UK politics

UK politics

Defections always pose a messaging dilemma for political parties. Heap too much ordure on the turncoat, and you invite the question of why you were happy to share a tent with them in the first place; praise them too highly, and you exacerbate whatever damage the defection is doing to you. In the Conservatives' case, this problem is compounded for journalists by the hyperinflation in key posts.

London's homicide rate is lower than rates in New York, Berlin, Brussels, Milan, Toronto and Paris, five times lower than the rate in LA, and almost 12 times lower than the rate in Chicago. Last year, the capital recorded the fewest number of homicides of victims aged under 25 this century. Our homicide rate for under-25s is now three times lower than it was when I set the VRU up in 2019,

Civil service morale rose slightly after Labour took power in 2024, with the biggest jumps in satisfaction in the energy and health departments, an annual Whitehall monitor report will show. The survey from the Institute for Government (IfG) thinktank, due to be published this week, found that morale rose from 60.7 to 61.2% on the civil service employee engagement index. This is a composite measure that captures civil servants' feelings about how things are done in their organisation, and their pride in where they work.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

I have a colleague who is Jewish, who has been banned from visiting a school and refused permission to visit a school in his own constituency, in case his presence inflames the teachers. That is an absolute outrage. They will be called in, and they will be held to account for doing that, because you cannot have people with those kinds of attitudes teaching our children.

Nobody who has ever met a teenager, or read the news, will be completely at ease with the role of social media in young lives. There are horrific effects, which have been well documented and inadequately addressed ever since the death of 14-year-old Molly Russell, who took her own life in 2017 after viewing suicide and self-harm content online. Many platforms, even those that seem anodyne, are purpose-built to spur anxiety, self-doubt, self-harm, anything that delivers attention.

Mandelson claimed he was not aware of Epstein's abuse of women and girls and was "kept separate" from that part of Epstein's life as he is gay. "Possibly some people will think because I am a gay man... I wasn't attuned to what was going on. I don't really accept that," he said. "I think the issue is that because I was a gay man in his circle I was kept separate from what he was doing in the sexual side of his life."

PA Media Army chief Sir Richard Knighton has said the UK is "not as ready as we need to be for the kind of full-scale conflict we might face", as he avoided questions about a reported shortfall in the government's defence spending plans. Last week, The Times and The Sun reported that the Ministry of Defence believes it will need an additional 28bn to meet its costs over the next four years, prompting a rewrite of the government's defence investment plan. The plan was due in the autumn of last year but has been delayed. Speaking to the parliamentary Defence Committee, Sir Richard said he could not provide a date for publication but added that the department was "working flat out" on it.

We had outright denial when the Guardian first published its investigation. As further witnesses came forward, we had excuses: it was banter, there wasn't any malice involved and any such abuse was never targeted at an individual. Now Reform's leader says that much, although seemingly not all, of what is being claimed from the now 34 alleged witnesses and victims about his behaviour is fantasy.

"That's not religion. There's nowhere in the Koran that says you have to cover your face or cover your hair. It says you have to be modest. "Where covering your hair and the burka comes is Wahhabism in Saudi. And these are very extreme traditions. In the Middle East, before the extreme Muslim takeover of it, people were in bikinis in Iran and Egypt. It wasn't like it is today."

A collection of stakeholders including residents and a local councillor have written to the Mayor about their concerns, from affordable housing numbers to the impacts on heritage. The Canal Way development, also known as Kensal Canalside which was jointly filed by developer Ballymore and Sainsbury's, is intended to transform the former gasworks site at the northern end of Ladbroke Grove.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

For years, we've watched politicians express unfounded concern about trans people in bathrooms, changing rooms, and sports, claiming to protect women's safety. Yet when a billionaire with enormous political influence creates technology that is actively being used to violate thousands of women and children right now, the response has been empty statements and promises to 'look into it',

The UK will bring into force a law which will make it illegal to create non-consensual intimate images, following widespread concerns over Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot. The Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said the law would make it illegal for companies to supply the tools designed to create such images. Speaking to the Commons, Kendall said AI-generated pictures of women and children in states of undress, created without a person's consent, were not "harmless images" but "weapons of abuse".

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

Given the cost of living crisis, we need to unlock far better access to cheap loans for the millions of people on low and middle incomes to help them through the financial emergencies that everyone faces at some point, while also making it easier for talented entrepreneurs to find the affordable finance they need to get their businesses up and running.

Lloyds Banking Group boss, Charlie Nunn, could be in line for a maximum annual pay packet worth more than 13m, as he becomes the latest boss to benefit from the UK's controversial decision to lift a cap on banker bonuses. The bank's remuneration committee has begun drafting a new three-year executive pay policy that, for the first time, will take advantage of looser pay rules that have sent potential payouts soaring at rival banks.

The former head of the RAF has warned that increased defence spending in the UK is being eaten up by the Ministry of Defence (MoD)'s overdraft with the UK's military footprint shrinking at a critical moment. The intervention by retired Air Marshall Edward Stringer comes just days after Sir Keir Starmer committed sending UK troops to Ukraine as part of the coalition of the willing to protect any peace agreement from Russian aggression.

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

Ministers will ramp up the closure of migrant hotels in Spring as part of plans to reduce pressure on the asylum system. Home secretary Shabana Mahmood announced sweeping changes to immigration reforms at the end of last year, which included making refugee status temporary and scrapping the right to family reunion. The Labour government has pledged to end the use of costly asylum hotels by 2029, however, the number of asylum seekers housed in the controversial accommodation has risen year-on-year.

The guidance, first reported by the New Statesman, advised the PJP to consider going to Action Fraud, now known as Report Fraud, and the police to determine whether the issue constituted criminal activity.