UK Politics

Keir Starmer has been urged to fine nuisance public transport users who play music out loud on buses and trains up to £1,000.Amid growing public anger at what the party dubbed “headphone dodgers”, Sir Ed Davey is pushing for a crack down on the antisocial behaviour. The Liberal Democrats are seeking a change in the law that would explicitly ban playing music and videos out loud on English public transport. Ed Davey’s party is pushing for a crackdown on antisocial bus behaviour More

Social media and other internet platforms will be legally required to block children’s access to harmful content from July or face massive fines, Ofcom has said.The regulator has published the final version of its Children’s Codes under the Online Safety Act, setting out what sites must do to follow the law and protect children online.Under the codes, any site which hosts pornography, or content which encourages self-harm, suicide or eating disorders must have robust age verification tools in place in order to protect children from accessing that content.Those tools could be the use of facial age estimation technology, photo ID matching, or credit card checks to verify age more reliably.In addition, platforms will be required to configure their algorithms to filter out harmful content from children’s feeds and recommendations, ensuring they are not sent down a rabbit hole of harmful content.Platforms will also be required to give children more control over their online experience, including indicating what content they don’t like, as well as robust controls to block connection requests, comments and other controls.In total, the codes set out 40 practical measures firms must meet by July in order to fulfil their duties under the Online Safety Act.As well as fines, which can be up to £18 million or 10% of qualifying global revenue – which could reach billions of pounds for the largest firms – Ofcom will also have the power to seek a court order banning access to a site in the UK, in the most extreme cases.Ofcom chief executive, Dame Melanie Dawes, said: “These changes are a reset for children online. They will mean safer social media feeds with less harmful and dangerous content, protections from being contacted by strangers and effective age checks on adult content.“Ofcom has been tasked with bringing about a safer generation of children online, and if companies fail to act they will face enforcement.”Technology Secretary Peter Kyle said the publication of the codes was a “watershed moment” after years of “exposed, poisonous environments” online.“Growing up in the digital age should mean children can reap the immense benefits of the online world safely but in recent years too many young people have been exposed to lawless, poisonous environments online which we know can lead to real and sometimes fatal consequences. This cannot continue,” he said.“The Children’s Safety codes should be a watershed moment – turning the tide on toxic experiences on these platforms – with the largest social media companies now having to prioritise children’s safety by law.“This means age checks to stop children being exposed to the most extreme harmful content, as well as changes to platform design including algorithms to stop young users being served up harmful content they often aren’t even seeking.“Like parents across the country I expect to see these laws help create a safer online world, so we set every child up for the best start in life.“But we won’t hesitate to go further to protect our children; they are the foundation not the limit when it comes to children’s safety online.”However, some online safety campaigners have warned that the Online Safety Act in its current form was not adequate in its protection of internet users, and in particular children, and fails to cover areas of concern.Ian Russell, now chairman of charity the Molly Rose Foundation, set up in his daughter’s name after she chose to end her life aged 14, in 2017, after viewing harmful content on social media, said Ofcom’s codes would not protect young people.Mr Russell urged the Prime Minister to step in and strengthen the Online Safety Act.“I am dismayed by the lack of ambition in today’s codes. Instead of moving fast to fix things, the painful reality is that Ofcom’s measures will fail to prevent more young deaths like my daughter Molly’s,” he said.“Ofcom’s risk averse approach is a bitter pill for bereaved parents to swallow. Their overly cautious codes put the bottom line of reckless tech companies ahead of tackling preventable harm.“We lose at least one young life to tech-related suicide every single week in the UK which is why today’s sticking plaster approach cannot be allowed to stand.“A speedy remedy is within reach if the Prime Minister personally intervenes to fix this broken system. Less than one in 10 parents think Ofcom is doing enough and Sir Keir Starmer must commit without delay to strengthen online safety legislation.” More

Keir Starmer has been urged to fine nuisance public transport users who play music out loud on buses and trains up to £1,000.Amid growing public anger at what the party dubbed “headphone dodgers”, Sir Ed Davey is pushing for a crack down on the antisocial behaviour. The Liberal Democrats are seeking a change in the law that would explicitly ban playing music and videos out loud on English public transport. Ed Davey’s party is pushing for a crackdown on antisocial bus behaviour More

Conservative peer and pollster Lord Hayward has predicted a wipeout for his own party at the upcoming local elections, warning it will also be a difficult night for Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour. Voters in 23 local authorities across England will go to the polls on 1 May to choose their new councillors, with mayors also up for election across six regions. It will be the first big electoral test for the parties since last summer’s general election, and more than half of the council seats up for grabs are currently held by the Conservatives.Lord Hayward said he expects the Tories to lose between 475 and 525 local authority seats, predicting that the party, which is defending nearly 1,000 seats, will only win between 375 and 425. Kemi Badenoch admitted the local elections are “going to be very difficult” for her party More

Rachel Reeves has signalled that she is prepared to slash tariffs on US automobile imports to the UK in a bid to land a trade deal.According to a report in The Wall Street Journal, a document has been circulating that suggests the UK could reduce tariffs from 10 per cent to 2.5 per cent on US vehicles and parts.The apparent concession was revealed as the chancellor arrived in Washington DC for a summit at the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and ahead of a meeting with US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent.The report is the second concession understood to be on the table from the UK after reports that Sir Keir Starmer’s government could shelve a planned digital services tax.Reeves speaks at the World Economy Summit taking place in Washington this week More

Starmer: We must lower the temperature on Supreme Court ruling debateRachel Reeves is preparing for crucial talks with her US counterpart as she pushes to secure a trade deal amid economic uncertainty.Official figures published on Wednesday showed the government borrowed more than expected for the latest financial year, the third-highest level of borrowing since 1947. Activity across the UK’s private sector has also plunged to a more than two-year low as Donald Trump’s trade tariffs hammered exporters and caused a collapse in confidence.The chancellor will have her first face-to-face meeting with US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent as she spends three days in Washington DC for the International Monetary Fund (IMF)’s spring meetings.Her trip comes after the IMF slashed the UK’s economic growth forecast, warning that the fallout from Mr Trump’s trade war will hit Britain harder than the rest of Europe.Mr Trump implemented 10 per cent levies on all UK goods as he announced sweeping tariffs on imports from the rest of the world earlier this month.While ministers have said talks on a deal remain ongoing, figures in the Trump administration have cast doubt on their prospect of success.Comment | ‘Security’ is a sound enough slogan – but can Labour deliver it?Read the full Voices article from Andrew Grice:Jabed Ahmed23 April 2025 15:29US Treasury’s Bessent calls on IMF and World Bank to refocus on core missionsUS Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has called on the International Monetary Fund and World Bank to refocus on their core missions of macroeconomic stability and development, arguing that they have strayed too far into vanity projects such as climate change that have reduced their effectiveness.Me Bessent, in remarks outlining his vision for US engagement with the IMF and World Bank on the sidelines of the institutions’ spring meetings, said that they serve critical roles in the international financial system.”And the Trump administration is eager to work with them – so long as they can stay true to their missions,” Mr Bessent said.”The IMF and World Bank have enduring value. But mission creep has knocked these institutions off course. We must enact key reforms to ensure the Bretton Woods institutions are serving their stakeholders – not the other way around,” he said, calling on U.S. allies to join the effort. “America First does not mean America alone.”( More

Robert Jenrick has vowed to “unite the right” ahead of the next general election, signalling an electoral pact between the Conservatives and Reform UK. The senior Tory, seen as a leadership contender waiting to replace Kemi Badenoch, said “one way or another” he is determined to form a coalition between the parties. Speaking to a group of students in March, he said his worry is that Reform UK “becomes a permanent or semi-permanent fixture on the British political scene”. Robert Jenrick is seen as a leadership contender waiting for Kemi Badenoch to fall More

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to apologise to MP Rosie Duffield over historic disagreements on trans issues, instead accusing Kemi Badenoch of using the topic as a “political football”. Ms Duffield, who now sits as an independent after quitting the Labour Party, has been accused of transphobia for her push to protect single-sex spaces and has previously claimed the prime minister has “a problem with women”. At Wednesday’s Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), the Tory leader and the prime minister took swipes at each other over last week’s Supreme Court judgement on biological sex, with Mrs Badenoch accusing Sir Keir of “hounding [Ms Duffield] out of the Labour Party”. The prime minister declined to apologise to Rosie Duffield More