UK

Reform UK will ban councils from flying Ukraine’s flag in support of the war-torn country, allowing only the Union flag, county flags and St George’s flags on council buildings. Councils across the country have flown the blue and yellow flag of Ukraine since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022 to show solidarity with the Ukrainian people. “No other flags will be permitted to be flown on its flagpoles, balconies, reception desks or council chamber walls,” chairman Zia Yusuf said. As well as banning the Ukraine flag, Reform’s plan would prevent councils displaying pride flags. British and Ukraine flags fly side by side on many government buildings More

Tory MPs will hold meetings this week to discuss how to remove their leader, Kemi Badenoch, as panic grows over the future of the party following Reform’s success in the local elections.Two senior backbenchers have confirmed to The Independent that they are calling meetings with fellow parliamentarians to discuss ousting the Conservative Party leader.“We cannot continue as we are and she [Ms Badenoch] is just not up to the task,” one of the MPs said.The moves come after the Tories lost 15 councils and 674 seats last week in devastating results which put the future of the party at risk. At the same time, Nigel Farage declared his party has now taken the place of the Conservatives as the main opposition to Labour as it won 676 seats and overall control of 10 councils.One Conservative MP said: “These results were actually worse than last year’s general election. We have somehow gone backwards.”Kemi Badenoch’s Conservatives suffered a heavy defeat on Thursday, losing hundreds of councillors and control of 15 councils (Jacob King/PA) More

Sir Keir Starmer is known around the world for taking winter fuel payments from millions of pensioners, a top economist has said. The prime minister’s decision to means test the payment, which affected around 10 million pensioners, has had a “much bigger” reputational effect than expected, Paul Johnson added. Mr Johnson, boss of the influential Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), told Times Radio: “I was talking to the head of an international insurance company recently who said that the one thing everyone around the world knows about this government is that it’s taking money away from helping the cost of fuel for pensioners.“So it’s one of those things which actually from a sort of fiscal point of view is pretty small but has turned out, I think, to be much bigger from a political and reputational point of view than the government expected.” Rachel Reeves announced the policy weeks after Labour came to power More

Reform UK is offering staff the chance to work from home despite vowing to scrap remote working when it takes over councils, it has emerged. A job advert for Reform’s south central regional director promises “home working with occasional travel within the region”.The £50,000-per-year role is being advertised online just days after Reform leader Nigel Farage promised that nobody working for a Reform-run council will be allowed to do so from home. Nigel Farage has promised to end working from home as part of a wider ‘war on woke’After taking control of 10 councils, Mr Farage said those with jobs relating to climate change or diversity or who work from home “all better really be seeking alternative careers very, very quickly”.Asked what his party’s priority would be, Mr Farage told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “We are deeply dissatisfied with the way that county councils and unitaries in Britain have been running their budgets.“We look at the millions a year being spent, in many cases, on consultants. We look at the money being spent on climate change; on areas that county councils, frankly, shouldn’t even be getting involved in.”He added: “No more work from home, increased productivity. That won’t be a magic wand, it won’t solve every problem, but it will be a good start and we’ll be judged on that.”Andrea Jenkyns vowed to scrap diversity roles in Lincolnshire More

The man who persuaded Donald Trump to unleash the hugely damaging global tariffs plan which put the US and western allies on the verge of an economic meltdown has launched an extraordinary attack on Sir Keir Starmer’s government.Peter Navarro described Britain as a “compliant servant of communist China” and warned it is in danger of having its “blood sucked” dry by Beijing in an interview with a UK national newspaper.But the tariffs tsar, who has been under severe scrutiny over his trade policies which have destabilised the US, has himself come under attack from sources close to the administration.Peter Navarro More

Downing Street has reacted with fury to revelations that Nigel Farage plans to use Reform’s control of councils across England to launch a series of legal challenges to tie Sir Keir Starmer’s government in knots.The announcement by Reform’s new mayor for Greater Lincolnshire Dame Andrea Jenkyns came as she spoke to The Independent in her first major interview since her victory was declared on Friday morning.She said that high on the agenda were plans to take the Labour government to court in a bid to block net zero projects like solar and wind farms, as well as attempts by the Home Office to house asylum seekers in Lincolnshire.It came as The Independent revealed that another top priority, to sack council diversity officers, has fallen flat after it emerged Lincolnshire County Council does not employ any.Reform UK won 10 councils and more than 600 councillors, raising questions over the direction of the two main parties More

Kemi Badenoch has admitted that Nigel Farage can become prime minister at the next general election after the Conservatives’ dismal local elections results.Still reeling from her party losing 45 per cent of the council seats it was defending last week, the Tory leader was pressed by Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC over whether Mr Farage could enter Downing Street at the next general election.She replied: “Anything is possible. We live in politically turbulent times. It is my job to make sure he doesn’t become prime minister.”Kemi Badenoch apologised to Conservative councillors defeated in local elections(PA) More

The leader of the House of Commons is facing calls to quit after she appeared to dismiss concerns over the grooming gangs scandal as “dog whistle” politics.Lucy Powell’s remark came on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions? when she was responding to a point by Reform UK’s Tim Montgomerie.Ms Powell interrupted as he was trying to question why Labour has blocked a national inquiry into the way gangs of men targeted young girls in towns and cities around the UK with the authorities failing to act.She said: “Oh, we want to blow that little trumpet now, do we? Let’s get that dog whistle out, shall we?”Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell (Lucy North/PA) More