UK Politics

Sir Keir Starmer’s historic decision to recognise Palestinian statehood later this year will not be enough to stop some of his top cabinet ministers from facing major battles to hang on to their seats, leading pollsters have warned.Health secretary Wes Streeting and justice secretary Shabana Mahmood are among those who could be ousted from parliament at the next general election, the UK’s top pollster Sir John Curtice warned, in the face of major challenges from pro-Gaza candidates. Sir Keir lost a key member of his top team, Jonathan Ashworth, to a pro-Palestine independent candidate at the last election. Mr Streeting was among those who held his seat, but saw his majority in his Ilford constituency slashed from 5,198 in 2019 to just 528. But pollsters now warn anger over the issue of Palestine, which Jeremy Corbyn’s newly announced political party will attempt to capitalise on, could see Mr Streeting and other high-profile casualties from the cabinet. Health Secretary Wes Streeting (Jordan Pettitt/PA) More

Talks have been held over giving Donald Trump the Freedom of the City of London during his state visit in September, in a highly symbolic move.According to a source, the proposal to give President Trump the honour was made because it would give the Corporation the opportunity to meet the US leader and make the case for free trade and against tariffs at the ceremony.It would also be a way of marking the UK receiving the first of the Trump trade deals with questions still over tariffs on steel.The president would helicopter in from Windsor Castle to the US ambassador’s Winfield House residence in Regent’s Park for the ceremony.The Independent was told: “It would be an important honour for the president just as our countries prepare to mark the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence next year.President Donald Trump More

The Government has defended the Online Safety Act after Elon Musk’s X said the legislation was threatening free speech.In a post titled What Happens When Oversight Becomes Overreach, the platform, formerly known as Twitter, outlined criticism of the act and the “heavy-handed” UK regulators.The Government countered that it is “demonstrably false” that the Online Safety Act compromises free speech and said it is not designed to censor political debate.Under rules that came into effect on July 25, online platforms must take steps to prevent children accessing harmful content such as pornography or material that encourages suicide.This includes a new duty for online providers to reduce the risk that users encounter illegal content as well as age verification measures in the UK to access pornographic content.“As a result, the act’s laudable intentions are at risk of being overshadowed by the breadth of its regulatory reach. Without a more balanced, collaborative approach, free speech will suffer,” X said.It accused regulators of taking a “heavy-handed approach” and said that “many are now concerned that a plan ostensibly intended to keep children safe is at risk of seriously infringing on the public’s right to free expression”.Ofcom said this week it had launched investigations into 34 pornography sites for new age-check requirements.The company said “a balanced approach is the only way to protect individual liberties, encourage innovation and safeguard children”.A Government spokesperson said: “It is demonstrably false that the Online Safety Act compromises free speech.“As well as legal duties to keep children safe, the very same law places clear and unequivocal duties on platforms to protect freedom of expression. Failure to meet either obligation can lead to severe penalties, including fines of up to 10% of global revenue or £18 million, whichever is greater.“The Act is not designed to censor political debate and does not require platforms to age gate any content other than those which present the most serious risks to children such as pornography or suicide and self-harm content.“Platforms have had several months to prepare for this law. It is a disservice to their users to hide behind deadlines as an excuse for failing to properly implement it.”Technology Secretary Peter Kyle became embroiled in a row with Nigel Farage earlier this week over Reform UK’s pledge that it would scrap the Act if the party came into power.He said the Reform UK leader of being on the side of “extreme pornographers”. More

Sir Keir Starmer needs to listen to his own MPs, an ex-Labour frontbencher who quit her role over plans to slash benefits has said. Vicky Foxcroft, who dramatically quit as a government whip in June, said ministers need to “properly engage” with Labour backbenchers after a massive rebellion forced the government to abandon key aspects of its benefits reforms. Ms Foxcroft said she was “really concerned” about the negative impact the proposals – which were later abandoned – would have on disabled people. “There was some quite bad cuts to disabled people’s benefits suggested, particularly around Personal Independence Payment (PIP), and having to have four points before you would be able to access the benefit.Vicky Foxcroft resigned as a whip over the government’s proposed welfare cuts More

Millions of drivers have been denied payouts as the Supreme Court ruled that lenders are not liable for hidden commission payments in car finance schemes.Two lenders, FirstRand Bank and Close Brothers, went to the UK’s highest court to challenge a Court of Appeal ruling that found that the “secret” commission payments paid by buyers to car dealers as part of finance arrangements made before 2021, without the motorist’s fully informed consent, were unlawful.The Supreme Court’s decision means that the bulk of the claims will not go ahead, leaving the door open to compensation for only the most serious cases and protecting banks from a wave of costly payouts. Experts now expect compensation to cost lenders between £5bn and £15bn, rather than the £45bn it was expected to cost if the Supreme Court upheld the ruling in full – a payout that would have been similar in scale to the one that followed the payment protection insurance (PPI) scandal, which cost the banks almost £50bn. The UK’s Supreme Court issued its long-awaited judgment on Friday in relation to the car finance commission saga More

Rachel Reeves has rejected Donald Trump’s call to halt the spread of “unsightly windmills” in the North Sea and drill for oil instead. The US president took aim at wind turbines within hours of landing in Scotland last week for a trip that included a meeting with Sir Keir Starmer.But the chancellor has insisted that there is no “either/or” choice between renewable and non-renewable energy sources on her visit to Lossiemouth on the North Sea coast in Moray on Friday.Donald Trump in Balmedie, Aberdeenshire, last week More

The Ministry of Defence’s top civil servant David Williams will be stepping down in the autumn.Mr Williams, who is the permanent secretary at the MoD, announced his departure just weeks after it was revealed the government had put up to 100,000 lives at risk though a catastrophic data loss. His departure is part of a bid to bring fresh leadership to senior defence roles, The Independent understands.David Williams, the MoD’s top civil servant, will step down in autumn More

Civil service hopefuls will have their fates decided by their parents’ jobs under a shakeup aimed at recruiting more staff from working class backgrounds. The government will tighten eligibility criteria for Whitehall internships as part of a broader push to make the civil service more representative of the working class.The main Whitehall internship scheme will be limited to students from “lower socio-economic backgrounds” and based on which occupations their parents held when they were 14.Pat McFadden said the civil service needs to be more representative of the country as a whole More