UK

PMQs: Keir Starmer congratulates Mark Carney for Canada election victorySir Tony Blair’s former political secretary has warned that “Labour are toast”, as the party prepares to lose seats to Reform UK at the polls tomorrow.John McTernan has said there’s “nothing that can be done” in the next 24 hours that can drastically change Labour’s fate in local elections on Thursday.He told Times Radio: “You look at all the focus groups, if you go to any of them, what do people associate the Labour Party with? Taking winter fuel payments away from pensioners.“Why are they attacking pensioners? Why are they now attacking the disabled? That’s what people are saying. It’s on the doorstep in Runcorn. It’s on the doorstep everywhere.”The comments come after Sir Tony U-turned on his attack on the government’s net zero policies.Polls are predicting sweeping victories for Nigel Farage’s Reform UK, as voters across 23 local authorities decide on some 1,641 council seats, while six mayoralties are also being contested. Alongside local elections, the first by-election of this parliament, for Runcorn & Helsby, will see Farage’s party trying to overturn Labour’s victory last summer. Rupert Lowe’s solicitors deliver legal papers to Reform UK on eve of electionNigel Farage and Reform UK have had an unwelcome eve of election gift from their former MP Rupert Lowe after his solicitors announced they had delivered legal papers on the party.The Great Yarmouth MP was ousted from the party in March over alleged bullying allegations and a claim had threatened chairman Zia Yusuf.But Mr Lowe has announced that he is suing Mr Farage, Mr Yusuf and party chief whip Lee Anderson for defamation over the incident.Independent MP Rupert Lowe (Jordan Pettitt/PA) More

Sir Tony Blair has performed a dramatic U-turn following his attack on the government’s net zero policies as the row threatened to derail Labour policies.The former prime minister had warned that energy secretary Ed Miliband’s eco policies and their push towards renewable energy were wrong because voters know the financial and lifestyle sacrifices needed to meet government pledges will have virtually no impact on climate change.His criticism in a foreword of a report for his Tony Blair Institute (TBI) fuelled fury over high energy costs exacerbating the cost of living crisis and damaging economic growth by piling on costs of businesses and manufacturers.But in a reversal on Wednesday, a spokeswoman for the TBI insisted that Sir Tony supports the current government’s policies.The spokeswoman said: “The TBI report is clear: we must prioritise technologies which capture carbon, place a bigger emphasis on protecting and enhancing nature, and develop new nuclear power, smart grids, and a new system of financing existing renewable solutions in developing economies. The UK government is already pursuing these, and their approach is the right one.”She added: “The report is clear we support the government’s 2050 net zero targets, to give certainty to the investors and innovators who can develop these new solutions and make them deployable.”Sir Tony Blair said any strategy that limits fossil fuels in the short term is ‘doomed to fail’ (PA) More

When Mark Carney’s name is mentioned to Mark Francois, chairman of the ultra Brexiteer European Research Group, a smile creeps across his face.The newly elected Canadian prime minister has won an extraordinary victory in Canada for the Liberal Party, overturning a previous two digit lead for the Conservative Party.But Brexiteers consider his intervention in the 2016 EU referendum to be almost as decisive in their favour, even though he spoke against the Leave campaign.Mr Francois noted: “Ultimately, I would say it was almost as helpful as Barack Obama’s. The British people simply refused to be bullied by ‘Project Fear’, of which Mark Carney was clearly a part.”While the remark may be seen as a joke, it underlines a mixed legacy for the former governor of the Bank of England.Mark Carney has won Canada’s federal election More

Sir Keir Starmer faced questions from MPs in Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs), a day before people head to the polls to vote in the local elections and the by-election in the Cheshire constituency of Runcorn and Helsby.It also follows the Labour government announcing a crackdown on fly-tipping, with councils crushing vehicles belonging to perpetrators.In addition to being grilled by leader of the opposition Kemi Badenoch and Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey as normal, Sir Keir is due to be asked questions from Nottingham MP Nadia Whittome, and the youngest-serving MP Sam Carling.It comes after the environment secretary defended Sir Tony Blair’s comments on the government’s net-zero approach as a “valid and important contribution” – after the ex-PM criticised any strategy that limits fossil fuels in the short term.He later clarified to The Times that he believes the government’s approach is the “right one”.The row has broken as Thursday’s local elections loom, with polling suggesting Nigel Farage’s Reform UK could be set to win hundreds of seats.Voters across 23 local authorities will decide on some 1,641 council seats, while six mayoralties are also being contested. More

Police should investigate Kneecap after a member of the band called for Tory MPs to be killed, the daughter of murdered MP Sir David Amess has said. Katie Amess has called for the Metropolitan Police to probe the group after a member called for Conservative MPs to be killed and another appeared to shout “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”. Ms Amess said: “If the police had followed through and looked into threats against my dad the night before the murder, my dad would still be here.Kneecap’s Eden Sessions performance has been cancelled (Brian Lawless/PA) More

Fly-tippers will have their cars and vans seized and crushed under a new crackdown targeting so-called “waste cowboys”. Ministers warn the problem is “soaring” with more than 1.1 million fly-tipping incidents in England each year. Now drones and mobile CCTV vans will used to identify vehicles used to dump waste. ( More

The most popular political leader is “none of the above” a new poll shows just 36 hours before voters go to the polls in the local elections. It comes amid rising concerns that Reform UK is on the cusp of a major breakthrough, following “deep disillusionment” with Labour and the Tories. Nigel Farage’s party is expected to win a parliamentary by-election and two mayoral contests as well as take hundreds of seats across England on Thursday. The party’s success has triggered rising panic among left-wing campaigners and the Fire Brigades Union has launched a new leaflet warning voters that “firefighters do not trust Reform – neither should you”. The leaflets are targeting Runcorn and Helsby where a crucial by-election is being fought and Labour hope to hold off a Reform surge.Steve Wright, FBU general secretary, said: “Trade unions have a responsibility to take a leading role in countering the rise of the far right. Farage and Reform present a direct threat to workers’ rights in our country. Reform is a part of the establishment. We cannot allow their divisive anti-migrant politics to pit workers against each other.”Ahead of Thursday’s local elections, polling company More In Common asked voters who they thought would be most effective at governing the country with 41 per cent responding: ‘None of the above’.The second most popular choice was Mr Farage with 23 per cent, followed by Keir Starmer on 19 per cent, Conservative Party leader Kemi Badenoch with 8 per cent, the Lib Dem’s Ed Davey on 6 per cent. The Green’s co-leaders, Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay, last with 2 per cent. Overall, the poll showed Labour on 18 per cent, behind Reform on 26 per cent and the Conservatives on 25 per cent, in the areas where elections are taking place.More In Common executive director UK Luke Tryl said: “The public mood going into these elections is one of deep disillusionment, voters are impatient for change but aren’t confident any party can deliver it. As results trickle in on Friday this polling suggests we will see that the fragmentation of the electorate in last year’s general election has only accelerated since then.“For many their vote on Thursday will be an expression of deep frustration with the status quo. Nigel Farage’s Reform UK look set to be the big winners of the night, leading in our polling, while the Conservatives on these numbers would lose scores of seats in elections being contested on normally solid turf – both to Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats.”The poll, which also suggests that Reform voters are the most keen to send a national message in the local elections, was commissioned as part of Channel 4 News live special ‘Election 2025: The Debate’. Tory, Lib Dem and Labour voters said they thought competence to run the council was the most important issue at stake on Thursday, a reason cited by 47 per cent of those voting Conservative. But among those intending to cast their ballot for Reform, the most important issue was national policies on immigration, with 67 per cent highlighting it as their main reason for backing the party.Some 1,641 council seats are up for grabs on May 1, across 23 local authorities, as well as six mayoralties and the chance to be the new MP for Runcorn and Helsby.More in Common also found that in the race to be the Hull and East Yorkshire mayor, Olympic boxer and Reform candidate Luke Campbell has a popularity that exceeds that of his party. Even those who were sceptical of Reform and Mr Farage were positive about the medal winner, they found. But overall Mr Tryl said: “I don’t think I’m exaggerating to say that the groups that we did over the past week are some of the most disillusioned, disappointed, disaffected that we’ve run.“There was a real sense that people keep demanding change from politics and they’re not getting that change, and that they are as a result not just thinking things are bad, but starting to lose faith in the inability of the system to change things.”Reform UK leader Nigel Farage (left) with the party’s mayoral candidate for Hull, Olympic boxer Luke Campbell MBE More

Fears have been raised that the sort of election interference with fake stories and narratives on polling day which marred the Brexit referendum is still a threat in the UK.The warning comes as voters in many parts of England prepare to go to the polls on Thursday to cast their ballots for county council and mayoral elections as well as the parliament by-election in Runcorn and Helsby.The elections could see Nigel Farage’s Reform propelled from a fringe party to one challenging for power but there are calls for an urgent change in the law to deal with misinformation going online when people go to the polls.The Vote Leave bus became symbolic of misinformation (Stefan Rousseau/PA) More