Sean Dilley & Molly Stazicker Transport correspondent & transport producer PA Heidi Alexander making a speech this week in front of a train carriage with the new GBR logo South Western Railway (SWR) has been renationalised, making it the first train company to transfer to public ownership under Labour. The first nationalised service, from Woking...
A former prime minister of the Democratic Republic of Congo has been sentenced to a decade’s forced labour for corruption. Augustin Matata Ponyo was found guilty of embezzling about $245m (£182m) of public funds by the Congolese Constitutional Court on Tuesday, alongside Deogratias Mutombo, the former governor of the DR Congo’s central bank. Matata’s lawyer...
Miles Davis BBC Devon political reporter Liberal Democrats Dylan Tippetts, who was elected as the Labour councillor for Compton in 2022, has joined the Liberal Democrats Three councillors on Plymouth City Council have left the Labour Party, citing concerns over immigration policies, trans issues and cuts to the winter fuel allowance. Dylan Tippetts, the city’s...
A number of Labour MPs have said they will vote against the government’s proposed cuts to disability benefits. Nine Labour MPs voiced concern over the government’s plans to make it harder for people with less severe conditions to claim disability payments during a debate on Wednesday. Calls to rethink the benefits cuts, as well as...
The government’s preferred choice as chair of English football’s new independent regulator contributed money to the leadership campaigns of Sir Keir Starmer and Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy. David Kogan told MPs on the Culture, Media and Sport Committee that he was being “utterly transparent” by declaring donations which “hadn’t been discovered by the press”. The...
Becky Morton Political reporter PA Media A group of around 45 Labour MPs have called on the government to “act now” to win back voters in northern England and the Midlands. The Labour Red Wall Group, which represents areas which have traditionally supported the party, said it was not “weak” to respond to issues raised...
Several newspapers lead with stories on a new trade deal worth £5bn between India and the UK. Quoting both Kemi Badenoch and Nigel Farage, the Telegraph’s report describes the agreement as implementing a ‘two-tier’ tax deal – because it exempts Indian migrants from National Insurance payments. Opposition leader Kemi Badenoch said she had declined to...
Henry Zeffman Chief political correspondent Getty Images “It’s all depressing to be honest”. Those are the words of one Labour MP, hitherto proudly supportive of the government, as they returned to Parliament on Tuesday morning. The anger among Labour MPs in the aftermath of the party’s local elections drubbing was striking in its breadth and...
Ex-Labour MP Mike Amesbury has blamed “big political mistakes” over benefit cuts by the government on a disastrous set of election results. Labour lost 187 council seats as well as a by-election in his former seat of Runcorn and Helsby, where Reform overturned a 14,700 majority to win by just six votes. The by-election was...
Gareth Lewis Political editor, BBC Wales News Getty Images First Minister Eluned Morgan will “call out” UK government welfare cuts but will stop short of demanding they be scrapped In her speech, which marks a year until polling day, Morgan will bill next year’s Senedd election as a “battle for the future of Wales”. She...
The Liberal Democrats have taken command at County Hall following Thursday’s local elections despite a surge in Reform UK support which saw the Conservatives lose 33 of the 40 seats they held going into the elections and Labour all six of its seats. The Liberal Democrats won 27 of Devon County Council’s 60 seats, gaining...
Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell has sought to clarify comment in which she appeared to describe grooming gangs as a “dog whistle” issue, after facing a backlash from political opponents. During a heated debate on BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions on Friday, commentator and Reform UK member Tim Montgomerie asked Powell if...
For all of the noise and the numbers following this week’s elections in England, two sentences tell you much of what you need to know. Nigel Farage arranged a fireworks display and a party. The prime minister and the Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch have both written post-mortem articles in Saturday’s newspapers. Politicians often accuse journalists...
Getty Images “We are losing to everyone, everywhere.” That could be a quote from a Conservative, as the previous party of government struggles to rebuild trust with the electorate. But it isn’t. It’s a despairing message from a new Labour MP, elected in last year’s general election landslide. Labour had a terrible night when many...
Boy, it was close. Mighty close. Thursday night at the DCBL stadium in Widnes turned into the early hours which turned into Friday breakfast time, as volunteers carried out a full recount of the 32,655 votes cast in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election. Shortly after half five in the morning Nigel Farage turned up, as...