UK politics

UK politics

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.

A world-beating deal, boasts the science minister, Patrick Vallance. It paves the way for the UK to become a global hub for life sciences, claims the business secretary, Peter Kyle, with the government press release adding: Tens of thousands of NHS patients will benefit. Presented with such triumph, His Majesty's press is up on its hindlegs. Happy pills ran a laudatory editorial in the Times, while the Daily Mail sportingly thanked Donald Trump for his US lifeline for UK pharma. Britain 1, America 0!

The combined impact of disproportionate, inappropriate, and unjustified rises in the Valuations Office Agency's valuation of properties, and an increased Business Rates multiplier for large event venues, will undermine many of this Government's own priorities. The resulting tax increase for operators completely outweighs any benefits of the transitional relief and lower tax multipliers for lower value properties announced, and will significantly worsen in the years ahead.

A few minutes in to the year's penultimate prime minister's questions with MPs from both sides shouting and cheering, the speaker interrupted proceedings to say, we don't need the panto auditions any more. To which the natural response was, oh yes we do'. Because that's pretty much the whole purpose of PMQs at the best of times. A feelgood experience for some. A feelbad experience for others.

I find it insulting to see people breaking into the UK and immediately being put up in free accomodation, receiving allowances, working illegally and accessing free education while I have done everything the right way.

Labour ministers have committed to halving VAWG within a decade, but the strategy to deliver this has already been pushed back three times this year. In a letter to ministers, Karen Bradley, Sarah Owen and Andy Slaughter - who chair the Home Affairs, Women and Equalities and Justice Committees - said this was creating uncertainty for the sector, with many organisations struggling to sustain services because of a lack of clarity about funding.

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.

The government is set to spend 500m on youth services in England, saying the money is needed to revive the "decimated" sector. Over the next four years, the government aims to build or refurbish 250 youth centres, as well as launch 50 new Young Future hubs, which Labour said in its manifesto would be sites bringing together existing services under one roof. By 2035, half a million young people will also be paired with youth workers, volunteers and other trusted adults.

The UK's asylum system is affected by inefficiencies, "wasted public funds" and a succession of "short-term, reactive" government policies that have moved problems elsewhere, the National Audit Office (NAO) has said. As part of its analysis, the spending watchdog looked at a sample of 5,000 asylum claims lodged almost three years ago, in January 2023. Since then, 35% (1,619) of those asylum seekers had been given some sort of protection such as refugee status, and 9% (452) had been removed from the country.

Wage rises, holiday taxes and monumental increases in rateable values have put even further pressure on hospitality businesses, as a result of this Budget. A 5p business rates discount is simply not enough to offset these costs and redress the damage it will do to business viability and job opportunities. This is exactly why we called for the government to use the maximum possible discount it had the power to implement, which could have genuinely delivered lower business rates.

The plan will see the intelligence services deliver security briefings for political parties and issue new guidance to election candidates to help them recognise, resist and report suspicious activity; work with professional networking sites to make them a more hostile operating environment for spies; and tighten rules on political donations through a new Elections Bill. He will add that the government will continue to take further action against China-based actors involved in malicious cyber activity against the UK and our allies.

Policy uncertainty in Westminster is weighing heavily on Britain's small business sector, according to one of the City's most influential bankers. Kunal Shah, co-head of Goldman Sachs International, warned that a lack of clarity over taxation and employment laws is creating an "overhang" that is discouraging entrepreneurs from investing and hiring. Speaking to The Times ahead of a House of Commons reception marking 15 years of Goldman's 10,000 Small Businesses programme, Shah said founders were increasingly nervous about the government's shifting regulatory agenda.

"The creation of the FWA marks a step change in the Government's attitude towards employment rights and shows they will take a proactive approach to enforcing them," H-J Dobbie, Head of HR Consultancy at Azets, said. "Many of the areas the FWA will enforce when it launches in April - Statutory Sick Pay, statutory holiday entitlement, and agency worker protections for example - are areas employers should already be complying with, but if they don't, the consequences of not doing so will become more serious from the spring of next year."

Mark Jenner had a relationship with a leftwing activist, known as Alison, for five years without disclosing to her that he was in reality an undercover officer who was spying on political campaigners. During those years, he was married to his wife, who knew nothing about her husband's relationship with Alison. His wife gave birth to his child during this time. She became the first wife of an undercover officer to testify at the inquiry when she gave evidence on Tuesday.

He was instead, as a final report by Operation Kenova effectively revealed without officially doing so on Tuesday, for a long time Britain's most valuable spy inside the IRA during the Troubles in Northern Ireland, once described by an army general as the golden egg of the intelligence services. More pertinently to the torment of those related to his victims, he was a sadistic murderer who had been in the pay of the British state.

This is Barnham Drive, and though both ends of the road were built in 2003, and even cycle lane markings were added, the 90% of the road that would link up the end junctions was never added. Admittedly, not many people need to get between the ends, but if they did, thanks to the parkland being fenced off and the area being much more car than pedestrian-friendly, it's quite a long walk between them.

It was that sentiment that convinced Lammy's predecessor, Shabana Mahmood, now home secretary, that the UK should join the push to seek a declaration to change how the European convention of human rights should be interpreted. It was Mahmood who has made the determined argument from inside government that Labour must act to prevent the perceived overreach of human rights law or risk far worse if they lose the next election to the hard right.

Michael O'Flaherty, the Council of Europe's commissioner for human rights, said that middle-of the road politicians are playing into the hands of the populist right. Speaking exclusively to the Guardian, he pointed to the lazy correlation of migration and crime as an example. This doesn't correspond with reality, he said. For every inch yielded, there's going to be another inch demanded, he said.

UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said they "agreed that this was a critical moment - for Ukraine, its people and for shared security across the Euro-Atlantic region". A White House official confirmed the call took place on Wednesday but did not give details. It comes the day after Trump called European leaders "weak", suggesting the US could scale back support for Ukraine. In the wide-ranging Politico interview published on Tuesday, Trump also claimed Ukraine was "using war" to avoid holding elections, prompting President Volodymyr Zelensky to reply he was "ready" for them.

We need to listen to what businesses are saying. It's not government ministers that create jobs, it's business that creates jobs. We need to make sure that we set the minimum wage at a good level but we also need to make sure that their other burdens, their business rates, their corporation taxes, all of the things they do - the endless regulation, the employment rights bill: they're just sick and tired of so much happening. Let's lighten that burden.

The Bank of England expects Rachel Reeves's budget will reduce the UK's headline inflation rate by as much as half a percentage point next year. In a boost for the chancellor after last month's high-stakes tax and spending statement, Clare Lombardelli, a deputy governor at the central bank, said its early analysis showed the policies would lower the annual inflation rate by 0.4 to 0.5 percentage points for a year from mid-2026.

The prime minister announced the inquiry for England and Wales in June, accepting the recommendation of Baroness Louise Casey's audit into the evidence on the scale of group-based child sexual abuse. Baroness Longfield will be joined by panellists Zoe Billingham CBE, a former inspector at HM Constabulary, and Eleanor Kelly CBE, former chief executive of Southwark Council, to lead the inquiry.

a key refrain of her speech was that the increase in people receiving benefits for physical and mental conditions was unaffordable. It was, she said, particularly the case for low-level mental health issues such as ADHD. A lot of people don't know the scale of the problem, she said. A lot of people don't know how bad it is. Quite simply, our sickness benefit system was not designed to handle the age of diagnosis which we now live in.

I volunteer with refugees and regularly witness the distress of highly skilled and qualified people failing the test on idiotic questions that most Britons couldn't answer. When simple facts can be found by a quick internet search, what is the point of wasting brain space by trying to memorise them? Much more salient to ask questions like: where can you legally ride an electric scooter? The maximum legal speed for an electric bicycle?

A Downing Street spokesperson declined to criticise President Trump's comments, saying Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer had strong relationships with both men. Asked why No 10 would not defend the mayor against the US president's remarks, the spokesperson said: "I do not accept that. As I have said, the prime minister has a strong relationship with the mayor of London."

Confidence in the Met Police has fallen to an all-time low as Londoners lose faith in the force's management of protests, ability to solve thefts and local policing, according to a new report. A damning report published by the Policy Exchange think tank recommended that responsibility of the service should be stripped from mayor Sadiq Khan and transferred to the Home Office instead.

Earlier this year campaign group Protect Brockwell Park launched a legal challenge against Lambeth Council after summer festivals were approved to run in the park without proper planning permission. The High Court ruled in favour of Protect Brockwell Park, finding that events like Mighty Hoopla, Field Day, Cross the Tracks and Wide Awake exceeded the 28-day period allowed for temporary land use. Though the festivals still took place as planned this summer, at the time the Council said it would appeal the ruling.

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.

International talks to revolutionise how the European Court of Human Rights handles migration cases will begin on Wednesday. The British government is urging partners to modernise the way states tackle the continent-wide illegal migration crisis. The talks are the most significant sign yet that international human rights law could be reinterpreted to make it easier for states to target people smuggling and set up 'returns hubs' to hold people with no right to be in Europe.