UK Politics

Former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond dies aged 69Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseTributes have poured in for the longtime Scottish first minister Alex Salmond after his sudden death aged 69 shocked the world of politics in which he was a senior figure for decades.The current Alba leader passed away on Saturday afternoon at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy Forum in the North Macedonia lake-resort town of Ohrid, the party’s general secretary Chris McEleny confirmed.He had made a speech at the event, and the party said it understood he suffered a heart attack at lunch in a crowded room, although there will be a post-mortem examination to confirm the cause of death.Mr Salmond served as first minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014 and was leader of the Scottish National Party on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014, with contemporaries from across the political spectrum expressing their condolences.British prime minister Sir Keir Starmer led the tributes, describing Mr Salmond as a “monumental figure of Scottish and UK politics” for more than 30 years.Former first minister of Scotland Nicola Sturgeon paid tribute to her “mentor”, while Scotland’s current first minister John Swinney said Mr Salmond “fought fearlessly” for Scottish independence.Alba Party deputy leader Kenny MacAskill said the party “grieves the loss of their founder and leader”.Show latest update 1728784800Salmond said he was unsure if his relationship with Sturgeon could ever be mendedAlex Salmond said he was unsure if his relationship with Nicola Sturgeon could ever be mended.Speaking in a BBC documentary, Salmond And Sturgeon: A Troubled Union, which was broadcast last month, he said: “I don’t really do hurt feelings very much … but it’s a big regret that Nicola and I are no longer on speaking terms.”Reflecting on her relationship with Mr Salmond and its breakdown, Ms Sturgeon said he was “for a long time, a very positive force in my life”, adding: “But I think I had to learn how to be myself.”Nicola Sturgeon with Alex Salmond while on the general election campaign trail in Inverurie in the Gordon constituency More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseFormer Scottish first ministerAlex Salmond penned a series of poignant X posts about Scottish independence just before his sudden death at the age of 69.The Alba leader died on Saturday afternoon at the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy Forum in the North Macedonia lake-resort town of Ohrid, the party’s general secretary Chris McEleny confirmed.Mr Salmond had made a speech at the event, and the party said it understood he suffered a heart attack at lunch in a crowded room, although there will be a post-mortem examination to confirm the cause of death.Tributes have been pouring in for Mr Salmond – who served as first minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014 and was leader of the SNP on two occasions, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014.Contemporaries from across the political spectrum expressed their condolences and shock at his death, with many referencing his passion for Scotland and fight for Scottish independence.Former Scottish first minister Alex Salmond has died suddenly at the age of 69 More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseThe owner of P&O ferries will attend a key investment summit after Sir Keir Starmer distanced himself from comments by a minister who called the firm a “cowboy operator”.After efforts by Downing Street to smooth relations, it is understood that DP World will now attend Monday’s gathering, despite the row over Louise Haigh’s comments about the firm. The ferry operator’s Dubai-based parent company was expected to announce £1 billion of investment in the UK at the Government’s International Investment Summit, which is thought to be key to government plans to attract investment to the country.But DP World was reported to have pulled out of the event and placed its investment plans under review, according to Sky News, after Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner and Transport Secretary Ms Haigh repeated criticism of P&O Ferries.The operator faced scrutiny by politicians from both main parties in March 2022 when it suddenly sacked 800 British seafarers and replaced them with cheaper, mainly overseas, staff, saying it was necessary to stave off bankruptcy.P&O Ferries was sharply criticised by MPs from all parties after suddenly sacking 800 seafarers in March 2022 More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseFormer Trades Union Congress president Matt Wrack has fired a warning shot across the bow of Sir Keir Starmer after his failure to back transport secretary Louise Haigh over comments she made about the owners of P&O Ferries.The row exploded after DP World yesterday decided to cancel £1 billon investment in Thames Gateway following comments on a new workers rights package made by Ms Haigh and deputy prime minister Angela Rayner.Mr Wrack, the general secretary of the Fire Brigades Union who led the negotiations with Labour on the worker’s rights package, warned Sir Keir that criticism of Ms Haigh was “unacceptable” and he praised her for taking on “rogue employers” like P&O’s parent company DP World.Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer with Transport Secretary Louise Haigh (Owen Humphreys/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseBarristers have issued a “warning shot” to the new government in the long-running dispute over legal aid funding, as the Criminal Bar Association raised the threat of industrial action.In a twin blow, as patience wears thin over Labour ministers’ handling of the courts crisis, the Law Society simultaneously urged solicitors to consider either scaling back or stopping taking on legal aid cases, warning that the system is now “at the limits of financial viability”.Funding for legal aid – which helps people pay for legal advice and representation – has fallen by 28 per cent in real terms over the past decade, with remuneration fees for lawyers involved in civil cases now approximately half of their value in 1996, according to the National Audit Office.With the pool of lawyers willing to take on such work severely diminishing, further reducing the number of people able to access legal aid after austerity-era laws tightened eligibility, legal professionals have been engaged in a years-long battle to urgently boost the funding available.Fuelling mounting frustration, the Criminal Bar Association revealed this week that Sir Keir Starmer’s government has been sitting for two months on an independent report assessing the dire state of criminal legal aid – and urged ministers to publish it ahead of the chancellor’s upcoming Budget.Warning that “there may be an assumption that we will not react” if the as-yet-unpublished report’s recommendations are not implemented, the group’s chair Mary Prior KC said it will ballot its members “to consider what the next steps will be” and is “ready to act in accordance with their wishes”.Raising the spectre of the strikes, which saw parts of the justice system grind to a near-halt in 2022 over the legal aid row, the group’s chair Mary Prior KC said that “experience has taught us that there is no movement from government without significant disruption to the courts”.Describing Ms Prior’s statement as “a warning shot to the Ministry of Justice” and “quite possibly the start of the resumption of industrial action”, criminal defence solicitor Stephen Davies said: “Who could blame [them]? We have been ignored repeatedly.”The courts backlog means some judges are now scheduling new trials for as far away as mid-2027 More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseKemi Badenoch has previously declared herself “the one person that can beat Keir Starmer”. And now she is close to becoming the prime minister’s direct opponent in politics after reaching the final head-to-head in the Conservative Party leadership election against Robert Jenrick.Her allies say she is straight-talking and has the proven Conservative credentials to win back disillusioned voters. But can she win the support of party members?She has been accused of making enemies too easily. And after a number of slip-ups throughout the campaign trail there are some concerns the former business secretary is too much of a risk of controversy to lead the Tory party to victory. Ms Badenoch has defined herself as the “culture war” candidate after dedicating herself to anti-woke policies. Over the years, she has regularly taken aim at gender identity services and used her Tory party conference platform to reject critical race theory.Earlier this year she even found herself in a public row with Doctor Who actor David Tennant, who is a vocal trans rights advocate, after he said he wished she “did not exist anymore”.Kemi Badenoch previously said she is ‘the one person that can beat Keir Starmer’ More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseKeir Starmer has risked deepening a rift in his own government after he used an interview with the BBC to criticise his transport secretary Louise Haigh.The prime minister appeared on the BBC News Newscast podcast with Adam Fleming and Chris Mason, where he was pressed on Ms Haigh’s comments to ITV earlier this week where she suggested a boycott of P&O ferries.The transport secretary had been discussing widespread anger with the ferry company over its decision to fire and rehire 800 employees to save money.The fallout saw P&O’s parent company DP World cancel a £1 billion Thames Gateway investment in protest ahead of the government’s major investors summit on Monday. It is understood the firm particularly objected to Ms Haigh calling them a “cowboy operator”.Grilled on what he thought of the minister’s comments, the prime minister slapped her down publicly.P&O’s parent company DP World cancelled a £1 billion Thames Gateway investment More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreClose British Prime Minister Keir Starmer marks 100 days in office Saturday with little cause for celebration.Starmer’s center-left Labour Party was elected by a landslide on July 4, sweeping back to power after 14 years. But after weeks of stories about feuding, freebies and fiscal gloom, polls suggest Starmer’s personal approval rating has plummeted, and Labour is only slightly more popular than a Conservative Party that was rejected by voters after years of infighting and scandal.“You couldn’t really have imagined a worse start,” said Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London. ”First impressions count, and it’s going to be difficult to turn those around.”Starmer won the election on promises to banish years of turmoil and scandal under Conservative governments, get Britain’s sluggish economy growing and restore frayed public services such as the state-funded National Health Service.His government argues it has made a strong start: It has ended long-running strikes by doctors and railway workers, set up a publicly owned green energy firm, scrapped the Conservatives’ contentious plan to deport asylum-seekers to Rwanda and introduced bills to strengthen rights for workers and renters.Starmer has traveled to Washington, the United Nations and European capitals as he seeks to show that “ Britain is back ” after years of inward-looking wrangling over Brexit. But the United Kingdom, like its allies, has struggled to have much impact on spiraling conflicts in the Middle East and the grinding war in Ukraine.The new government also has faced crises at home, including days of far-right fueled anti-immigrant violence that erupted in towns and cities across England and Northern Ireland in the summer. Starmer condemned the rioters as “mindless thugs” and vowed to jail those responsible. So far, more than 800 people have appeared in court and almost 400 have gone to prison.Starmer’s most intractable problem is Britain’s sluggish economy, hobbled by rising public debt and low growth of just 0.2% in August, according to official figures.Starmer has warned that things will be “tough in the short term” before they get better. He says public spending will be constrained by a 22-billion-pound ($29 billion) “black hole” in the public finances left by the Conservatives.One of the government’s first acts was to strip millions of retirees of a payment intended to help heat their homes in winter. It was intended to signal determination to take tough economic decisions, but it spawned a sharp backlash from Labour members and sections of the public.It also sat awkwardly with news that Starmer had accepted thousands of pounds’ worth of clothes and designer eyeglasses from a wealthy Labour donor. Starmer insisted the gifts were within the rules, but after days of negative headlines agreed to pay back 6,000 pounds’ (almost $8,000) worth of gifts and hospitality, including tickets to see Taylor Swift.Government officials and advisers have traded blame for the faltering start, with the focus on Downing Street Chief of Staff Sue Gray, and her reported tensions with Labour campaign strategist Morgan McSweeney.Amid intense media scrutiny — which produced the revelation that Gray earned more than the prime minister — she resigned Sunday, saying stories about her “risked becoming a distraction.” McSweeney is replacing her as Starmer’s chief of staff.Anand Menon, director of the political think tank U.K. in a Changing Europe, wrote on its website that the government made “avoidable mistakes” that allowed a “perception of incompetence and dysfunction” to take hold.The government’s focus is now on Oct. 30, when Treasury chief Rachel Reeves will set out her first budget. She has ruled out increasing income tax, sales tax or corporation tax, but also says there will be no “return to austerity” — a hard circle to square. She is thought to be considering hiking levies on wealth such as capital gains or inheritance tax.The government is hoping it can take painful decisions early and then turn things around by showing a growing economy and improving living standards. And it has time — there does not have to be another election until 2029.Starmer will be working from 10 Downing St. on his 100th day in office, and aides insist he is not musing on whether his first weeks have been a success.“It’s for the public to judge that,” spokesperson Camilla Marshall said. “The government is focused on delivery.”Bale said the government can rebuild trust with voters, if it shows “not only that it’s had a pretty dire inheritance, but that it has a plan to improve the country.”“What’s been lacking in some ways is the vision thing,” he said. “I don’t think people have that much of a sense of what Keir Starmer or indeed Labour is about. And that’s something they need to put right very quickly.” More