour 26 points ahead of the Tories:Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 June 2024 15:081717423413New super poll shows Tories heading for election wipeout – with Lib Dems becoming second biggest partyA new super poll has indicated that the Tories are on the cusp of suffering the biggest general election disaster in their history.Redfield and Wilton’s survey of 10,000 voters published today (3 June) has the Conservatives at just 20 per cent, 26 points behind Labour. It is the second poll in three days predicting disaster for the government.Director of research Philip van Scheltinga said: “After a week and a half of campaigning, the polls have changed, and the Conservatives are no longer facing a big loss on July 4. Instead, they are now facing a catastrophe, a complete wipeout.”Our political editor David Maddox has more:Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 June 2024 15:031717421041Tories heading for election wipeout as new mega-poll suggests they could win just 66 seatsThe Conservatives are heading for electoral disaster and could win just 66 seats in parliament, a new mega-poll suggests.The result would be a Labour landslide, with Sir Keir Starmer’s party securing 476 MPs – a majority of 302 – once tactical voting has been taken into account.Read more here:Maryam Zakir-Hussain3 June 2024 14:24 More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA new super poll has indicated that the Tories are on the cusp of suffering the biggest general election disaster in their history.Redfield and Wilton’s survey of 10,000 voters published today (3 June) has the Conservatives at just 20 per cent, 26 points behind Labour. It is the second poll in three days predicting disaster for the government.Director of research Philip van Scheltinga said: “After a week and a half of campaigning, the polls have changed, and the Conservatives are no longer facing a big loss on July 4. Instead, they are now facing a catastrophe, a complete wipeout.”Click here for the latest coverage of election polls. The findings have suggested a potential “Canada-style” collapse for the party based on when the Canadian Conservative Party went into the 1993 election as the government and only managed to hold on to two seats.In a crushing blow for the Tories, Electoral Calculus predicts they would win a mere 24 seats if the poll was replicated in an election. Electoral Calculus is a website used by political analysts which bases its estimates on the effects of swings in support between parties but does not take local factors into account.The Lib Dems would be the second party on 51 seats and Labour would have a majority of 426 with more than 500 seats. Even Rishi Sunak would lose his North Yorkshire seat to Labour in this scenario.This follows the MRP poll over the weekend suggesting the Tories will win only 66 seats.The Tories are emphasising that the predictions are based on polls with the only real poll being the general election itself.Rishi Sunak could be leading his party to its worst ever result More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email British opposition leader Keir Starmer pledged Monday to keep the U.K.’s nuclear weapons, seeking to dispel criticisms that his center-left Labour Party is soft on defense.Starmer is the current favorite to win Britain’s July 4 election and become prime minister. His campaign is centered on his claim to have transformed the party since he replaced Jeremy Corbyn, a longtime opponent of nuclear weapons and critic of NATO, as Labour leader in 2020.Starmer, 61, told voters they can trust Labour to safeguard the country’s economy, borders and security — trying to overturn a perception that Labour is weaker on security and more profligate with taxpayers’ money, than Prime Minister Rishi Suank’s center-right Conservatives.“My commitment to the nuclear deterrent is absolute,” Starmer said Monday during a campaign appearance at a military museum in Bury, northwest England.“Nobody who aspires to be prime minister would set out the circumstances in which it would be used. That would be irresponsible, but it is there as part of a vital part of our defense, so of course we would have to be prepared to use it,” he said.Britain has been a nuclear power since the 1950s, and both Labour and Conservative governments have consistently supported atomic weapons. Since the 1990s, Britain’s nuclear deterrent has consisted of four Royal Navy submarines armed with Trident missiles.Starmer said a Labour government would build the four new nuclear submarines that the Conservatives have already committed to. He criticized the Conservatives for defense spending cuts that had given the U.K. “the smallest army since the time of Napoleon,” the French leader who fought Britain 200 years ago.He said the world had entered “a new age of insecurity” and “national security is the most important issue of our times.”The schism between pro- and anti-nuclear forces was long a fault-line in the Labour Party. It was Prime Minister Clement Attlee’s Labour government that developed atomic weapons in the years following World War II, making Britain the world’s third nuclear-armed state after the United States and the Soviet Union.Starmer said his entire top team shared his commitment to the nuclear arsenal, even though several members, including deputy leader Angela Rayner and foreign affairs spokesman David Lammy, voted against renewing Trident in 2016.He also pledged that a Labour government would increase defense spending to 2.5% of Gross Domestic Product, though he has not set a deadline. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak says his Conservatives will meet the target by 2030.Defense Secretary Grant Shapps said Starmer had delivered “another empty speech.”“By refusing to commit to 2.5% defense spending by 2030 he has been unable to show the clear and bold leadership this country needs in uncertain times,” Shapps said.The Conservatives, who have been in office for 14 years, are trying to overcome a widespread sense that voters want change. On July 4 voters across the U.K. will elect lawmakers to fill all 650 seats in the House of Commons. The leader of the party that can command a Commons majority — either alone or in coalition — will become prime minister. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailNigel Farage is making an “emergency” announcement about the general election, with speculation mounting that the former UKIP leader will launch his latest bid to become an MP.One source has told The Independent that the honorary president of Reform UK will declare he is going to stand for parliament in Clacton, in Essex. However, neither Farage or Reform would confirm or deny this.The seat is seen as a soft target with the pro-Remain former actor Giles Watling defending the seat for the Tories.Click here for our live coverage of the general election campaign.The honorary president of Reform UK has so far shied away from seeking a seat in the general election, but rumours have been swirling that he will run in Clacton.It is understood that Mr Farage has been looking at the Essex seat for a number of months because it was previously held by Ukip’s Douglas Carswell and had a high vote in favour of Brexit.Mr Farage had announced last week that he had been taken by surprise by the early election called by Rishi Sunak and did not have time to stand as a candidate.Farage is expected to run in Clacton More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Labour Party has turned an attempt by Rishi Sunak to mock them into a viral post that looks like he is endorsing them. The Conservative Party’s latest post on TikTok shows the prime minister explaining “Labour’s policy for our country’s future” on a flipchart.The short video sees him turn over the cover to show a blank page, before capping a pen in his hand, placing it down and walking off-camera.The short video sees Rishi Sunak turn over the flipchart cover to show a blank page More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailA Labour candidate for a seat in east London is being investigated over an allegation of sexual harassment.Councillor Darren Rodwell, the leader of Barking and Dagenham Council and Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Barking, has been accused of “inappropriate touching” of an attendee at an event last month.The Independent has seen the details of the allegations made to Labour’s complaints unit by a party member on Friday. It comes after another Labour MP was suspended from the party last week after a complaint about his behaviour.Mr Rodwell’s alleged victim said she met him for a coffee while at an event, believing the meeting was set up to discuss a development in Barking.In the communication to the party, the complainant said: “After 10 to 15 minutes, he started asking personal questions which I was not happy to answer. He was ordering more drinks for himself.“As I was obviously not happy to be present and was looking for a way to leave, he started touching my hands and legs in a sexual way. “He clearly had other ideas about the meeting. He touched my legs and body inappropriately and I’ve made it clear to him that I did not want him to touch me and left the meeting immediately.”The complaint file reads: ”The complainant has received confirmation that an investigator will be contacting her in regards to the allegations.”Labour has declined to comment on what it calls an ongoing disciplinary matter, however, the allegation now raises questions over whether Mr Rodwell will still be allowed to stand in the election.Last week, former Brighton Kemptown MP Lloyd Russell-Moyle was suspended by the party over “historic allegations” and prevented from standing as a candidate.The Independent has also contacted Mr Rodwell but has not received a response.Rodwell with Sadiq Khan during the London mayor’s reelection campaign this year More