UK Politics

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreCriminals could be banned from pubs, sports grounds and social events under plans being considered to free up prison spaces, a minister has suggested.Courts minister Sarah Sackman said the bans, as well as mandatory work for offenders, were “very much part of the mix” amid an ongoing government review of prison sentences. The review, chaired by Tory former justice secretary David Gauke, was launched in October to consider ways to punish offenders outside of prisons to ease the overcrowding crisis. It is taking ideas from foreign jurisdictions such as Texas, where authorities have relied on good behaviour credits for early release schemes, as well as considering home detention curfews and sobriety tags. It comes amid government plans to ease the overcrowding crisis in prisons More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreA cross-party committee of MPs has written to Sir Keir Starmer about its “deep concern” over the cut to the aid budget.Sarah Champion, chairwoman of the International Development Committee, said the “brutal” cut to funds “risks undermining our soft power, as well as years of progress in areas such as healthcare, education, clean water and sustainable development”.Last week the prime minister announced that spending on defence will rise from its current 2.3 per cent share of the economy to 2.5 per cent in 2027.But to fund it, development assistance aid will be slashed from its current level of 0.5 per cent of gross national income to 0.3 per cent in 2027.Last week, international development minister Anneliese Dodds resigned in protest over the move.Anneliese Dodds said she disagreed with the decision for aid to ‘absorb the entire burden’ (Lucy North/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreDonald Trump’s swingeing tariffs will harm the UK economy – even if Britain is exempt, Rachel Reeves has warned.The chancellor said a global trade war triggered by the US President would lead to even higher inflation and slower economic growth.The UK is seeking a carve out from damaging tariffs which have already seen Canada and China hit with an extra 25 per cent on their goods entering the US. Rachel Reeves said ‘even if tariffs aren’t applied to the UK, we will be affected by slowing global trade’ More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read more Kosovo’s Prime Minister Albin Kurti on Tuesday again refused to report to the Special Prosecutor’s Office that had summoned him as a witness in an alleged corruption case of state reserves.Kurti, who was first summoned in December and refused, instead has said they can take his testimony at his office. He is not accused in the case but other officials are. Few details have been made publicly available.The prime minister has said he considers the prosecutor’s request to be politically driven.“It is using and abusing its freedom to fight the government, not crime and corruption. I have always been ready to testify,” Kurti told journalists.The prosecutors’ governing body and chief prosecutor supported the request to summon Kurti and denounced his allegations of taking political sides, adding that his words “seriously damage the functioning of the democratic institutions.”His Self-Determination Movement Party won the most seats in the Feb. 9 election but was left without a majority in parliament, forcing it to look for a partner to form the new government.The incident comes as Kosovo’s ties with its norther neighbor, Serbia, remain tense. Normalization talks with Serbia, which the European Union has facilitated since 2011, have stalled, though they are key for the countries’ potential membership in the bloc.Kosovo was a former Serbian province until a 78-day NATO bombing campaign in 1999 ended a war between Serbian government forces and ethnic Albanian separatists there. That left about 11,400 dead, mainly ethnic Albanians, and pushed Serbian forces out.Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s independence, proclaimed in 2008. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreJD Vance has been condemned for disrespecting British veterans after he appeared to describe the UK as “some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years”. The US vice president has been accused of erasing the experiences of Britons who served in Iraq and Afghanistan after his latest tirade against America’s European allies. Some 636 British troops died fighting alongside the US in Iraq and Afghanistan, and an ex-soldier MP who served in Iraq said Mr Vance had made “a sinister attempt to deny that reality”. Keir Starmer hit back that he was “full of admiration” for the “courage and bravery” of British troops who had fought alongside the US, many of whom had been killed in action. Liberal Democrat defence spokesman Helen Maguire, a former captain in the Royal Military Police who served in Iraq, said: “JD Vance is erasing from history the hundreds of British troops who gave their lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. “I saw firsthand how American and British soldiers fought bravely together shoulder to shoulder. Six of my own regiment, the Royal Military Police, didn’t return home from Iraq.” JD Vance referred to a proposed peacekeeping force in Ukraine as ‘20,000 troops from some random country that has not fought a war in 30 to 40 years’ More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreTim Davie has not ruled out re-airing the controversial documentary about Gaza which was pulled from iPlayer after it emerged it featured the son of a Hamas official.Addressing the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport Committee on Tuesday, the BBC Director General said the broadcaster would conduct a “forensic investigation” into the programme, admitting that “transparency was lacking” in the making of the film. Mr Davie’s appearance in front of the committee follows the BBC’s apology last week for “serious flaws” in the making of the programme Gaza: How To Survive A Warzone, after it emerged that the child narrator is the son of Ayman Alyazouri, who has worked as Hamas’s deputy minister of agriculture.BBC Director General Tim Davie (Andrew Milligan/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreA former minister and key ally of Kim Leadbeater’s bid to introduce assisted dying into the UK has attempted to gag criticism of the bill committee dealing with the controversial legislation.Tory MP Kit Malthouse, who has been a cheerleader for the bill and sits on the committee, made a dramatic point of order after a majority voted down an amendment to protect people with Down Syndrome by 13 to 8.The amendment’s defeat added to growing concerns from campaign groups that vulnerable and disabled people or people with long term conditions will not be protected by the legislation into being coerced to end their lives early.Labour MP Kim Leadbeater (PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFrom reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.Your support makes all the difference.Read moreJeremy Corbyn has called for a Chilcot-style inquiry into Britain’s role in Israel’s war in Gaza. The former Labour leader has written to Sir Keir Starmer demanding an independent inquiry into the conflict in the Middle East that was started in response to the October 7 Hamas terror attacks on Israel.“History is repeating itself,” Mr Corbyn warned, drawing parallels between the war in Gaza and the Iraq war, into which Sir John Chilcot published a damning report in 2016 that said the UK’s decision to invade was based on “flawed intelligence”.Jeremy Corbyn is a long-standing pro-Palestinian campaigner More