UK

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe row engulfing Labour over the future Diane Abbott and a purge of leftwingers in the party has not made a dent in popular support according to the latest weekly tracker poll.The survey by Techne UK for The Independent sees Labour still on 45 percent with a huge 24 point lead over the Tories. There is some comfort though for the beleaguered Rishi Sunak who sees his party recover two points from last week going up from 19 percent to 21 percent.In a further boost for the Tories, Reform UK’s vote has falled by two points from 14 percent to 12 percent in a week. this follows Mr Sunak announcing his plans to reintroduce National Service for 18-year-old school leavers, although pollsters believe this will have made little difference in voting intentions.But overall the poll of 1,630 voters is grim reading for the Conservatives who are still facing a massive defeat. And the continued strong showing for Labour was reflected in former Tory MP Mark Logan’s defection to Sir Keir Starmer’s party tonight.If this were the result of the general election on 4 July then Electoral Calculus predicts that the Tories would be reduced to a shocking 46 seats, less than a third of their all time worst result of 156 in 1906. Labour would have a massive 374 majority.Mark Logan has quit the Tories and plans to join the Labour party (UK Parliament/PA) More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster email Slovenia’s government on Thursday endorsed a motion to recognize a Palestinian state and asked the parliament to do the same.Prime Minister Robert Golob said that his government sent the recognition proposal to parliament, which could convene as early as next week.“All the world should act in the direction of peace,” Golob said after the government session. “The way to achieve peace is a two-state solution.”“The decision is not directed against anyone, not even Israel, but it is a message of peace,” he added as the Palestinian flag was displayed on the government headquarters in Ljubljana, the Slovenian capital.Israel’s Foreign Minister Israel Katz said he hoped the Slovenian parliament would reject the government decision.“The Slovenian government’s decision to recommend that the Slovenian Parliament recognize a Palestinian state rewards Hamas for murder, rape, mutilation of bodies, beheading of babies, and strengthens the Iranian axis of evil while damaging the close friendship between the Slovenian and Israeli people,” he said.Parliamentary approval is necessary for the move to take effect. Golob’s ruling liberal coalition has a comfortable majority in the 90-member assembly and the vote should be a formality. The decision by Slovenia’s government comes just two days after Spain, Norway and Ireland recognized a Palestinian state, a move that was condemned by Israel. With its move, Slovenia is set to become the 10th member of the 27-nation European Union to officially recognize a Palestinian state. Norway isn’t an EU member, but its foreign policy is usually aligned with the bloc.Slovenia first began the recognition process in early May, but said it would wait until the situation in the ongoing Israeli-Hamas war in Gaza improved.Golob said this week that he was expediting the process in reaction to Israel’s latest attacks on Rafah, which have caused more than 1 million Palestinians to flee. More than 140 countries recognize a Palestinian state — more than two-thirds of the United Nations.The move to recognize a Palestinian state has caused relations between the EU and Israel to nosedive. Spain and Ireland are pushing for the EU to take measures against Israel for its continued attacks on Rafah in southern Gaza.Israel launched the assault following the Oct. 7 Hamas-led attack in which militants stormed across the Gaza border into Israel, killing 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostage. Israel’s air and land attacks have since killed 36,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry, which doesn’t distinguish between combatants and civilians. More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak’s allies have been accused of “operating a chumocracy” in ”parachuting” special advisers and people close to the inner circle around the prime minister for winnable seats in the general election.David Goss, the prime minister’s deputy political secretary, became the latest high profile figure from Downing Street to be selected for a winnable seat in Wellingborough and Rushden, recently lost to Labour in a gruelling by-election.He followed former army officer James Clark, a special adviser to defence secretary Grant Shapps, being selected for Great Yarmouth last night.Others to get winnable seats include former Home Office special adviser Katie Lam landing the Weald of Kent constituency last year.Rishi Sunak is lining up members of his number 10 team for winnable seats More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailRishi Sunak has come under fire for his role in the Partygate scandal from a worker whose mother died during the pandemic.The prime minister was asked “how anyone can trust you?” by a man who was unable to visit his mother in hospital before she passed away in 2020.During a staff Q&A at a factory near Milton Keynes, an employee said: “My mum died in 2020, at the height of the pandemic.Rishi Sunak was fined for attending a birthday gathering with Boris Johnson More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailThe Electoral Commission will publish advice on its website to warn voters about disinformation online amid fears of foreign interference during the election campaign, The Independent can reveal.The body, which oversees elections in the UK, is working with partner agencies such as Ofcom and the Information Commissioner’s Office to pull together resources to help people navigate digital campaign material during the election.A new hub will be created on the Commission’s website and include information urging voters to think critically about information they may see or hear online, particularly on social media. It comes after The Alan Turing Institute, the UK’s national institute for data science and artificial intelligence, warned about the potential threats of artificial intelligence (AI) during the election campaign.A new study from the institute said there was little evidence that AI had directly impacted election results. There have, however, been early signs of the damage the technology had caused to democratic systems more broadly through a “polarised information space”.This included confusion over whether AI-generated content is real, damaging trust in online sources; deepfakes inciting online hate against political figures, threatening their personal safety; and politicians exploiting AI disinformation for potential electoral gain.File photo: The Alan Turing Institute says there is little evidence that AI is directly impacting election results but that it is being used to create a ‘polarised information space’ More

Related: Starmer responds to Jeremy Corbyn standing as an independent candidateSign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour deputy leader Angela Rayner says she backs Diane Abbott to stand as a Labour candidate for Hackney North and Stoke Newington at the general election.Defying her own party, Sir Keir Starmer’s right hand said: “I don’t see any reason why Diane Abbott can’t stand as a Labour MP going forward. I am saying that as the deputy leader of the Labour Party.”Ms Rayner has praised Abbott and said she has been a trailblazer and that she is “not happy” about negative briefings to the papers about the veteran MP.Her support comes as Sir Keir is being accused of carrying a wider purge of the left – something even Tony Blair did not do – with candidate Faiza Shaheen finding out last night she was barred.According to reports, she was suspended by the party after she allegedly liked a series of posts on X that downplayed antisemitism accusations.In a new headache for Starmer, the MP for the Chingford and Woodford Green said she will challenge the decision and accused the party of unleashing a “campaign of prejudice” against her to satisfy a “factional agenda”.Show latest update 1717072384Breaking: Angela Rayner defies party and defends Diane AbbottThe Labour deputy leader says she is backing Ms Abbott as a candidate for Hackney North at the election.She said: “I don’t see any reason why Diane Abbott can’t stand as a Labour MP going forward… I am saying that as the deputy leader of the Labour Party”.Ms Rayner added that Abbott has been a trailblazer and she is “not happy” about negative briefings to the papers about her. “I don’t think that is how we should conduct ourselves.”She previously said she wanted to see the veteran MP back to the Labour Party after she was suspended fro 11 months.Ms Rayner said she was frustrated over the length of the party investigation over her letter on The Observer.( More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailAngela Rayner has given Diane Abbott her full backing to run for Parliament in the general election in a dramatic intervention.It comes as Sir Keir Starmer was forced to deny that he is trying to “purge” the left of the party as the row over Ms Abbott and candidate selections threaten to derail his campaign.The row appears to have left Labour on the brink of open civil war and handed Rishi Sunak and the Tories an unexpected lifeline as the struggle to close the gap of around 20 points in the polls. In a blunt response to the last 72 hours of chaos around whether Ms Abbott can stand in Hackney North and Stoke Newington, Ms Rayner appeared to take aim at Sir Keir and his inner circle.Ms Abbott told supporters she intended to remain as MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington More

Sign up for the View from Westminster email for expert analysis straight to your inboxGet our free View from Westminster emailLabour and the Conservatives have been accused of misleading voters over their tax and spending plans and ignoring a £20bn hole in the public finances after the election.Amid a war of words over whether Sir Keir Starmer or Rishi Sunak would rule out a VAT hike, a top economist told The Independent both parties are being dishonest with voters about the country’s finances.Carl Emmerson, deputy director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), said both parties have committed to reducing Britain’s debt in the next five years. “For better or worse, that is going to require some combination of tax rises or spending cuts,” he told The Independent.Mr Emmerson also hit out at the row over which taxes each party has committed to freezing, saying noting that both Sir Keir and Mr Sunak have committed to frozen tax thresholds, which will mean higher taxes for millions of workers.After Labour and the Conservatives vowed not to raise the headline rates of national insurance, income tax, VAT, Mr Emmerson said they had chosen “an easier sell”.But he said frozen income tax and national insurance thresholds would cost taxpayers an additional £11bn a year by the end of the next parliament. By contrast a 1p income tax hike would cost taxpayers just £9bn.Tax thresholds were linked to inflation until then chancellor Mr Sunak froze them in 2022. The effect is that, as inflation rises, millions are dragged into paying tax for the first time, while others are dragged into higher tax bands. Others, who would have seen their taxable income decrease thanks to higher thresholds, now longer feel the benefits.Rachel Reeves and Jeremy Hunt have ruled out raising income tax, national insurance and VAT More