Author: MoorningTimes

Shabana Mahmood will press on with hardline immigration policies despite calls for a reversal from unions and left-leaning Labour MPs after the Green party’s byelection victory.Senior Labour sources insisted that the home secretary would continue to roll out changes to asylum policy, dismissing as “plain wrong” claims that it would further alienate Muslim voters.Andrea Egan, the general secretary of Unison, the biggest Labour-affiliated union, called on Friday for the government to change course and defend “migrants and refugees” after the party came third behind Reform UK in Gorton and Denton, Greater Manchester.Diane Abbott, the independent MP for Hackney North and…

From the outset of the Gorton and Denton byelection, Labour strategists were desperate to say the party was on course to win, but the party’s trouncing at the hands of the Greens has made this look laughable in hindsight.Hollie Ridley, Labour’s general secretary, sent a note to No 10 at the end of January saying it was “clearly a two-horse race” with Reform UK, and only 3% of voters saying they would stick with the Greens.Later in the contest, cabinet ministers were dispatched to tell journalists things were “looking good” with the data and it was Labour’s biggest ever “get…

A residents’ group has lost its high court challenge against a Home Office decision to use an army training camp to house asylum seekers.Crowborough Shield, a group of concerned residents, launched a legal challenge after securing more than £100,000 for legal fees with crowdfunding, after a government announcement about using Crowborough army training camp as accommodation for asylum seekers.They launched their challenge in December after the Home Office said it was considering housing up to 540 men at the site in East Sussex in October. The Home Office did not proceed with the plan until January, when 27 men were…

Above the college workbench where Hannah Spencer has been training to be a plasterer, her fellow students recently added a sign: “Ministry of Plastering and Plumbing – Hannah Spencer MP”.Four weeks ago, the title might have felt faintly ridiculous to a 34-year-old plumber who only entered politics in 2023. Now, it is very real after Spencer was elected as the first Green party MP in the north of England, overturning a large majority in a once-safe Labour seat in a win that could reshape British politics for years to come.Taking to the podium at the Manchester Central convention complex at…

Green party’s Hannah Spencer wins byelectionThe Green party has pulled off a landmark victory in the Gorton and Denton byelection in a significant blow to Keir Starmer, Josh Halliday is reporting.Hannah Spencer, a local plumber and Green party councillor, was elected as the party’s first MP in northern England after overturning Labour’s 13,000-vote majority.Labour came third in the tightly contested race, while Reform UK finished second.ShareUpdated at 04.36 GMTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureLabour had 13th highest fall in support in byelection, says John Curtice, and Tories had worst ever byelection resultProf Sir John Curtice,…

An election observer group has raised concerns over people appearing to collude on voting in the Gorton and Denton byelection.Democracy Volunteers, an organisation founded by Dr John Ault, and supported by the Conservative peer and psephologist Prof Robert Haywood, deployed four accredited election observers across the constituency.The team attended 22 of the 45 polling stations while polls were open, spending between 30 and 45 minutes in each, working in pairs.The organisation said its volunteers were looking at people appearing to collude on votes in breach of secret ballot rules, which it called “family voting”, as well as the impact of…

A court in Bangladesh has ordered officials to request an Interpol red notice for the British Labour MP Tulip Siddiq over a corruption case linked to the allocation of government land in Dhaka.Bangladesh’s anti-corruption commission has alleged Siddiq used her relationship with her aunt, the former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, to influence the allocation of a plot of state-owned land in Dhaka’s Gulshan district to a private company. Siddiq has rejected the claim as baseless and politically motivated.Siddiq, the MP for Hampstead and Highgate, was convicted in absentia last year when a court in Dhaka found she was complicit in…

Ministers will take another step towards banning social media for under-16s next week as they launch a consultation on the policy, with government insiders increasingly certain that Keir Starmer will back the idea.Liz Kendall, the technology secretary, will publish the terms of reference for the consultation, which is expected to explore options including an age limit and less hardline action such as curbs on infinite scrolling.Government insiders say the consultation will not back one option over another, but ministers and officials believe the prime minister will announce his support for a ban in the summer.One senior government figure involved in…

Gibraltar gets ‘practical and lasting solution’ after UK and EU finally agree rules for its post-Brexit statusGibraltar will remain British, but people will be able to travel freely across the land border with Spain, according to a post-Brexit agreement on the territory, the Press Association reports. Gibraltar was not included in the post-Brexit trade deal negotiated between the UK and the EU more than five years ago. But the two sides have now finally agreed what they call a “practical and lasting solution” that will settle the status of the British territory perched at the edge of Spain.PA says: double…

“People look at Holyrood and think: ‘Lets give them all a bloody nose’,” says Alex, a betting shop manager. Speaking in a focus group of people who voted Labour at the 2024 general election, Alex captured the downbeat mood of a cohort bitterly disappointed with the Labour government’s early performance, frustrated by the record of the Scottish National party and wearied by what they described as “scandal after scandal” polluting public life.Organised by the public opinion researchers More in Common, the discussion took place last week in Glasgow’s southside, where the Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, grew up and still…