UK

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseThe Conservative leadership election has been whittled down to the two final candidates, as Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick face off for a final month of campaigning.Both MPs are considered to be on the right of the party, with Labour officials reportedly rejoicing that the more centrist – and perhaps more electable – candidate James Cleverly was knocked out in a surprise result.With their seemingly similar politics, some have struggled to see the key differences between Ms Badenoch and Mr Jenrick. Both are outspoken social commentators, unafraid to share their views.Tory leadership candidates Kemi Badenoch, Robert Jenrick, James Cleverly and Tom Tugendhat before knockouts (PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseSo cautious and moderate was former immigration minister Robert Jenrick when he entered the Commons that he was nicknamed “Robert Generic”.Yet now 10 years later, he has reached the final two of the 2024 Conservative Party leadership campaign in a battle against Kemi Badenoch to become the champion of the Tory hard-right – but it all was very different when he was first elected.He ticked every box of the Conservative cliche. A history graduate from Cambridge and a qualified solicitor, he joined parliament as the MP for Newark in 2014. He voted to remain in the EU, and backed Theresa May’s Brexit deal three times. He has served as a minister, in multiple departments, under every prime minister since 2017. It is no surprise that he has long been considered a moderate within the party.Robert Jenrick has been friends with Rishi Sunak for many years More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseBridget Phillipson has been urged to take immediate action to tackle the use of smartphones by children in schools by a group of educators “deeply concerned” about their impact.In an open letter to the education secretary, 30 education leaders said there is clear evidence that “children at smartphone-free schools do better”, urging her to put in place effective restrictions on their use.The letter said: “Pupils achieve GCSE results 1-2 grades higher on average than those with more permissive policies. Studies show that results of disadvantaged and underachieving pupils improve fastest when a school removes smartphones.”Campaign group Smartphone Free Childhood has encouraged all schools to restrict the use of mobiles by putting them in lockers or similar, demanding the government to commit funding to support schools which wish to do so.Bridget Phillipson has been urged to take immediate action to tackle the use of smartphones by children in schools More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseLabour’s new workers’ rights legislation is under fire, with one union boss claiming the legislation has “more holes than Swiss cheese”.While others have hailed the Employment Rights Bill as bringing a “seismic shift” for workers, Sir Keir Starmer has still been urged to go further in his bid to shift the balance of power between employers and employees.The legislation, being published on Thursday, will include plans to ban exploitative zero-hours contracts and “unscrupulous” fire and rehire practices which it said will benefit millions of workers.Fire Brigade Union general secretary Matt Wrack welcomes the planned Employment Bill (Clive Gee/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyThis election is still a dead heat, according to most polls. In a fight with such wafer-thin margins, we need reporters on the ground talking to the people Trump and Harris are courting. Your support allows us to keep sending journalists to the story.The Independent is trusted by 27 million Americans from across the entire political spectrum every month. Unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock you out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. But quality journalism must still be paid for.Help us keep bring these critical stories to light. Your support makes all the difference.CloseRead moreCloseWarnings are ramping up ahead of Rachel Reeves’ first budget on October 30, with the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) indicating that the chancellor may need to raise up to £25 billion from tax rises in order to avoid a return to austerity.The IFS warned that a change to the borrowing rules, which is being considered by the Treasury, would do “almost nothing” to ease the challenge of funding public services.Ms Reeves, who has promised to meet day-to-day spending out of revenues, would still need to turn to tax rises to avoid spending cuts and meet her pledge to borrow only to invest.Former business secretary Lord Mandelson is speaking out as Chancellor Rachel Reeves prepares to deliver her first budget on October 30. More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorSir Keir Starmer has set up a team of experts to ensure British firms are complying with anti-Russian sanctions ahead of a visit by Volodymyr Zelensky to Downing Street.The prime minister will welcome his Ukrainian counterpart and Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte on Thursday.Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of its neighbour in 2022, Britain rolled out its most comprehensive set of sanctions against any major economy, with over £20bn worth of trade with Russia targeted.The sanctions have deprived Russia of more than £300bn of funds since February 2022, the government has said.Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky (Leon Neal/PA) More

Your support helps us to tell the storyFind out moreCloseOur mission is to deliver unbiased, fact-based reporting that holds power to account and exposes the truth.Whether $5 or $50, every contribution counts.Support us to deliver journalism without an agenda.Louise ThomasEditorUnion chiefs have hailed workers’ rights reforms unveiled by Keir Starmer’s government today for “changing the balance of power” in favour of employees and away from employers.The long-awaited package to unpick Tory anti-union legislation has been unveiled less than 24 hours after the Renters’ Rights Bill passed its second reading in the Commons.Experts also hailed that legislation as handing power to tenants and away from landlords as Labour pushed through a revolution to protect the rights of millions of people in the UK.The dual reforms, which aim to end exploitation in the UK, come in a week when Sir Keir has sought to put behind him the rows about freebies and his former chief of staff Sue Gray by taking a grip on the political agenda with a new top team around him led by Morgan McSweeney.The workers’ rights reforms will see an end to exploitative contracts and fire-and-rehire practices while also including the repeal of anti-strike laws put in place by successive Tory governments.Meanwhile, the renters’ reforms end the practice of no-fault evictions and protect the rights of people to stay in their homes.Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions on Wednesday More