UK Politics

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentWatch as the annual Labour Party conference kicks off in Liverpool, with speeches from Angela Rayner and foreign secretary David Lammy.The event began on Sunday morning (22 September) still mired in a row over gifts to senior MPs and questions about Sir Keir Starmer’s chief of staff.Senior government figures sought to move on from the row over donations in a series of interviews ahead of a conference that had been expected to be a victory lap for the party after its landslide election victory in July.Ms Rayner, the deputy prime minister, said she understood why people were “frustrated” and “angry” that figures including Sir Keir had received thousands of pounds in gifts.But she added these had been “a feature of our politics for a very long time”, arguing that donations were necessary because of the expense of running for office, and stressing the importance of transparency.Ms Rayner has herself been criticised for staying in a flat owned by Labour donor Lord Waheed Alli while on holiday in New York, but denied breaking any Commons rules about declaring the gift.She also hit out at reports suggesting strife in Downing Street focused on Sue Gray, the prime minister’s chief of staff. More

Starmer defends accepting free Arsenal ticketsYour support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseMy recent work focusing on Latino voters in Arizona has shown me how crucial independent journalism is in giving voice to underrepresented communities.Your support is what allows us to tell these stories, bringing attention to the issues that are often overlooked. Without your contributions, these voices might not be heard.Every dollar you give helps us continue to shine a light on these critical issues in the run up to the election and beyondEric GarciaWashington Bureau ChiefForeign secretary David Lammy has proclaimed “Britain is back” in his speech at Labour’s conference in Liverpool. In an attempt at crowd interaction, Mr Lammy encouraged conference members to chant “Britain is back” as he listed the things he had done so far in office. His comments come after Ukraine’s ambassador to Ukraine gave a surprise speech, urging a “fast-track” membership for Ukraine in Nato. Valerii Zaluzhnyi said he believed Labour had come to power “just in time”, adding: “The Labour Party has a proud history of fighting fascism”.Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner opened the conference this morning. In an optimistic speech, Ms Rayner sketched out her plans to tackle damp and mouldy homes, build more social housing, devolve more power out of Westminster and increase workers’ rights. Her speech came after she was forced to defend the government over freebies accepted by senior ministers. Ms Rayner told the BBC on Sunday morning that gifts and donations were “a factor in our political life”, adding: “All MPs do it”. The Independent’s political team will be reporting throughout the week from the Labour Party conference in Liverpool. Show latest update 1727016055Passengers are being priced off trains, union leaders warnPassengers are being priced off the railways while private operators continue to make huge profits, union leaders have said.Mick Lynch, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT), and Mick Whelan, of Aslef, said the answer to lower fares had to start with renationalising train companies.Mr Whelan told a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool: “People are being priced off the railway. We don’t have a turn up and go railway. If you haven’t booked a ticket three months ahead you don’t bother going.”He said a start would be to stop money being “drained” out of the industry by profits being given to shareholders.Mr Lynch said train companies and previous Conservative governments had “ripped off” the public because of privatisation.“Billions of pounds have been leeched out of the industry into dividends or state-owned railways in Europe,” he told the meeting.Both union leaders welcomed the government’s plans to take rail companies back into public ownership, saying it should be the start of having an affordable, safe, integrated railway.Holly Bancroft22 September 2024 15:401727014915Climate conscious Labour delights conference goers with refillable coffee cupsOur Whitehall Editor Kate Devlin is on the scene in Liverpool and has a good news update from the conference centre: Alongside the infighting, and pre-Budget doom and gloom, one innovation is delighting Labour conference go-ers this year.The party is back in the same Liverpool venue it has used for a few years.But for the first time – there are refillable coffee cups, with free refills.Labour conferences have traditionally been caffeine-fuelled, but this year, it seems, will be even more so than usual.( More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentGamers and cyber experts will be fast-tracked into the country’s online defence forces to help thwart the threat posed by Vladimir Putin, Defence Secretary John Healey said.The new “cyber track” will have different selection and basic training requirements to other branches of the armed services.The Sun on Sunday revealed that suspected Russian actors have been caught trying to hack into Britain’s core defence structure 90,000 times over the past two years.We will remove unnecessary barriers and fast-track bright candidates into cyber defence to help face down Putin’s online aggressionJohn HealeyMr Healey, who will set out details of his plans in a speech at Labour’s conference in Liverpool on Monday, also eased “outdated” recruitment requirements for the wider armed forces.Over 100 recruitment policies have been scrapped or updated since Labour entered Government, including measures blocking some sufferers of hay fever, eczema and acne, and some injuries that have fully healed.Mr Healey also promised a new ambition to make a conditional offer to would-be recruits within 10 days and confirmation of a training start date within 30 days.The Defence Secretary said: “Labour is a party with historic roots in Britain’s armed forces. We are deeply proud of those who serve our country and we are determined to tackle the crisis in recruitment and retention caused by years of Conservative hollowing-out.“Our armed forces rightly set the highest standards and with Labour that will continue. At the same time, we will unblock the bottlenecks, the needless red tape and delays which are turning great talent away from our forces.“As the world changes, and threats evolve, we also need to ensure our recruitment is right for the 21st century.“That’s why we will remove unnecessary barriers and fast-track bright candidates into cyber defence to help face down Putin’s online aggression.“Alongside the largest pay rise in 20 years for existing troops, Labour is getting on with fixing the foundations of our armed forces and supporting the brave men and women who keep Britain safe.”Mr Healey used a Sun on Sunday interview to give more detail of his cyber plans, telling the newspaper: “If you are good at tech, if you have a passion for cyber, if you’re good at gaming, then you may have the skills that the British military needs.” More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentAngela Rayner has defended the government amid a growing row over donations accepted by senior Labour figures, saying “all MPs do it”.Asked about the decision by herself and her cabinet colleagues to accept thousands of pounds worth of clothes, hospitality and gifts, the deputy prime minister said: “MPs have accepted gifts and donations for years. All MPs do it”.She told the BBC: “Gifts and donations have been a factor in our political life for some time. We could have a debate about that.“I was from a very working-class background, to stand as deputy leader, to get that position, I had to accept donations to run that campaign because it’s a very expensive way of doing our politics.”Angela Rayner defends Starmer over donations More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House Correspondent A state election is taking place in Brandenburg on Sunday, three weeks after a far-right party made gains in two other states in eastern Germany.Around 2.1 million people are registered to vote for a new state parliament in Brandenburg, the state that surrounds the German capital, Berlin. Sunday’s election is being watched closely for signs about the country’s political direction.The latest polls showed that the far-right Alternative for Germany is neck-and-neck with the Social Democrats, the party that has governed Brandenburg continuously since German reunification in 1990. The Social Democrats, the largest party in Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way coalition government, are hoping to maintain control of their stronghold in the face of rising support for parties on the extreme right and left.If the Social Democrats lose in Brandenburg, it would be seen as a bad omen for Scholz a year before a federal election that is due to be held on Sept. 28, 2025. Scholz lives in Potsdam, the capital of Brandenburg, and German political observers believe the chancellor’s political future will be shaped by the results of Sunday’s vote in Brandenburg.The fate of the Brandenburg governor, Dietmar Woidke, is also hanging in the balance. He made it his goal for his Social Democrats to beat Alternative for Germany, or AfD, and vowed to resign should the AfD win.“If I lose against the AfD, I am gone,” Woidke said.The Alternative for Germany won the most votes in the state of Thuringia and also did well in an election in Saxony on Sept. 1. A new party founded by a prominent leftist also made a strong impact, while the parties in Scholz’s unpopular national government obtained extremely weak results.That was the first time the far right won an election in Germany since World War II, and it dealt a heavy blow to Scholz’s centrist coalition. It also generated concerns in Germany and abroad about the growing support for the extreme right in the largest European Union country, and a member of NATO.The far-right party has gained support amid a growing backlash to large-scale migration to Germany over the past decade and several recent extremist attacks. Germany’s economy, once a powerhouse, has been weakening, adding to a general feeling of malaise.Sunday’s vote follows a heated election campaign centered on the issues of migration, internal security and peace. Both the far right and the new leftist movement, the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, or BSW, want to end weapons deliveries to Kyiv as Ukraine tried to defend itself against Russia’s full-scale invasion.Even if the Alternative for Germany wins in Brandenburg, it is unlikely to govern because other parties have refused to work with it. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentKeir Starmer has defended his gift taking insisting that it is transparency that matters in two eve of conference interviews.But the prime minister has also admitted that squabbling among his senior staff and rows surrounding Sue Gray are damaging his government after less than three months in office.The prime minister has also sought to see off a row with unions and the left at the party conference in Liverpool by insisting there will be no new austerity as he and chancellor Rachel Reeves seek to get a control on public finances.After taking £107,000 in gifts since 2019, more than two and a half times more than any other MP, the Labour leader was challenged on whether he was being hypocritical after criticising Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak for the same.Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer and Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner, arriving ahead of the Labour Party Conference in Liverpool More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentDeputy prime minister Angela Rayner will pledge decent homes for all in a speech that puts the dismal state of housing front and centre of the Labour party conference.Opening the conference in Liverpool on Sunday, Ms Rayner will announce a number of measures designed to ensure tenants are not plagued by disrepair, mould, damp or fire safety concerns. In comments ahead of the speech, Ms Rayner said Labour have “inherited a Tory housing crisis” and that her government will take “a wave of bold action to not only build the housing our country needs and boost social and affordable housing, but to ensure all homes are decent, safe and warm”.She will announce that the government will consult on a new Decent Homes Standard for social and private renters. Labour will also press ahead with Tory legislation, known as Awaab’s law, which sets timescales for social landlords to remedy problems such as damp and mould. Ms Rayner will renew Labour’s promise that these protections will be extended to the private rented sector. She will also announce bringing forward new access to information requirements on social housing landlords, to enable millions of housing association tenants to hold them to account. Deputy prime minister Angela Rayner will pledge faster action to remove dangerous cladding from buildings More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseAs your White House correspondent, I ask the tough questions and seek the answers that matter.Your support enables me to be in the room, pressing for transparency and accountability. Without your contributions, we wouldn’t have the resources to challenge those in power.Your donation makes it possible for us to keep doing this important work, keeping you informed every step of the way to the November electionAndrew FeinbergWhite House CorrespondentKeir Starmer’s top team is unapologetic about the cut to the winter fuel payment for millions of pensioners as the party chair warned “we have to get the money from somewhere” on the eve of Labour’s conference in Liverpool.Rising star in the cabinet Ellie Reeves, who is due to open the conference on Sunday, has insisted the government shouldn’t “paper over the cracks” as she admitted she understood that the party would face a wave of emotion if pensioners die this winter in cold homes.Her warning, in an exclusive interview with The Independent, comes as Sir Keir prepares to square up again to the left of the party trying to embarrass him by demanding the reversal of the winter fuel cut.Despite widespread criticism and calls for a U-turn after chancellor Rachel Reeves was given £10bn extra headroom by the Bank of England, her sister Ellie Reeves said that the government is sticking with its plans.Chair of the Labour Party Ellie Reeves More