UK

Sir Keir Starmer is under the heaviest pressure of his premiership. More than a year after entering Downing Street, he faces a Labour Party increasingly uncertain about his leadership, a resurgent Nigel Farage threatening to seize the political initiative, and deepening rows over policy and personnel.Angela Rayner’s departure from government has intensified speculation about Starmer’s grip, while allies and rivals alike float names such as Andy Burnham and Lucy Powell as potential successors. New polling shows Labour slipping behind Reform, and questions over Morgan McSweeney’s undeclared donations have added to the sense of drift.Amid U-turns on welfare reform and the fallout from Peter Mandelson’s chaotic Washington posting, MPs and activists are asking whether Starmer can survive – and if not, who might credibly replace him.In a recent Q&A with Independent readers, I tackled your questions on Andy Burnham’s chances – and why he hasn’t learned the lessons of Liz Truss; on Labour’s digital ID plan – and whether it really matters; on Reform’s rise – and why the boats may decide the next election. Here are some of them – and my answers:Q: Why wasn’t digital ID in Labour’s manifesto?KingswoodA: ID cards have long been quite popular, although I don’t think most people feel very strongly about them. The most recent YouGov poll, which asked about the Keir Starmer plan, found (just) more opposed than in favour, which suggests that people don’t like anything he proposes.Q: What safeguards would stop digital ID being used for discrimination?BobA: I am not too worried about that aspect of the plan. My view is that future megalomaniacs and would-be dictators will have plenty of means to do bad things whether we have a formal government digital ID or not. Look at what Donald Trump is doing in the US, where they don’t have unified government IDs.Q: Does Starmer really understand the threat from Reform?Jim987A: I think he is beginning to. I don’t think it is a matter of Reform’s propaganda machine, though. It is the reality of the small boats and the asylum hotels. If the government can stop the boats and close the hotels, that will give it the chance of countering the threat from Reform. Then I think Labour can win a contest against Nigel Farage.Q: Is the ID card plan just a dead cat to distract from Starmer’s leadership crisis?Jason O’RourkeA: I said so in a recent article, although by that I meant only that it was an attempt to set the media agenda, which all governments do. This one was more successful than many.Q: Why don’t Reform and the Tories get the same criticism as Labour or the Lib Dems?RaptorRedA: I don’t think Farage gets positive publicity from all media. You may not be a frequent reader of The Independent!PS. I was interested in yet another variant of the Fabian Society conspiracy theory in your question. I think this originated in the fact that David Bean, the judge in court case about the asylum hotel in Epping, had been chair of the Fabian Society a long time ago. The multifaceted conspiracy theory is quite the most interesting thing that has happened to the Fabian Society since the time of Sidney and Beatrice Webb!Q: In what scenario can Labour win, without opponents imploding?XmachinaA: I have written about this for The Independent today. My answer is that if Shabana Mahmood can stop the boats, Labour has a chance. If not, not. Stopping the boats means cutting the numbers coming uninvited across the Channel to fewer than 10,000 a year, I think, compared with 45,000 a year now. The trouble is that no one knows how this could be done, except by ramping up the one in, one out pilot scheme to the point where all or nearly all small-boat arrivals are returned to France. If that can be done, the traffic will cease, but I am not sure the French will continue to cooperate with the scheme at that scale.There must be other ways of stopping the boats, though, and in my article today I come down on the side of thinking that Mahmood will find them – because she has to.Q: What impact would a new deputy leader have on Starmer?Last of the BoomersA: It is unhelpful to have a cabinet minister you have sacked elected as deputy leader of the party, but it is more a symptom of Keir Starmer’s existing problems than a cause of new ones.Q: Who would be chancellor if Burnham became PM? Is he serious about the bond markets?PaulKA: I don’t think it is very likely that Andy Burnham will become PM, but the question is not so much about individuals as about the policy. When Burnham said, “We’ve got to get beyond this thing of being in hock to the bond markets,” he revealed that he had learned nothing from Liz Truss’s experience. It is the same with all those Labour people urging Rachel Reeves to relax her fiscal rules. The fiscal rules are not some arbitrary constraint imposed by the chancellor on herself for fun: you can quibble with the details, but the essence is that they explain how government debt will be kept within sustainable bounds over the next few years. If the financial markets don’t believe that will happen, it will become more expensive for the government to borrow.Q: When will Ed Miliband be sacked and replaced with someone sensible?BigmanA: Well, Keir Starmer tried to move Ed Miliband in this month’s reshuffle. I think it would cause problems with the Labour membership to move him against his will, but I think Miliband realises that anything that adds further to consumer electricity and gas bills would make him vulnerable, so there is a kind of stand-off at the moment.These questions and answers were part of an ‘Ask Me Anything’ hosted by John Rentoul at 4pm BST on Saturday 27 September. Some of the questions and answers have been edited for this article. You can read the full discussion in the comments section of the original article.For more insight into UK politics, check out John’s weekly Commons Confidential newsletter. The email, exclusive to Independent Premium subscribers, takes you behind the curtain of Westminster. If this sounds like something you would be interested in, head here to find out more. More

Rachel Reeves has warned of “harsh global headwinds” battering Britain’s economy, as she failed to dispel fears over major tax rises at the next Budget. In an upbeat but policy-light speech on the main stage of the Labour conference in Liverpool, the chancellor attempted to fight back against a growing sense of doom and gloom about the economy, instead saying she sees a country that is “primed for economic success”. She also appeared to take aim at Andy Burnham over his economic approach, warning that unrestrained borrowing is “dangerously wrong”. Appearing more confident and relaxed than she has been in months, the chancellor received ten standing ovations as she set out her pitch to Labour members ahead of what will be a difficult Budget in November. “Don’t ever let anyone tell you that there’s no difference between the Conservatives and Labour”, she repeatedly warned. Rachel Reeves addressed the main stage of the Labour conference in Liverpool More

Britons believe the UK is viewed as “weak” and a “soft touch” by people abroad, according to a leading pollster who found that just one in four think the UK is seen in a positive light.The new poll, from More in Common and Save the Children, shared exclusively with The Independent, found that three out of four Britons (75 per cent) say that the UK’s international perception matters.“Britons are not little Englanders,” said Luke Tryl, director of More In Common. “They care about how our country is seen on the world stage, even if only a quarter think we’re seen positively right now.”Three out of four Britons say that the UK’s international perception matters More

The UK’s leading polling expert has warned Labour not to make the same “mistake” as the Conservatives and focus too heavily on immigration. Professor Sir John Curtice cautioned against focusing too much on an issue over which ministers did not have complete control until the world becomes a safer place. It came as Rachel Reeves defended Sir Keir Starmer’s attack on Reform UK’s plans to remove indefinite leave to remain for non-EU migrants already living in Britain as “racist”.Sir John told an event at the Labour conference that the party must not “repeat the Tories’ mistake, where you focus on an issue where you don’t have total control”, and that improving the economy and the NHS was more likely to return voters to the party.Political scientist Curtice says many voters still don’t know what the prime minister stands for More

Keir Starmer has revealed to friends that the “Unite the Kingdom” march in London was the moment he realised he needed to publicly fight back against Reform UK and the growing anti-immigration rhetoric in Britain. The prime minister is understood to have expressed his shock at the size of the event, which took place earlier this month, after seeing “that many people follow a far-right figure like Tommy Robinson”.The march in Whitehall and the surrounding streets, which amplified racism and anti-Muslim conspiracy theories, was estimated by police to have attracted around 150,000 people.Far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, told his followers in a video posted to X that “the spark has started, the revolution is on”, while tech billionaire Elon Musk told the rally that “massive uncontrolled migration” was contributing to the “destruction of Britain”. Tommy Robinson with fellow far right activist Katie Hopkins on the march More

Rachel Reeves has warned of “harder” choices to come ahead of Labour’s Autumn Budget as she made her main stage address at the party’s conference in Liverpool.Further tax rises are now widely expected at the crunch fiscal event, as the chancellor looks to counteract the country’s ailing economic performance.Government borrowing in August was the highest in five years, official figures revealed. While tax receipts had increased following Labour’s first Autumn Budget, the rises were offset by higher spending on public services, benefits and interest on debt, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said.Economists have predicted the chancellor may need to find as much as £40bn.Speaking on Monday, Ms Reeves doubled down on Labour’s commitment not to raise taxes for “working people” – meaning no rise to the headline rate of income tax, national insurance or VAT.As with last year’s event, this means the Treasury will need to consider more roundabout ways to raise vital revenue while also trying to bolster Labour’s dropping popularity.Speaking to delegates, Ms Reeves said: “In the months ahead, we will face further tests, with the choices to come made all the harder by harsh global headwinds and the long-term damage done to our economy, which is becoming ever clearer.“Our first year in power was about fixing the foundations. Our second must be about building a renewed economy for a renewed Britain.”Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves on the campaign trail in Southport last June More

Sir Keir Starmer was grilled at the start of the Labour conference over allegations that he previously avoided an inheritance tax bill.The prime minister denied putting a seven-acre field he bought behind his parents’ property into a trust, which would have allowed him not to pay inheritance tax.He said he bought the land in 1996 to use as a donkey sanctuary, so his mother and father could care for the animals.Sir Keir gave the land to his parents through a structure which meant when they died, the field’s value was excluded from their estate, The Sunday Times reported over the weekend.Keir Starmer was asked about the field on the BBC’s ‘Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg’ programme More