Political news

• Manchester attack will not affect election, focus groups suggest

  29-05-2017 09:58 via theguardian.com
  
  Undecided voters in six constituencies say they do not believe attack will change how they cast their ballotSwing voters do not think the Manchester terror attack will affect how they cast their ballot on 8 June but Theresa May’s response was seen generally as reassuring, according to focus groups in six seats.Undecided voters in Hartlepool, Birmingham, Cambridge, Glasgow, Wells and Harrow were asked for their views on how the parties responded to the attack as part of a project by Britain
  
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• Will student loans be the next mis-selling scandal?

  24-01-2026 06:00
  Graduates are in uproar about Budget changes to loan repayment terms, and they have a point
  
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• Tory peers force UK to pause passage of Chagos Islands bill after US criticism

  23-01-2026 23:43
  Donald Trump called plan to transfer sovereignty of the archipelago to Mauritius an ‘act of great stupidity’
  
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• Nigel Farage attended Davos as adviser to Iranian billionaire

  23-01-2026 20:01
  Reform UK leader’s pass and hotel costs for World Economic Forum event were paid for by Sasan Ghandehari
  
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• Threat to Starmer grows as Rayner backs Burnham to stand as MP

  23-01-2026 19:49
  By-election win would open path for Manchester mayor to launch challenge for Labour leadership
  
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• Chery plan to use British JLR plants on agenda for Starmer’s Beijing trip

  23-01-2026 19:00
  UK government has been courting Chinese company to build cars locally
  
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• Starmer condemns Trump’s ‘appalling’ claim that Nato avoided Afghan frontline

  23-01-2026 18:35
  UK prime minister says US president should apologise for comments in latest sign of strain between allies
  
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• Concerns over the new Chinese embassy are overwrought

  23-01-2026 17:00
  Buildings don’t spy, bully, or interfere — people do
  
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• UK and EU to renew talks on defence fund access

  23-01-2026 16:40
  Talks that are due to take place next month take on fresh urgency after the transatlantic rupture in Davos
  
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• Ministers set to delay key elements of special needs education reforms until next parliament

  23-01-2026 15:37
  Delaying implementation is seen as a way to avoid a repeat of last year’s backbench rebellion
  
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• When the ‘special relationship’ isn’t so special

  23-01-2026 14:07
  Is Starmer’s approach to Trump now in tatters?
  
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• UK should show more gratitude to arts donors, says V&A chief

  23-01-2026 13:15
  Tristram Hunt tells the FT that Labour’s non-dom tax changes have been a ‘challenge’ for fundraising
  
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• Odds are stacked against Andy Burnham in No 10

  23-01-2026 10:30
  Selection seems unlikely and there’s no guarantee that Greater Manchester mayor would appeal more than Keir Starmer
  
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• Student loans: ‘My debt rose £20,000 to £77,000 even though I’m paying’

  23-01-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  Millions of graduates are trapped by ballooning debts, as their repayments are dwarfed by the interest addedHelen Lambert borrowed £57,000 to go to university and began repaying her student loan in 2021 after starting work as an NHS nurse.Since then she has repaid more than £5,000, typically having about £145 a month taken from her pay packet. But everything she hands over is dwarfed by the £400-plus of interest that is added to her debt every month, thanks to rates that
  
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• ‘I’m picking winners’: UK business secretary takes activist approach to economic growth

  23-01-2026 08:00 via theguardian.com
  AI evangelist Peter Kyle wants to scale up businesses, attract overseas investors and look out for UK’s poorer regionsThe UK business secretary, Peter Kyle, has said he is “betting big” and “picking winners” as the government takes direct stakes in growing businesses to boost economic growth.Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, where he and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, have been talking up Britain’s prospects, Kyle said ministers were taking an &ld
  
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• The (not-so) big Burnham bonds beef

  23-01-2026 07:00
  Britain’s ‘King in the North’ rattles markets a very tiny little bit
  
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• Why are so many Tories joining Reform? – podcast

  23-01-2026 04:00 via theguardian.com
  There have been a slew of defections as Reform rides high in the polls. But is it changing the party? Peter Walker reportsNigel Farage is riding high in the polls. And the last few months his party has had a slew of political defections from the Conservatives – with more expected to follow. He’s also fresh from Davos, the meeting of the World Economic Forum that he once railed against as a jolly for the global elites.But where does all this leave Farage and Reform’s renegade im
  
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• MPs ask Serious Fraud Office to investigate UK home insulation sector

  23-01-2026 01:01 via theguardian.com
  More than 30,000 households left with defects after ‘catastrophic failure’ of Tory government schemesMembers of parliament have called for the Serious Fraud Office to investigate the UK’s home insulation sector, after thousands of householders suffered ruined homes, big financial losses and months of disruption from the “clear and catastrophic failure” of two Conservative government schemes.More than 30,000 households were left with defects, some of them severe, inc
  
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• Starmer’s allies launch ‘Stop Andy Burnham’ campaign to block parliamentary return

  22-01-2026 21:38 via theguardian.com
  Speculation has spread over whether Burnham will attempt to return to pursue a Labour leadership bidKeir Starmer’s allies have launched a “Stop Andy Burnham” campaign to prevent the Labour mayor from returning to parliament after the resignation of a Manchester MP triggered a byelection.Multiple members of the party’s ruling national executive committee (NEC) predicted it would be impossible for Burnham to make it through the selection process given the number of Starmer
  
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• Number of police forces in England and Wales to be reduced significantly

  22-01-2026 20:26
  Home Secretary is due to publish a white paper on Monday outlining a radical reshaping of the service’s structure
  
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• ‘Everybody is trying to capitalise on the chaos’: The race to replace Starmer

  22-01-2026 20:04
  A by-election could offer a way back to Westminster for Manchester mayor Andy Burnham. But he is not the only one in contention
  
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• Protests expected as first asylum seekers arrive at East Sussex camp

  22-01-2026 19:47 via theguardian.com
  Minister says use of former army barracks at Crowborough is part of plan to move people out of hotelsA first group of asylum seekers has been moved into a former military camp in East Sussex, the Home Office has said, amid expectations of further protests and legal challenges.Crowborough training camp received 27 men in the early hours of Thursday morning, a statement said, which will be scaled up to 500 over several months. Continue reading...
  
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• The Guardian view on toddlers and screens: more reasons to be fearful of big tech | Editorial

  22-01-2026 19:44 via theguardian.com
  Growing concerns about the impact of smartphones on the youngest children must be addressedThe first UK government guidance on young children’s use of tablets, smartphones and other screens, expected in April, cannot come soon enough. The laissez-faire approach to the boom in social media, handheld devices and other digital technology was arguably nowhere less suitable than when such machines were placed in front of babies. The Department for Education’s ongoing Children of the 2020s
  
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• Gordon Ramsay says tax changes will make restaurants ‘lambs to the slaughter’

  22-01-2026 19:39 via theguardian.com
  Celebrity chef warns UK government’s plans for higher business rates from April ‘simply will not work’The celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay has accused the government of cooking up a kitchen nightmare at restaurants across the country with tax changes that he says will make hospitality businesses “lambs to the slaughter”.Ramsay, whose company operates 34 restaurants in the UK including Bread Street Kitchen, Pétrus and Lucky Cat, said the industry was “facing
  
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• UK not ready to sign up to Donald Trump’s ‘board of peace’, says Yvette Cooper

  22-01-2026 19:36 via theguardian.com
  Foreign secretary says Britain supports president’s Gaza plan but there are concerns around involvement of PutinUK politics live – latest updatesDavos live – latest updatesBritain will not join Donald Trump’s “board of peace” on Thursday, Yvette Cooper has said, citing concerns about Russian involvement.The foreign secretary said the UK strongly supported the US president’s 20-point plan for Gaza, which he is seeking to draw attention to at the World Eco
  
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• Data centre suffers setback after UK government admits planning error

  22-01-2026 19:04
  Legal challenge to proceed against contentious £1bn project due to be built on former landfill site near London
  
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• Labour’s Andrew Gwynne resigns paving the way for return of Andy Burnham as an MP– as it happened

  22-01-2026 19:02 via theguardian.com
  PM declines to say whether he supports Burnham standing as Gwynne steps down Andy Burnham may have a new route to parliament after the MP Andrew Gwynne reached a settlement with the Commons that would allow him to retire and call a byelection, Pippa Crerar, Jessica Elgot and Josh Halliday report.In her Sky News interview this morning, Kemi Badenoch also said she was opposed to the UK joining President Trump’s board of peace if Vladimir Putin is a member. She said:We should not be, certainl
  
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• Starmer’s allies ready to block Burnham’s bid for Westminster comeback

  22-01-2026 18:33
  Andrew Gwynne’s decision to stand down as an MP offers by-election opening for Labour rival to prime minister
  
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• If the assisted dying bill is killed off by the Lords, let that be the end for this unelected chamber | Polly Toynbee

  22-01-2026 18:18 via theguardian.com
  With filibustering slowing the pace to a crawl, there is no chance the legislation will get through – unless the government shows some backboneThe assisted dying bill is about to die, killed off by a small coterie of peers against the will of the House of Commons and voters who have supported the right to die for decades. Can the government let this happen? Keir Starmer, who has voted in favour of the legislation, needs to summon the spirit of Harold Wilson’s 1960s reforms. He has th
  
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• Met Police should lose counterterror role, says commissioner Mark Rowley

  22-01-2026 18:11
  Home Secretary is due to publish a white paper on Monday outlining changes to London’s police force
  
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