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 CorrespondentThe Liberal Democrat chief whip has questioned the commitment of Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson to their roles as MPs.At the party’s autumn conference in Brighton, Wendy Chamberlain suggested constituency work appeared not to be the priority for the Reform UK MPs, both of whom host shows on GB News.Months after it was revealed Mr Farage was the highest-paid MP outside of parliament, with a £98,000-a-month GB News gig, Ms Chamberlain backed potential plans to stop MPs hosting shows outside parliament.And speaking to The Independent at her party conference, Ms Chamberlain said: “The saddest thing of all is communities like Clacton and Ashfield are the ones that actually need the most assiduous constituency MPs to get underneath the casework.“It suggests [where] your priorities are, if you are earning more from doing that kind of stuff (TV) than you are as a constituency MP… I’d be interested to know what the constituency experiences are to date.“You just need to look at Nigel Farage’s record in the European Parliament, he was doing more outside it than inside.” In response, Mr Farage, who was in Chicago on Friday in this third visit to the US in just over two months, told The Independent: “I don’t know whether she goes on holiday.“I have not this year but I am fulfilling diary commitments. We are making good progress in Clacton.”Asked what Sir Keir Starmer’s government needed to do to halt the rise of Reform before the next election, Ms Chamberlain said he had to “deliver on a fundamental and basic level”.Reform won five seats at the general election, but had a 14.3 per cent share of the vote – higher than the Lib Dems, which received a 12.2 per cent share.Ms Chamberlain’s comments came on the second day of the Liberal Democrats’ autumn conference, with Sir Ed Davey promising the Lib Dems “will hold [the Government] to account” when they disagree, adding that the party believes there needs to be “reform and investment” in the health service.Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, Sir Ed said his party “absolutely will challenge the Government where we disagree with them”, and pledged to be a “better opposition than the Conservatives”.He later added: “We’re worried that in the NHS debate, they’re talking about reform before investment, when we think there needs to be reform and investment.“So we will hold them to account, but we will be different from the Conservatives because being constructive means you have a different tone.” 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 CorrespondentSir Ed Davey has said Ukraine should be allowed to use Western weapons to strike inside Russia, becoming the latest senior figure to urge a change of course from Sir Keir Starmer.After Boris Johnson and five former defence secretaries called for Kyiv to be allowed to use British-made Storm Shadows to strike Russian targets, the Liberal Democrat leader joined a growing chorus calling for a shift in stance.Foreign secretary David Lammy said on Sunday morning that talks are continuing with the US and allies about giving Kyiv permission to use UK-supplied Storm Shadow missiles to hit Russian airbases and military sites which are being used to launch attacks on Ukraine.The Liberal Democrat leader said Ukraine should be allowed to fire British-made missiles into Russia 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 CorrespondentThe deputy leader of the Liberal Democrats has painted the Tory leadership contenders as extreme, saying they have “weird politics” and are obsessed with culture war issues voters do not care about.Echoing the attacks used by Democrats against Donald Trump and JD Vance in the US presidential election, Daisy Cooper told journalists: “Their politics is weird, their choice of issues is weird, they talk about issues that are not relevant to most people in the country.”Speaking at the party’s annual conference in Brighton, Ms Cooper added: “They are constantly focusing on culture war issues, the European Convention on Human Rights, when ordinary voters are saying ‘I can’t see a GP, I can’t see a dentist, my child is on a mental health waiting list’.“And they are talking about these very niche issues, quite frankly, for the majority of the public and they just look incredibly out of touch.”Daisy Cooper said the Tory leadership hopefuls are focused on ‘weird issues’ 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 CorrespondentWhen the government plane took off from Joint Base Andrews just outside Washington on Friday evening, Keir Starmer came down to have some small talk with the travelling pack of journalists handing out packs of M&Ms from the White House signed by Joe Biden.But the smile on his face, easy-going casual look and football banter hid what had proven to be an extremely difficult 48 hours for the prime minister in what had culminated in a diplomatic failure.The lesson of the excursion was perhaps that it is far easier to make “tough choices” regarding thousands of Britain’s pensioners potentially dying in a cold winter than it is to sort out a rabid dictator Vladimir Putin threatening to use nukes.Both Downing Street and the Foreign Office (FCDO) staff at the embassy did their best to play down the significance of the trip. But – despite their denials – this meeting of an outgoing lame-duck US president and the recently elected prime minister was mostly about one major issue: whether to allow Ukraine to use long-range Storm Shadow missiles against targets in Russia. Keir Starmer and David Lammy headed to the US for the bilateral meeting 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 CorrespondentBoris Johnson and five ex-defence secretaries have called for Sir Keir Starmer to go it alone and allow Ukraine to use British-made missiles to strike Russia – as foreign secretary David Lammy appeared to play down the importance of Shadow Storm missiles.The former prime minister, as well as Grant Shapps, Ben Wallace, Gavin Williamson, Penny Mordaunt and Liam Fox, said Kyiv should be allowed to use the long-range missiles against Vladimir Putin – even without the backing of Joe Biden and the US.The group has warned Sir Keir that any future delay risks strengthening Putin’s hand in the war.However, Mr Lammy, when asked on Ukraine’s request to use the missiles on BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme, shared other ways the UK was supporting Ukraine, such as providing training to troops.He added: “No war is won with any one weapon, that is the case.”The increase in pressure on Ukraine’s request follows talks between Sir Keir Starmer and Mr Biden in Washington that did not produce an agreement on whether the UK and US would give permission to Kyiv.Further discussions are due to take place at the United Nations later this month.Foreign secretary David Lammy, appearing next to Sir Keir Starmer outside the White House this month, appeared to play down the importance of the long-range missiles on Sunday morning 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 CorrespondentThe Liberal Democrats are calling for free school meals to be offered to an additional 900,000 children living in poverty.Britain’s third largest party will use its annual conference in Brighton this week to say free school meals should be offered to all children in poverty, as for many it could be their only meal of the day.Education spokesperson Munira Wilson will use her keynote speech on Sunday to call for the policy to be expanded, as well as for a national body for special educational needs and disabilities (Send).The body would be responsible for supporting children with the most complex needs, ending what the Lib Dems called a “postcode lottery” leaving parents in some areas unable to access the support they need for their children.Munira Wilson will call for free school meals to be extended to all children in poverty 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 is open to sending asylum seekers to Albania as he prepares to hold a mini summit with Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni.The prime minister told journalists travelling with him to Washington DC before he flew to Rome that he would see how Italy’s deal with Albania worked in terms of offshoring processing of asylum claims. Within days of taking power in July, Sir Keir cancelled the UK’s controversial deal with Rwanda which had been set up by the previous Tory government at a cost of £700m to the taxpayer.But he now appears open to similar schemes in a European country.This follows German chancellor Olaf Scholz’s decision to take up the facilities in Rwanda that the UK paid for to deal with asylum seekers to his country.Asked specifically about Italy’s Albania scheme, Sir Keir replied: “Let’s see. It’s early days. I’m interested in how that works, I think everybody else is. It’s very very early days.”The Italian plan has been criticised by many and involves opening camps for asylum seekers which will hold up to 3,000 people. Ms Meloni’s government has dramatically reduced the number of people coming across the Mediterranean to Italy from north Africa.The deal has been condemned by Human Rights Watch, whose associate director for Europe Judith Sunderland wrote: “Italy’s latest gambit to offshore its responsibilities is all but guaranteed to violate people’s rights. Following its abusive deal with Libya, Italy now wants to take people who have effectively reached the country outside of the EU, breaching fundamental tenets of rescue at sea and undermining asylum rights and freedom from arbitrary detention. It is also unlikely to deter people from making dangerous boat crossings.”Amnesty has raised concerns about human rights in Albania, citing the killing of journalists in the country, concerns over the right to a fair trial, killings in prisons, a “hostile environment” for the LGBT+ community, and violence against women and girls.On the Italy deal it noted: “Human rights organisations and others expressed concern about the impact this could have on the human rights of refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants, including automatic and therefore arbitrary detention.”Sir Keir confirmed to journalists that he will be discussing the issue as record numbers of asylum seekers continue to cross the Channel on small boats.The prime minister said: “We’ll be able to talk about irregular migration, and other things as well. “It will be a feature as it was a feature when I spoke to Chancellor Scholz; as it was a feature when I spoke to [French president] Emmanuel Macron.”He noted that there are “different challenges in different countries”.“In Germany, I was particularly concerned that a very large percentage of the boats’ engines that are ending up being used for the Channel crossings are going through Germany. And I think that they should take further opportunities to seize them on their journey,” he said.“Obviously with Macron, it was very much about what to do on the northern coast of France.“I’ve already had a preliminary discussion with Georgia Meloni about this, about how we can work together on irregular migration. She has of course got some strong ideas and I hope to discuss those with her.“She and I have already discussed how we can improve joint operations, so that is something we will discuss.” 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 CorrespondentWhen a rain-drenched Rishi Sunak shocked the nation by calling a snap general election, many thought he was being pushed by MPs demanding a confidence vote amid the dying embers of 14 years of Conservative rule.But now Sir Graham Brady, the chairman of the 1922 committee, has revealed he had only received 10 such “no-confidence” letters – making Mr Sunak’s early announcement all the more risky.The former prime minister was routed by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party in an election that resulted in the worst Conservative defeat ever recorded.Chairman of the 1922 Committee of Backbench Conservatives, Sir Graham Brady, is releasing a tell-all book More