section
Politics
Policy, power, and the news of the day.
3605 stories archived
Nigel Farage turned down taxpayer-funded security including bodyguard, car and driver last year – UK politics live
The head of Reform UK refused the security, which was a similar level to that received by the leader of the opposition, because he considered it inadequate Continue reading...
Jenrick criticises government for not offering Farage earlier security meeting
Reform’s Treasury spokesperson says talks on party leader’s protection only happening ‘as a result’ of Ann Widdecombe’s death UK politics live – latest updates Robert Jenrick has criticised the government for not offering Nigel Farage a security meeting earlier, saying it has only happened “as a result” of the death of Ann Widdecombe. The Reform UK Treasury spokesperson claimed ministers had chosen not to give Farage the security “that he needed”, and had only agreed to arrange a meeting with the chair of the royal and VIP executive committee (Ravec), the body responsible for the security of high-profile figures, “as a result of Ann Widdecombe’s appalling murder”. Continue reading...
Polish-Ukrainian solidarity over Russian threat undermined by bitter historical dispute
Kyiv’s decision to honour second world war fighters who killed about 100,000 Poles has revived simmering tensions In the aftermath of Russia’s attack on Ukraine in February 2022, Polish-Ukrainian solidarity emerged as one of the most heartwarming subplots of the Kremlin’s brutal war. Millions of Poles, remembering their country’s own tragic history with Russia, mobilised to help Ukrainian refugees with food, shelter and support as they crossed the border in huge numbers to flee the conflict. Four years later, that outpouring of generosity and solidarity is a distant memory, as the two countries find themselves locked in a bitter dispute over history that has led to angry rhetoric, mutual mud-slinging and a threat from Poland to block Ukraine’s EU accession until it gets its historical house in order. Continue reading...
France hopes to send ‘strategic signal’ about Europe’s renewed military focus at Bastille Day celebrations – Europe live
Many leaders from the ‘Coalition of the Willing’ stayed overnight in Paris to attend the parade, which will be Emmanuel Macron’s last as president You can watch our live stream of the Bastille Day parade in Paris here, with final preparations now under way before the event starts soon. Most leaders are already in their premium seats, including French PM Sébastien Lecornu, with France’s Emmanuel Macron expected shortly before the start at 10am (9am UK). Continue reading...
World Cup 2026: France v Spain semi-final buildup; Rice set to start for England against Argentina – live
⚽️ Latest news before first of the semi-finals in Dallas ⚽️ Player guide | Golden Boot | Football Daily | Email us More from Nick Ames in Dallas. France are out for revenge after a Lamine Yamal wonder goal was the difference between the sides two years ago. Continue reading...
South East Water to pay £30.5m penalty after multiple failures
Ofwat investigated supplier over supply interruptions, customer failings and for breaching its licence South East Water will pay £30.5m after a series of supply interruptions, customer failings and for breaching its licence, regulator Ofwat has confirmed. The watchdog said the redress package concludes three investigations into the supplier and includes a previously proposed £22m fine for water supply failures between 2020 and 2023 affecting more than 286,000 people. Continue reading...
LGBTQ+ pop-up in former Sydney church ordered by landlord to cancel events after religious protest
Landlord of deconsecrated building sends notice of breach to Divine Playhouse, claiming it ‘insulted and mocked’ beliefs of Christian Australians Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A deconsecrated Sydney church newly transformed into an LGBTQ+ venue has had to cancel events and been ordered to stop “engaging in offensive trade” by its landlord after religious groups protested against its opening night. Divine Playhouse opened last Wednesday with the intention of being a safe and inclusive space for artists to work and connect with audiences, its organiser said. Continue reading...
‘We are dying little by little here’: asylum seekers at mercy of Home Office hotel closures
Legal challenges launched over accommodation ‘adequacy’ as UK government closes more asylum hotels Huda and her two children aged 10 and 12 had been living in two rooms in a London hotel for six months when they were told with just a few days’ notice they would be moved. The 41-year-old engineering graduate from Tunisia fled death threats from extended family and is waiting for an asylum application to be processed. The Home Office had decided that Staycity, the hotel the family was staying in, would be closed as part of a government pledge that asylum seekers would be moved out of hotels and into military barracks or other forms of shared housing. The move followed protests by anti-migrant activists, with many arguing hotels were too luxurious to accommodate asylum seekers. Some names have been changed. Continue reading...
Tuesday briefing: The law that Hillsborough built – and the bitter final battle to get it through
In today’s newsletter: A new law criminalising public bodies and officials that lie to the British public is expected to complete it final stages in the Commons. Why did it take so long? Good morning. We think we know this story, the one about the 97 who went to watch a football match on a sunny afternoon. Perhaps you remember, as I do, watching footage of the lethal crush at Sheffield Wednesday’s Hillsborough stadium, on the evening news in your childhood living room. Or maybe you read later how South Yorkshire police presented a series of false narratives that blamed Liverpool football club supporters, rather than take responsibility for their own catastrophic mismanagement of the FA Cup semi-final. Today, after a decade of campaigning, a new law criminalising public bodies and officials that lie to the British public, and supporting people fighting these authorities for the truth, is expected to complete it final stages in the Commons, pushed through by Keir Starmer as one of his final acts as prime minister. UK news | British counter-terrorism police are now leading the investigation into the death of Ann Widdecombe in a shock development that has renewed the debate over the security of politicians. A 28-year-old man from Rotherham is being held in custody on suspicion of her murder. Middle East | The US has launched its third consecutive night of strikes on Iran hours after Donald Trump said Washington would reinstate a maritime blockade on the country and, in an apparently policy reversal, charge ships for safe passage. UK politics | Andy Burnham is to become Britain’s next prime minister after winning the backing of 349 Labour MPs, including all eligible members of Keir Starmer’s current cabinet, making it impossible for any rival to secure enough nominations to challenge him. Environment | Most of the UK media stories about the record-breaking heatwave that struck in June failed to mention the climate crisis , analysis has found. Even fewer pieces drew a link between the heatwave and government policies designed to tackle the climate crisis. US news | The US government has already paid back tens of billions of dollars in tariffs it collected before the supreme court ruled them illegal, according to budget figures released on Monday. Continue reading...
Ed Husic tells Labor to get tougher on AI companies as letting them self-regulate ‘doomed to fail’
Labor MP also says watering down copyright rules is ‘going against the ethos’ of his party The Labor MP Ed Husic says any moves to water down copyright law to benefit AI companies would be “going against the ethos” of the party, urging his colleagues to place stricter rules on the big tech firms or be “doomed to failure”. Ahead of Anthony Albanese’s major speech on artificial intelligence on Wednesday , the Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance – the union for journalists, artists and creatives – called on the government to enact tougher new copyright rules to prevent creative works being taken to train AI models. Continue reading...
Teenager left with life-threatening injuries after alleged stabbing at Brisbane school
Queensland police arrest a 16-year-old boy after an alleged altercation with a 17-year-old boy at Islamic College of Brisbane Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A teenager has been left with life-threatening injuries after being allegedly stabbed by another student at a Brisbane high school. The alleged altercation took place at the Islamic College of Brisbane in Karawatha, south of Brisbane at about 11.45am on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Bangkok bar fire: death toll reaches 30 as police investigate negligence as ‘primary theory’
Bar owner in Thailand offers ‘deepest apologies for this tragic incident’ as police investigate whether exits were either blocked or hard to access The Bangkok pub that has become the scene of the city’s deadliest blaze in 17 years has said it will cooperate with an investigation into alleged negligence, as the death toll rose to 30. The local district office said on Tuesday that three more people died after the devastating fire that broke out in the early hours of Monday. An initial assessment by disaster officials found that an electrical short circuit in an air conditioner located in the ceiling caused the fire. Continue reading...
UK’s alcohol-free beer boom threatened by regulations, trade body warns
BBPA wants content definition for beer to be considered alcohol free to be changed from 0.05% to 0.5% Pubs and brewers are being prevented from capitalising on Britons’ record-breaking thirst for alcohol-free beer because of over-strict regulation, a trade body has warned. More than 64m pints of low- and no-alcohol beer is forecast to be sold over the summer, an increase of 8m compared with 2025, the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA) said, citing the figures as proof that the category is “not just a fad” . Continue reading...
Burnham has a chance to overhaul Pip. Here's what a truly progressive system could look like | Frances Ryan
Last week’s Timms report shows how disability is still vilified. But some pragmatic fixes would help both claimants and the economy “Broken Britain” has become the favourite narrative of the right in recent months. The playbook goes like this: politicians and pundits alike exploit genuine concerns about squeezed services and living standards to propagate a sense of division and despair. Meanwhile, the parts of the state that actually need radical change are then either ignored or misrepresented, if only because their worst impact tends to be felt by the very marginalised communities the hard right scapegoats. Few areas demonstrate this more than the disability benefits system. Reading the damning Timms report – the government’s landmark review into the personal independence payment (Pip) in England and Wales – last week, I was struck by the gulf between reality and rhetoric. The disability benefits system is “ not fit for purpose ” and “dehumanising” for claimants, the report found, yet scroll through a news site or switch on talk radio and there’s tumbleweed when it comes to substantive ideas to reform it, especially from figures typically eager to declare the nation’s institutions at risk of imminent collapse. Frances Ryan is a Guardian columnist In the UK and Ireland, Samaritans can be contacted on freephone 116 123. In the US, you can call or text the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline on 988, chat on 988lifeline.org , or text HOME to 741741 to connect with a crisis counselor. In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. Other international helplines can be found at befrienders.org Continue reading...
North Sea oil industry urges Burnham to approve new drilling in UK waters
Lobby appeals to prospective PM’s reindustrialisation agenda as it pushes for Rosebank and Jackdaw approval The UK’s North Sea oil industry has made a last-ditch attempt to curry favour with the Labour government by appealing to Andy Burnham’s reindustrialisation agenda just days before he is expected to become Britain’s next prime minister. Industry lobbyists have written to more than 400 Labour MPs to call on the government’s new leaders to allow more oil and gas drilling in UK waters to support homegrown energy and show “a commitment to UK manufacturing, industrial capability and the skilled workforce that has powered the nation for generations”. Continue reading...
Universities not doing enough to deal with protests and ‘highly personal’ attacks, antisemitism royal commission hears
Royal commission on antisemitism and social cohesion hears from professor whose office was occupied by protesters Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast A Jewish professor has told the royal commission into antisemitism the University of Melbourne needs to show it doesn’t “tolerate misbehaviour” after the expulsion of two pro-Palestine student activists who occupied his office was overturned. Steven Prawer, a professor of physics, said on Tuesday that he had not known at the time if it was a “terrorist attack”. Continue reading...
Fourth Australian interest rate rise more likely if Trump’s Iran conflict not resolved within a week
Economists warn continued conflict could push oil prices beyond US$100 a barrel, increasing chance of further RBA rate hike Resurgent oil and fuel prices could cement a fourth interest rate rise this year if Donald Trump’s renewed conflict with Iran is not resolved within a week, economists warn. US missile strikes on Iran and Trump’s announcement overnight of a new maritime blockade has lifted oil prices to their highest point in the month since the two countries agreed to a peace deal . Continue reading...
Sale of multimillion-dollar T rex skeleton is big headache for scientists
Palaeontologists warn before auction at Sotheby’s in New York that super-rich collectors are harming research With its dagger-like teeth, bone-crushing bite and behemothic size, the fearsome Tyrannosaurus rex ruled western North America during the late Cretaceous period. Now its fossilised remains are about to dominate the auction house, with a price tag to terrify punters. On Tuesday, one of the largest and most complete T rex skeletons discovered to date is to be auctioned by Sotheby’s in New York with an estimated sale price of $20m-$30m (£15m-£22.4m). Continue reading...
Sweden prides itself on equality – so why is its political gender gap growing?
As general election looms, survey shows twice as many men as women support far-right Sweden Democrats One is led by Sweden’s first female prime minister, Magdalena Andersson , and has promised smaller school-class sizes, more housing and free dental care for young people. The other, led by Jimmie Åkesson , has neo-Nazi roots and has pledged to lower taxes, improve public safety and treat “anti-Swedishness” as a hate crime. In the run-up to Sweden’s general election in September, the Social Democrats and the Sweden Democrats are placed first and second respectively in the polls, and between them are expected to scoop up more than 50% of the vote. Continue reading...
Middle East crisis live: US strikes Iran for third consecutive night; UAE says Tehran has hit tankers in strait of Hormuz
Just before the latest strikes Trump said Iran would be hit ‘very hard’; UAE says Iranian cruise missiles hit two oil tankers in strait, killing a crew member and wounding eight US launches third night of strikes on Iran as Trump announces Hormuz blockade US Central Command said a little over an hour ago that it had finished the military’s latest wave of strikes against Iran. It said in a statement posted on X : During the five-hour mission, U.S. forces successfully struck military targets across Iran including Bushehr, Chah Bahar, Jask, Konarak, Abu Musa, and Bandar Abbas to further degrade Iran’s ability to attack commercial shipping Continue reading...
Police claim breakthrough in Melbourne’s hospitality wars, alleging links to overseas crime figure
Victoria police say they have arrested ‘high-ranking’ man from syndicate accused of orchestrating arson attacks Follow our Australia news live blog for latest updates Get our breaking news email , free app or daily news podcast Police have arrested a man they say orchestrated a wave of Melbourne arson attacks, marking a major development in the city’s escalating hospitality wars. A 20-year-old was arrested in the city’s north-west on Tuesday. Continue reading...
Japan admits growing need to counter espionage after Russian ‘den of spies’ report
Issue must be addressed with ‘even greater rigour’, says government spokesman, after New York Times report on how it has become a spy hub for Vladimir Putin Japan has said it recognised the need to counter foreign intelligence better after the New York Times reported that Russia had turned the country into a “den of spies” and key source of weapons components. The newspaper, in an investigation published on Sunday, reported that thanks to “weak espionage laws”, Moscow was using Japan as a key hub for intelligence gathering and procurement of dual-use technology needed for its war in Ukraine. Continue reading...
Darline Graham Nordone: Lindsey Graham’s sister and interim US senator
Nordone was 13 when brother became her legal guardian – and was a key presence as he rose in the Republican ranks When Lindsey Graham was in college, his parents died, just over a year apart. But he worried most about his sister, who, at 13, was suddenly an orphan. Graham became her legal guardian – and later adopted her so she could receive his benefits through his service as an air force lawyer. On Monday, Henry McMaster, South Carolina’s Republican governor, announced that the late senator’s younger sister, Darline Graham Nordone, would fill the Senate seat he held until his sudden death on Saturday night, aged 71. Continue reading...
US refunds $81bn in Trump tariffs after supreme court ruled them illegal
Government had been forced to pay back duties to companies that imported goods into the US that were hit by Trump’s tariffs The US government has already paid back tens of billions of dollars in tariffs it collected before the supreme court ruled them illegal, according to budget figures released on Monday. Tariffs – taxes on imported goods – have been a key part of president Donald Trump’s game economic plan since he took office again last year. Continue reading...