UK

Reform UK has won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by just six votes – an extremely narrow victory that will serve as a major boost to Nigel Farage’s party. The party claimed victory in the early hours of Friday morning with 12,645 votes, after the contest sat on a knife edge for hours as a full recount was called, with just a few votes sitting between Reform and Labour. Sir Keir Starmer’s party had held the area for more than 40 years and the seat was won by Labour’s Mike Amesbury at the 2024 general election with a sizeable majority of almost 15,000 votes. Amesbury resigned in February after he was convicted of assault for punching a constituent, triggering Thursday’s by-election.The vote was the first major test for both Reform and Sir Keir’s government after last year’s historic general election victory, nine months into a Labour government where Mr Farage’s party had been leading in the polls.Sarah Pochin wins in Runcorn More

Voters await the result of the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in CheshireResults have started coming in from the local elections and by-election, with politicians and councillors from Labour, the Tories and Reform UK watching anxiously in the first major test of opinion for Sir Keir Starmer’s government.Labour have held onto North Tyneside, one of six mayoral contests, but only by the slimmest of margins ahead of Reform – just 444 votes.The result also appears to be very close in the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in Cheshire, called when former Labour MP Mike Amesbury was convicted of assault.In a highly fragmented party system, the votes will show whether Nigel Farage and Reform have maintained their high poll ratings since last summer.The Conservatives, defending 954 seats, are bracing themselves for heavy losses. Tory grandees have warned their party against doing deals with Reform. Early results showed Reform making inroads at the expense of Labour in Northumberland, the only council counting in full overnight.A total of 1,641 council seats are up for grabs in 23 local authorities across England.Reform’s Andrea Jenkyns ahead after first declaration in North LincolnshireReform UK candidate Dame Andrea Jenkyns was ahead after the first declaration in the contest to become the first North Lincolnshire mayor.Boston Borough Council, one of the nine authorities that make up the mayoral area, said Dame Andrea had 7,285 votes, ahead of Conservatives (2,695), Lincolnshire Independents (1,193), Labour (897), Green (774) and Liberal Democrat (513).Reform UK’s Greater Lincolnshire mayoral candidate Dame Andrea Jenkyns during the count at Grimsby Town Hall, Lincolnshire More

Rachel Reeves’s plans to slash billions of pounds in disability payments will hit red wall communities hardest, according to new research. The move poses a risk to Labour, which won back many of its traditional heartland seats at last year’s general election, having lost them to Boris Johnson’s Conservatives in 2019.The North East and North West of England are set to be the hardest hit. All of the top 10 most-impacted constituencies are located in the two regions and all are in the red wall, including Bootle, Birkenhead and Hartlepool, a report from the think tank Health Equity North found.Rachel Reeves’s welfare cuts will have an impact at the polling booth More

Polls have closed in the local elections in various parts of England and the Runcorn and Helsby by-election with all the main parties now busily trying to manage expectations in case they fall below what is predicted for them.However, the results of the county council and mayoral elections as well as the by-election will give an indication of how well or badly the parties are doing in reality. Many parts of the country did not have a vote but real elections are in some ways a much better indicator of a party’s political strength than the polls.Each party has a minimum expectation or floor and higher targets as a ceiling for what is likely to unfurl as votes are counted and results declared over the next 24 hours.Renowned pollster Lord Robert Hayward, who has published his expected range of results, said: “If parties go above the high end then they are doing very well indeed but if they go below the minimum expectation then it is very bad.“You have to consider the full range of elections including councils, mayoralties and the by-election in judging how successful or disastrous the election has been for a party. Also councils controlled after the results are declared and biggest parties in councils.“There are clearly minimum expectations and reasonable high aims for each party.”A black Labrador outside a polling station as final preparations are made for the 2025 local elections (Jacob King/PA Wire) More

Tory grandees have warned their party against doing deals with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK as the Conservatives brace for heavy losses in the local elections. Senior figures hit out at what they said would be the wrong move “strategically, electorally and politically” after Kemi Badenoch did not rule out forming coalitions with their rivals at a council level.Mr Farage’s party is expected to ride a wave of disillusionment with politics to win hundreds of council seats across England, as well as a number of mayoralities, at the expense of Labour and the Tories. The party could also take one of Labour’s safest seats in the Commons, in a key Westminster by-election.Voters across parts of England are choosing councillors and regional mayors, while a by-election is being held in Runcorn and Helsby More

A generation of young people will be lost to poor mental health if safeguards on digital technology are not brought forward, a top paediatrician has warned.Baroness Hilary Cass said the impact of smart devices on children’s sleep, attention span, and education is “not just a moral problem but an economic timebomb”.The independent crossbencher called for teachers to receive dedicated training on the issue, in addition to education for parents, as peers debated the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.Then-Dr Hilary Cass previously led a landmark review into gender services for young people, which found children had been let down by a lack of research and evidence on the use of puberty blockers and hormones.Speaking during the Bill’s second reading debate on Thursday, she told the Lords: “Any legislation addressing the subject of safeguarding children, and opportunity, and safety in schools, cannot possibly ignore the impact of digital technology on the lives of children and young people.”Lady Cass argued it’s not just “deliberate harm”, such as cyber bullying, emotional abuse, sexual abuse, exploitation and grooming that children are at risk of.“That’s just the tip of the iceberg, there are multiple other risks associated with digital technology that have been discussed in this House, including adverse affects of learning, attention, sleep, educational attainment and mental health.“And addictive apps are particularly a problem, especially for boys,” she said.Lady Cass continued: “This is not just an issue of whether we ban smartphones in schools, there’s a wide array of possible actions that can be part of a strategic, multi-faceted approach to the problem.“For example, RSE (relationships and sex education) is compulsory in schools, and yet there is no requirement to teach young people how to manage the digital technology that occupies so many hours of their lives.“Nor indeed to include appropriate training for the staff that are teaching our infants or older children.“There’s insufficient consideration of the impact of loss of safe place spaces, which would give children alternative recreational activities to spending time on their digital devices.“There’s no focus on providing education and advice to parents on how to manage access to technology so that they can facilitate their children’s learning and development.“So I very much hope that the Government will be receptive to a range of amendments that will address these deficits in the Bill, and thus gift our children with a safer, healthier future.“Without such measures we are looking at losing a generation to poor mental health and to even more young adults being unable to contribute to the workforce.“So this is not just a moral problem, but an economic timebomb that we can ill afford.” More

A former Tory MP was “wrong” to not declare millions of pounds worth of loans from a major right-wing donor, the Commons’ sleaze watchdog has found.Andrew Bridgen, who was expelled from the Conservative Party for comparing the Covid jab to the Holocaust, should have informed parliament about the £4.47m interest-free loan from Jeremy Hosking.Mr Hosking, a backer of the Reclaim Party Mr Bridgen later joined alongside divisive former actor Laurence Fox, offered the loan to support the MP with private legal fees relating to his family’s potato business.Andrew Bridgen was kicked out of the Conservative Party More

A children’s rights campaigner has warned over ministers’ “evangelical” backing for the use of technology in the classroom as she highlighted the risks to pupils’ welfare and education.Filmmaker Baroness Kidron told Parliament that pupils were being wrapped “in a world of digital products” that normalised screen time over human interaction with no proof of the benefits.The independent crossbencher, who has championed children’s online safety, also signalled her support for a statutory ban on smartphones in schools, arguing that legally binding rules rather than current Government guidance would relieve pressure on teachers.Lady Kidron made her comments as peers debated the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, which proposes wide-ranging measures, from increased support for care leavers to free breakfast clubs in primary schools and a new register of all home-schooled children in England.It would also curb the freedoms of academy schools, including a requirement to follow the national curriculum.Schools in England were given non-statutory Government guidance in February last year intended to stop the use of phones during the school day.But urging a stronger stance to improve children’s welfare, Lady Kidron said: “One of the easiest and cheapest things we could do is give them a break from the well-documented intrusions of digital tech whilst at school.”She added: “Evidence that I will bring … is showing that restrictions are helpful to school communities not only for learning but for peace in the school community and for friendship and human flourishing.“The current guidance, which is excellent, puts pressure on teachers that statutory rules could relieve.”Lady Kidron went on: “But while ministers are slow on smartphones they are increasingly evangelical about bringing EdTech (education technology) into the classroom.”Although recognising such tech could benefit children with disabilities or special needs, she argued there was no such evidence for many youngsters.Lady Kidron said: “There is no oversight, no pedagogical criteria, no understanding of its efficacy, no proof of learning outcomes.“Some tech is wonderful, some is benign, some we know is in our schools stealing children’s data and stealing their opportunity to learn.“And yet we are rapidly wrapping pupils in a world of digital products that isolate and normalise screen over human with no proof of the benefits.”She went on: “There are many wonderful uses of technology but we have to make sure that schools are a place of privacy, safety and learning for our children.” More