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Byelection in Greater Manchester town sees George Galloway standing on a pro-Palestine ticket while Labour abandoned its candidate over claims about IsraelPolls have opened in the Rochdale byelection after a chaotic contest dominated by the war in Gaza.The veteran campaigner George Galloway is the bookies’ favourite to win after Labour abandoned its candidate over inflammatory comments he made about Israel. Continue reading...

Politicians from Conservative and Labour parties get close protection and chauffeur-driven vehicles Three female MPs have been given bodyguards and chauffeur-driven cars after concerns about their safety, it was reported. Representatives of the Conservative and Labour parties had their security upgraded after a risk assessment, according to the Sunday Times.The MPs, who have not been named, have been given close protection by private companies...

Shadow minister says Commons ceasefire motion is chance to lift debate away from party politicsLisa Nandy has said Labour’s amendment to the Scottish National party’s motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza is a moment to “lift our debate up” away from party politics and “speak with one voice”, ahead of what is likely to be a tense Commons vote on Wednesday.On Tuesday...

In today’s newsletter: As Israel’s position weakens on the international stage, differences in language between different ceasefire calls tell a complicated story• Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. The daily details of the horror being visited on civilians in Gaza can make any conversation about the language of ceasefire proposals being put forward in foreign capitals seem absurd.A massive majority...

Crucial vote on party’s new call for ‘humanitarian ceasefire’ goes before MPs on Wednesday as thousands of protesters expected in WestminsterWhat is Labour’s new position on Gaza ceasefire – and will it unite the party?Keir Starmer’s attempt to head off a damaging rebellion over Gaza was hanging by a thread last night, despite bowing to pressure by finally calling for an immediate ceasefire in...

The business and trade secretary says Henry Staunton gave an interview ‘full of lies’Good morning. Yesterday Kemi Badenoch, the business and trade secretary, accused the former Post Office chair, Henry Staunton, of giving an interview “full of lies” about the conversation they had when she sacked him recently. Josh Halliday has the story here, and here is one of the tweets from a thread...

Despite victory in two Conservative safe seats, a Labour government is not a foregone conclusion, say party hawksFor the past few months, with Labour enjoying a stubbornly large double-digit lead in the polls, close allies of Keir Starmer remained obsessed with the notion that complacency will slip into the mindsets of MPs, advisers and activists.In a breathless week that saw Labour veer from having...

As fresh party infighting erupts after two byelection losses, the right are targeting public service funding to pay for tax cuts while others urge restraintRishi Sunak is being warned he risks taking his party further towards disaster by sanctioning a new public spending squeeze in a desperate pursuit of pre-election tax cuts, as more Tories said they feared an election wipeout.With more infighting erupting...

Formal rules to block relevant candidates will make it easier to ‘weed out the bad apples’, politicians sayRishi Sunak has been urged to push through new rules to block anyone convicted of a sexual offence from standing to be an MP before the next election.At least six MPs have lost their seats because of alleged sexual misconduct since the 2019 general election, and 10...

Details about leader’s finances for 2022-23 come after Rishi Sunak revealed he paid more than £508,000 of tax on £2.2m plusKeir Starmer paid £99,431 in UK tax on earnings of £404,030 last year, according to a summary released by the Labour party.The Labour leader’s tax summary for 2022-23 was published a week after Rishi Sunak’s, which revealed the prime minister paid more than £508,208...

Swing of 28.5% in Wellingborough and 16.4% in Kingswood would give Labour secure majority if repeated in general electionUK politics live – latest updatesKeir Starmer has hailed Labour’s “fantastic” results in the Kingswood and Wellingborough byelections after the party secured two victories which suggest the party is on course for a majority at the general election this year.The Labour leader said the gain of...

Swing in both seats would easily secure a majority at national level, but disillusion among voters is clearUK politics live – latest updatesThe records continue to fall for Labour. The result in the Wellingborough byelection, in which the party achieved a 28.5% swing from the Conservatives, was the biggest Labour victory over the Tories since 1994 and the second biggest since the war.Along with...

Labour leader under pressure over claims Rochdale candidate Azhar Ali’s remarks went unchallenged at eventUK politics live – latest developmentsKeir Starmer is under pressure to suspend councillors who attended a meeting in Hyndburn over claims that they failed call out antisemitic remarks by Azhar Ali, the former Labour candidate for the Rochdale byelection.On Tuesday Labour suspended Graham Jones, the candidate for Hyndburn in Lancashire,...

Labour seeking to take two seats from Tories on Thursday amid fraught week of candidate suspensionsMy colleague Phillip Inman has this analysis on this morning’s inflation figures:Good news came from the food industry, where inflation fell from December to January, but the annual rate remains high at 7% and food and non-alcoholic beverage prices are about 25% higher than they were two years ago,...

In today’s newsletter: The party has disowned candidate Azhar Ali following his remarks about Israel and Gaza, with accusations of hypocrisy over antisemitism levelled at Starmer’s door • Sign up here for our daily newsletter, First EditionGood morning. This week ought to be an excellent one for Keir Starmer, and a terrible one for Rishi Sunak: ONS figures just out which show no fall...

Party criticised for delay in acting over comments in which Azhar Ali suggested Israel had allowed 7 October attack to happenHousing minister Lee Rowley was on the media round for the government this morning, hoping to push their new housebuilding plans. He refused, however, to say how many more homes the government hopes will be built, telling the BBC Radio 4’s Today programme he...

Candidate Azhar Ali issues apology after comments emerge in which he suggested Israel allowed Hamas attack to happenA quick scoot around the newspaper front pages. For the Daily Mail, the Labour Rochdale story leads, with the paper asking “So has Labour really changed?”That story also made the front of the Times, with the bonus ban at water companies being the lead item. Our Helena...

Support for Azhar Ali in looming byelection is a failure to tackle antisemitism, says leading campaignerUK politics live – latest updatesLabour is facing criticism for standing by a parliamentary candidate who has been forced to apologise for suggesting that Israel allowed Hamas’s 7 October attacks to take place to provide grounds to invade Gaza.The comments made by Azhar Ali, the party’s candidate in the Rochdale...

Housebuilders and campaigners warn of cold, damp homes and UK missing legally binding targetsLabour’s slashing of proposed spending on home insulation will leave millions of people on low incomes in cold, damp homes and could prevent the UK meeting its legally binding carbon targets, campaigners and housebuilders have warned.The Federation of Master Builders criticised the drastic scaling back of Labour’s low-carbon policies, announced by...

Entrepreneur Stuart Marks reportedly featured on – but was removed from – Boris Johnson’s resignation honours listA major donor to the Conservative party who reportedly featured on Boris Johnson’s original resignation honours list is among 13 new peers announced by the government on Friday evening, eight of them Conservatives.Stuart Marks, a technology entrepreneur who has served as a senior treasurer for the Conservatives, has...

Shadow chancellor says Labour will receive a ‘bleak inheritance’ from Tories and has had to make changes as a resultRachel Reeves has defended Labour’s U-turn on its pledge to spend £28 billion a year on green projects.The shadow chancellor blamed the Tories and the economic impact of Liz Truss’s mini-budget, as she told BBC Breakfast she would not “make any apologies” for fiscal responsibility.I’ll...

Charlotte Nichols says Brianna gave people someone to identify with and humanised discussion on gender issuesBrianna Ghey’s murder has “humanised the debate” around transgender people in her native Warrington, and stopped local Conservative politicians from using trans issues for “culture war” attacks, according to Brianna’s local Labour MP.“Most people haven’t necessarily met a trans person. And I think what happened to Brianna really gave...

Labour MP Barry Gardiner, former shadow climate change minister, criticised Starmer’s plan to scale back the £28bn plan Good morning. It will come as no surprise to anyone who has been following Westminster news in recent weeks, particularly if they have been reading the Guardian, to learn that Labour is no longer committed to spending £28bn a year on its green investment plan. The...

PM says he is ‘not a betting person’ after making £1,000 bet during an interview with Piers MorganGood morning. Rishi Sunak gave an interview to Rachel Burden on Radio 5 Live this morning and he was asked about £1,000 bet he appeared to accept from Piers Morgan about the success of his Rwanda policy. The move has been widely condemned as distasteful. Sunak did...