Political news

• Ups and downs

  24-12-2017 02:15 via bbc.co.uk
  It was a rollercoaster year in British politics - here's how the opinion polls reflected it.
  
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• Reeves to set out principles on who might get energy bills support - and who won't

  24-03-2026 02:59 via bbc.com
  The chancellor must react in real time to the economic shock of the war in Iran, writes the BBC's political editor.
  
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• Chris Mason: Reeves to set out principles on who might get energy bills support - and who won't

  24-03-2026 02:59 via bbc.com
  The chancellor must react in real time to the economic shock of the war in Iran, writes the BBC's political editor.
  
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• Burnham should be allowed to stand as an MP, says Nandy

  23-03-2026 22:59 via bbc.com
  The culture secretary questions her party's decision to block the Greater Manchester mayor from standing in a by-election.
  
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• Nigel Farage abandons walkabout due to protest

  23-03-2026 22:22 via bbc.com
  The Reform leader visits Felixstowe to launch his party's Suffolk local elections campaign.
  
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• PM warns against 'false comfort' of thinking Iran war will end quickly

  23-03-2026 20:10 via bbc.com
  The PM also tells senior MPs the conflict was "not our war" and there must be a "lawful basis" for any UK involvement.
  
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• Ex-justice secretary to lead review into MP murder

  23-03-2026 18:56 via bbc.com
  Sir David Amess's daughter says the family will engage with the independent review in "good faith".
  
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• Trump shares SNL UK skit poking fun at Starmer

  23-03-2026 18:50 via bbc.com
  President Donald Trump shared a skit from SNL UK, poking fun at UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
  
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• Campaigners celebrate after new town plans dropped

  23-03-2026 17:49 via bbc.com
  Critics of plans to build a new town in Cheshire called it the "wrong proposal in the wrong place".
  
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• HS2 trains could run slower than planned to save money

  23-03-2026 17:39 via bbc.com
  The government is looking at ways to make much-delayed London to Birmingham railway line cheaper to deliver.
  
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• Ministers name seven areas where 'new towns' could be built

  23-03-2026 13:43 via bbc.com
  Six sites have been deprioritised from the flagship scheme to build a wave of new settlements.
  
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• Plan to scrap most short jail terms comes into effect

  23-03-2026 07:00 via bbc.com
  The government hopes it will ease the population crisis in prisons.
  
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• Funding for populist-right ‘media-political complex’ exceeded £170m in five years, research finds

  23-03-2026 06:00 via theguardian.com
  Handful of billionaires gave huge sums in particular to media organisations that boosted rightwing politicians, says Liam Byrne MPMore than £170m was given to MPs, political parties, media organisations and thinktanks aligned with the UK’s populist right over the past five years, new research from the Labour MP Liam Byrne has found.Byrne, a former cabinet minister who chairs parliament’s business committee, said he had identified a “media-political complex” funded l
  
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• Starmer adviser urges ministers to look at profits cap for energy and petrol firms

  23-03-2026 01:02 via theguardian.com
  PM’s ‘cost of living champion’ calls for consideration of temporary measure to prevent profiteering from Iran war The government’s top cost of living adviser has called on ministers to explore a temporary cap on the profits of energy and petrol companies to prevent them from cashing in excessively on the war in the Middle East.Richard Walker – a Labour peer, the chair of Iceland supermarkets and the prime minister’s “cost of living champion” &ndash
  
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• Ministers confirm locations for seven new towns in England

  22-03-2026 23:30 via theguardian.com
  Programme is being billed as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a centuryMinisters have confirmed the locations for seven new towns, which include under-developed inner-city land, a historic village and an existing new town.The programme is being billed by the housing and communities department as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a century, with the planned construction of between 15,000 and 40,000 homes in each new town. Continue reading...
  
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• Five sites cut from UK ‘new towns’ shortlist

  22-03-2026 23:30
  Government has not yet made clear how much public funding the conurbations will get
  
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• Companies face having to declare individuals behind UK political donations

  22-03-2026 21:00
  Change set to be unveiled as part of rules aimed at curbing foreign interference
  
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• No assessment Iran could strike London, UK minister says

  22-03-2026 18:45 via bbc.com
  Steve Reed says there is "no specific assessment" Iran is capable of hitting the UK, after Israel claimed it now could.
  
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• Ministers set to order HS2 to consider slower trains to save billions

  22-03-2026 18:33
  Reducing maximum speed on new rail line among the ideas being explored to cut costs of spiralling bill
  
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• The Guardian view on aid cuts: Britain championed development funding – its meanness is shortsighted | Editorial

  22-03-2026 18:30 via theguardian.com
  The steep reductions are a grave error, both morally and pragmatically. But a better case needs to be made for spendingProgress is possible. Over two decades, global child mortality plummeted. There were many reasons for a 39% reduction in deaths in lower and middle income countries between 2001 and 2021, but a significant one was overseas development aid, which supported everything from sanitation to vaccination programmes to food security.That shift has slowed, and – like similar advance
  
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• The Guardian view on prisons: sentencing reform has not eased the sense of crisis | Editorial

  22-03-2026 18:25 via theguardian.com
  The increased use of tags makes sense if done right. But years of accumulated problems include a depleted probation workforceGiven the frayed and depleted state of the public sector, it is not surprising that prisons in England and Wales are struggling to escape from a sense of perpetual crisis. Recent days saw the latest in a series of urgent notifications. These put a prison in special measures, and require ministers to produce an action plan within a month. Inspectors found that Woodhill
  
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• Hillsborough campaigners blame Mahmood for law delay

  22-03-2026 18:02 via bbc.com
  The Hillsborough Law has been further delayed and will not be passed in this session of parliament.
  
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• James Cleverly says he disagrees with Nick Timothy about Islamic public prayer

  22-03-2026 16:13 via theguardian.com
  Shadow justice secretary had called Trafalgar Square event an ‘act of domination’James Cleverly has said he disagrees with his Conservative frontbench colleague Nick Timothy’s assertion that public Muslim prayers are an act of domination, as another senior Tory called for the party to respect the right to worship.Kemi Badenoch has defended Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, after he posted images of mass prayer at a Ramadan event on Monday evening in Trafalgar Square, calli
  
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• ‘This country has been our home’: US family in UK threatened with detention over visa mix-up

  22-03-2026 15:00 via theguardian.com
  Tim and Christen Bass are barred from working and facing homelessness after indefinite leave application rejected by Home OfficeAn American family who have brought their children up in the UK are facing the threat of homelessness and detention due to confusion over a Home Office application form.Tim Bass, a data and technology consultant, and his wife, Christen, an autism specialist, have lived in the UK since arriving on a skilled worker visa in 2019. The couple have lived with their two childr
  
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• Starmer adviser calls for temporary UK energy profit cap

  22-03-2026 14:42
  Supermarket executive chair proposes move to limit earnings during exceptional market conditions
  
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• 'Big Chungus' and racist meme coins: Nigel Farage’s Cameos are rife with the language of the online far right | Robert Topinka

  22-03-2026 13:00 via theguardian.com
  The Reform UK leader uses the energy of memes to fuel his popularity, but this should not distract us from the seriousness of his purposeGuardian investigation into Farage on CameoNigel Farage has spent the past five years upending politics, breaking the two-party hold on parliament, and apparently sending several Cameo videos a day to his paying customers, charging £374,893 overall. But the Reform UK leader’s side hustle isn’t separate from his political work: posting is polit
  
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• Iran not believed to have capability or intent to bomb Britain, says UK minister

  22-03-2026 11:42 via theguardian.com
  Steve Reed says ‘UK is not going to be dragged into this war’ after Israeli warnings that Iranian missiles could hit EuropeMiddle East crisis live – latest updatesIran is not believed to have the capability or intent to hit the UK with its missiles, a cabinet minister has said, after Tehran aimed two at the UK-US airbase on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean.One missile failed to reach the island, while another was shot down by a US warship, according to reports. It was the longe
  
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• Evgeny Lebedev and Ian Botham have lowest Lords attendance, records show

  22-03-2026 10:42 via theguardian.com
  Figures seen by the Guardian show the two peers each attended just 1.12% of sessions in past four yearsEvgeny Lebedev’s longstanding commitment to being the most relaxed member of the House of Lords has come under threat from another peer, Ian Botham, with both recording identical attendance rates of 1.12% over the past four years.According to Lords records seen by the Guardian, Lebedev and Botham – who were both appointed by Boris Johnson – each managed to make it to seven of
  
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• Tory chief whip reposts AI video created by far-right figure who was jailed for hate crimes

  22-03-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Exclusive: Rebecca Harris promotes latest Crewkerne Gazette skit, created by Joshua Bonehill-Paine who says he is Tory memberThe Conservative party’s chief whip has been condemned for promoting AI-generated footage created by a notorious far-right figure who was jailed for hate crimes against Jewish people.Rebecca Harris reposted the latest skit by the Crewkerne Gazette, which depicts Kemi Badenoch and her shadow justice secretary, Nick Timothy, as characters in the gangster film Scarface.
  
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• How tacking centre left will help Labour win the next election | Andy Beckett

  22-03-2026 09:00 via theguardian.com
  Tribalism and political ambiguity worked with a less fragmented electorate. The party must reconnect with its base – and be open to work with other progressives Led by a probably doomed prime minister, presiding over a struggling economy, exposed by an ongoing scandal, besieged by populist insurgents to its right and left, ambushed by a war that will bring higher inflation and public debt, and predicted to win just 75 seats at the next general election, according to the website Electoral C
  
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