UK

Prison officers are calling on the justice secretary to allow the use of electric stun guns in the UK’s most dangerous jails following an attack on guards at HMP Frankland last week. Mark Fairhurst, national chairman of the Prison Officers’ Association (POA), said they will make the demand when they meet with Shabana Mahmood on Wednesday.The meeting comes after officers at HMP Frankland in County Durham were attacked with hot oil and homemade weapons by Manchester Arena bomb plotter Hashem Abedi.A view of HMP Frankland in Durham (Tom Wilkinson/PA) More

Brexit costs and red tape are denying British cancer patients life-saving drugs and trials of revolutionary treatments, a damning new report has warned. Soaring numbers are being diagnosed with cancer as the population grows alongside improvements in diagnosis and public awareness, heightening the importance of global cooperation on new treatments. But, five years after Britain left the European Union, an in-depth analysis has concluded that Britons with cancer have “lost out” due to rising costs and post-Brexit red tape. By contrast, patients across Europe are enjoying a golden age of pioneering research and new treatments, it found. Brexit red tape is denying British cancer patients life-saving drugs More

If a general election were held today, Reform UK would be on course to win the most seats, but no party would be close to an overall majority, a new poll suggests.Nigel Farage’s party would win 180 seats, with the Tories and Labour on 165 seats each, according to the More in Common survey of 16,000 voters. Sir Keir Starmer’s party would achieve an even worse result than it sustained under Jeremy Corbyn in 2019, losing 246 seats, the modelling claims. Surveys conducted years away from a general election are unlikely to represent anything close to its result, because there is no way of predicting what the most important issues will be come polling day. Reform currently has just four MPs, having already lost one of the five elected last year.But More in Common director Luke Tryl said the survey shows that “British politics has fragmented to an unprecedented level”. Nigel Farage’s Reform would have the largest number of seats – but no majority, the poll says More

Reform UK’s by-election candidate supported means testing the winter fuel payment despite Nigel Farage describing the policy as “vindictive”, it has emerged. Sarah Pochin, who is standing to replace Mike Amesbury in Runcorn and Helsby, backed the principle of “making sure those that are in need get that payment… but that those that don’t need it don’t get it”. “We have so much else we need to spend our money on, like sorting out the adult social care issue,” Ms Pochin added in a newly resurfaced video from 2017 shared by the campaign group Reform UK Exposed. Nigel Farage with Sarah Pochin, Reform UK’s candidate for the Runcorn and Helsby by-election (PA) More

Nigel Farage and Reform UK have been proudly sitting on top of many of the polls for months since the general election on 4 July last year.The latest Techne UK tracker poll for The Independent revealed that they stand joint top with Labour on 24 per cent each, two points ahead of Kemi Badenoch’s Tories.But on 1 May Farage and co will have their first big electoral test to see whether the polls are genuine or whether when it comes to the actual ballot box voters are less inclined to put their cross by Reform.It is fair to say that May day is also a serious first test for Keir Starmer as prime minister and Kemi Badenoch as Tory leader, but Mr Farage more than any other political leader has his credibility riding on this set of elections.But while multiple victories will confirm Reform as a serious political threat to its rivals, victory will also bring serious challenges to Farage’s style of leadership and answer questions over whether his party can actually be one of government.Nigel Farage leads Reform UK More

Labour rebels are doubling down on their opposition to Sir Keir Starmer’s benefit cuts despite ministers planning to offer spending on child poverty as a “trade-off” to win their support. Dozens of Labour MPs are expected to abstain or vote against the £4.8bn welfare cuts, announced in Rachel Reeves’ spring statement, when they come before parliament. Ministers and party whips held talks with concerned Labour MPs last week, and opposition to the plans is reportedly hardening.Keir Starmer said the welfare system as it exists is economically and morally indefensible More

Ed Miliband has hit out at Nigel Farage, accusing him of spreading “nonsense and lies” by appearing to blame the government’s net zero policy for the crisis in the UK steel industry.In a strong criticism of his political rivals ahead of next month’s local elections, the energy secretary claimed that both Reform UK and the Conservatives were willing to spread falsehoods to further their “ideological agenda”.The senior Cabinet minister also warned that if an anti-net zero agenda was followed, it would not only risk “climate breakdown” but “forfeit the clean energy jobs of the future” in Britain.In an article for The Observer newspaper referring to price rises that began in 2022, the former Labour leader wrote: “Our exposure to fossil fuels meant that, as those markets went into meltdown and prices rocketed, family, business and public finances were devastated.“The cost of living impacts caused back then still stalk families today.”Ed Miliband has hit out at Nigel Farage, accusing him of spreading ‘nonsense and lies’ More