UK Politics

When local businessman Davy Russell was announced as the new Scottish Parliament member for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse in the early hours of the morning, the look of relief on the faces of Labour members at the count was palpable. And they were entitled to revel in what was a shock result. The party had defied the polls and the bookmaker odds to win a seat which in the last Holyrood election in 2021 was easily held by the late SNP MSP Christina McKelvie. Many had the SNP as clear favourites to win the seat again, with the new kid on the block Reform UK as second favourites and Labour expected to come third.Davy Russell (centre, right) celebrates with Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar (centre) and deputy leader Jackie Baillie (left, centre) More

Labour pulled off a shock win in a key Scottish by-election seen as a test of its ability to fend off the rise of Reform UK and wrest Holyrood from the SNP’s control.Sir Keir Starmer’s party, led by Anas Sarwar in Scotland, won the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election, reconfiguring the political outlook ahead of next year’s elections.It had been widely expected to lose the seat, with the prime minister’s popularity plummeting and Nigel Farage’s party on the rise.But Davy Russell, a first-time candidate and local figure known for his role as deputy lord lieutenant of Lanarkshire, won the seat vacated by the late Scottish National Party (SNP) minister Christina McKelvie. McKelvie died in March aged 57 after a battle with secondary breast cancer.Mr Russell secured 8,559 votes, beating SNP candidate Katy Loudon by a margin of 602. Mr Farage’s candidate Ross Lambie came in third with 7,088 votes – only narrowly behind the SNP – while the Scottish Conservatives trailed with 1,621.The win overturns a 2021 SNP majority of 4,582 and marks a 7.4 per cent swing towards Labour. It is a significant morale boost for Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar, whose party has recently lagged behind in national polling.Mr Sarwar said: “I think people need to change the script, because we’ve proven the pollsters wrong.”We’ve proven the commentators wrong, we’ve proven the bookies wrong.”We’ve proven John Swinney wrong and so many others wrong too.”Davy Russell, Scottish Labour candidate, celebrates with Anas Sarwar and Jackie Ballie and Monica Lennon after winning the Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse by-election on 6 June 2025 More

Downing Street is exploring a proposal to introduce digital ID cards for every adult in Britain in a move to tackle the UK’s illegal migration crisis, according to reports.The new “BritCard” would be used to check on an individual’s right to live and work in Britain, with senior No 10 figures examining the proposal, The Times has reported.The card, stored on a smartphone, would reportedly be linked to government records and could check entitlements to benefits and monitor welfare fraud.The scheme’s supporters think it would send a clear signal that the UK is not “soft touch” on illegal migration and would help ease the small boats crisis.The idea was one of former prime minister Tony Blair’s flagship policies in Downing Street, but it was killed off after he lost power.The idea was one of former prime minister Tony Blair’s flagship policies in Downing Street, but it was killed off after he lost power More

Shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride had intended to talk about one failed female Tory leader with his keynote speech in London on Thursday morning – but ended up discussing another instead.Sir Mel had intended to apologise about Liz Truss’ mini-Budget and set a new economic path back to recovery for the Conservative Party. But he ended up providing some less than helpful comments about his current leader Kemi Badenoch. The added problem was that the remarks he made were unsolicited. He was asked by a journalist whether the leadership election rules should be changed to prevent someone like Ms Truss becoming leader again. But instead, he took the opportunity to say some things about his current, much under fire, leader Ms Badenoch.Mel Stride took the opportunity to discuss Ms Badenoch’s leadership at his keynote speech in London on Thursday More

Reform UK have been hit by further chaos after the man brought in by Nigel Farage to professionalise the party quit following a row with their newest MP.Zia Yusuf, a Muslim businessman, had described new Runcorn MP Sarah Pochin as “dumb” after she challenged Keir Starmer over the legality of women wearing the burqa in the UK during Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday.After fury broke out about his comment, Mr Yusuf, who has been the target of anger by many activists over several months, announced he has quit.Farage had stood by Yusuf More

Rachel Reeves has hit back against her critics in Labour in a passionate defence of her economic policy as she fends off a cabinet backlash over her spending review. Labour heavyweights, including deputy prime minister Angela Rayner and home secretary Yvette Cooper, have been holding out on agreeing spending settlements with the Treasury, accusing the chancellor of trying to impose cuts to public services.Among the issues being fought over are funding for local government finances, social housing budgets, border control, and policing.But in an exclusive article for The Independent about the announcement on extending free school meals to 500,000 more of the poorest pupils, Ms Reeves underlined her record of trying to rebalance the economy in favour of the less well-off.Reeves making an announcement on transport investment More

Recent voting intention polling from YouGov (May 27) shows Reform UK in first place, 8% ahead of Labour and 10% ahead of the Conservatives, who are now in third place.The rising popularity of Nigel Farage’s party is an unprecedented threat to the major parties. This was driven home in recent local elections in England, where Reform won 677 seats and took control of 10 local authorities. But where does this support come from?The survey compares respondent voting intention to their votes in the 2024 general election.If we look at Conservative voters, 27% of them have switched to Reform in their voting intentions, while 66% remain loyal. Alarmingly for Labour, only 60% of their 2024 voters have remained loyal, and 15% intend to vote for Reform, while 12% switched to the Liberal Democrats and 9% to the Greens.Labour has been squeezed from both sides of the political spectrum, but the loss to the left is significantly larger than the loss to the right.Labour has been squeezed from both sides of the political spectrum More

Sir Keir Starmer appears to be heading for a number of major U-turns amid growing concern from MPs about the direction of government and following a devastating performance at the local elections. The prime minister last month announced plans to reverse his controversial cuts to winter fuel payments, saying he wants more pensioners to be eligible for the benefit.There is also a growing expectation he will lift the two-child benefit cap. While nothing has been announced yet, the prime minister is privately said to be in favour of lifting the cap – but has refused to commit to anything until the child poverty strategy is published in the autumn. Below, The Independent looks at all the times Sir Keir has U-turned on his promises or let voters down on the journey from Labour leader to prime minister.Sir Keir Starmer has been repeatedly accused of u-turning on key issues More