Reform UK 'saves taxpayers £40m' after councils slash net zero policies

Former Conservative council leader joins Reform UK saying he has 'no confidence' in Tories

A former Conservative council leader has joined Reform UK, saying he has "no confidence" in the Tories, both locally and nationally.

Councillor Mike Young, who previously led Hartlepool Borough Council from 2023 to 2024, said he quit the Tories as "only Reform has the answers".

The Councillor for the Rural West ward said: "I no longer have confidence that the Conservative Party, nationally or locally, can provide the leadership to meet the challenges facing our town and our country.

"When I served as leader of Hartlepool Borough Council, we began to turn the tide.

"We laid important foundations for economic growth through investment and regeneration. That progress must not be scuppered nor lost."

Labour group slammed for promoting 'hard-left' asylum hotel rally

A Constituency Labour Party group has been slammed for sharing a flyer for a planned Stand Up To Racism (SUTR) counter-protest ahead of a demonstration outside an asylum hotel in Aldershot on Friday.

The Farnham & Bordon Labour group shared the flyer, which called on activists to "stop the far right" and march towards the hotel.

Local residents in Aldershot, which neighbours Farnham, are expected to gather at the hotel, where small boat migrants have been staying for several years

READ THE FULL EXCLUSIVE STORY HERE.

Liberal Democrats taking more votes from Labour than Reform or Greens

The Liberal Democrats have won over more Labour voters than any of its rivals, according to a new poll.

YouGov's poll suggests that out of those who voted Labour at last year's General Election, 13 per cent said they would now vote Lib Dem, compared to 10 per cent for the Green Party and just eight per cent for Reform UK.

A senior aide for Sir Ed Davey's party told the New Statesman: "We were the surprise of the night in 2024 and we think we can be the surprise of the night at the next general election."

Kemi Badenoch admits she got cheating classmate expelled

Kemi Badenoch has admitted she once got a classmate expelled after she once told on a fellow student who was cheating in an exam.

The Tory leader told the BBC: "I must have been about 14 or 15, and I said, 'He’s cheating.'

"I stood up in the middle of the exam and said, ‘He’s cheating, he’s the one that’s doing it.’ That boy ended up getting expelled."

She said that the incident, which took place while she was at school in Nigeria, led to someone to tell her: "You don’t belong here."

Keir Starmer warned by senior Labour figures he has 'six months to turn things around'

Sir Keir Starmer has been issued a dire warning that he has just six months to "turn things around" or he faces being "timed out."

Senior Labour figures said the Prime Minister has been at his Chequers residence this week summoning aides for crunch talks, reports The Spectator.

The party's head speechwriter Alan Lockey and strategy chief Paul Ovenden are said to be working on a party conference speech which will warn voters there has to be "profound change to the way we do things."

Insiders say the argument Starmer will make against Reform is that he is plotting a revolution for the quiet majority, while a vote for Farage means "decline and grievance."

Pressure mounts on Rushanara Ali to resign over eviction claims

Rushanara Ali is facing mounting pressure to resign after claims she evicted tenants from her east London property before increasing the rent by almost £700 a month, reports The i.

The Homelessness Minister and Bethnal Green and Stepney MP reportedly removed tenants living in her property in an attempt to sell it, before increasing the rental payments on her four-bedroom townhouse from £3,300 to £4,000.

Now, Conservative, Labour and SNP politicians have called on her to resign from her role after she was blasted for "sheer hypocrisy."

Conservative party chair Kevin Hollinrake said: "I think it shows staggering hypocrisy. Rushanara Ali has been somebody who’s obviously a government minister in charge of homelessness.

"She’s spoken out about exploiting tenants, about providing more protections to tenants."

Labour councillor in Lambeth Martin Abrams posted: "You couldn’t make this up! Rushanara Ali should resign."

The SNP’s deputy leader at Westminster Pete Wishart said: "Once this shameful story broke, Labour’s homelessness minister should have immediately resigned.

"The fact that she still hasn’t means this is now a direct test of Keir Starmer, he needs to sack her immediately."

Jeremy Corbyn more trustworthy than Nigel Farage or Keir Starmer, new poll suggests

A new poll has suggested Jeremy Corbyn is more trustworthy than Sir Keir Starmer or Nigel Farage.

The YouGov poll has suggested 32 per cent of voters have more trust in the currently untitled "Your Party" co-leader, compared to 27 per cent for Starmer and just 23 per cent for Farage.

In another blow for Starmer, the poll indicates only 18 per cent of voters think the Prime Minister represents change, while 71 per cent think he doesn’t.

Comparatively, 39 per cent believed Corbyn represented "change" with the figure at 51 per cent for Farage.

WATCH: Rushanara Ali blasted for 'pretending to be a socialist' by former Reform candidate

Labour's Homelessness Minister has been blasted for the latest Government "hypocrisy" after "evicting tenants from her property" and raising the rent price by £700 a month.

Rushanara Ali has sparked controversy after removing tenants living in her property in an attempt to sell it, before increasing the rental payments on her four-bedroom townhouse near London's Olympic Park from £3,300 to £4,000 every month.

FULL STORY HERE.

More than 150 people crossed the English Channel on Wednesday

The Home Office and Border Force published figures indicating 155 people successfully crossed the English Channel in two small boats on Wednesday.

The two boats are the first successful crossings to be recorded in the last seven days after 898 people were said to have made the journey on 13 small boats on July 30.

None had arrived since then until August 6.

Labour 'failing to clean' Tories' economic mess

The Liberal Democrats have accused Labour of being a "roadblock to growth", claiming interest rates could have fallen "months ago".

The party's Treasury spokeswoman Daisy Cooper, said the Bank of England's decision to cut the base interest rate the lowest it has been in more than two years was "welcome news for households".

"The mess the Conservatives left cannot be overstated, but Labour is failing to clean it up with their growth-crushing jobs tax and refusal to cut the reams of red tape holding back our exporters," Cooper said.

"Countless people will still be worried about keeping a roof over their head and putting food on the table until the government get serious about growth, and is more ambitious on the cost of living crisis by taking on our proposals to cut energy bills in half."

Rachel Reeves welcomed interest rate cuts

The Chancellor has celebrated the Bank of England's decision to cut interest rates to the lowest level in over two years.

Rachel Reeves said it was the "fifth interest rate cut since the election" which was "welcome news".

"(It's) helping bring down the cost of mortgages and loans for families and businesses," the Chancellor added.

"The stability we have brought to the public finances through our Plan for Change has helped make this possible and helped us become the fastest growing economy in the G7 in the first quarter of this year.

"We're locking in this growth in the long run by investing over £113billion in infrastructure, securing three major trade deals and embracing the technologies of the future – to drive up wages and improve living standards across the UK."

Tories say interest rates falling to support 'weak ecomony'

A top Conservative MP claimed the interest rates are falling to support the "weak economy" which Chancellor Rachel Reeves has created with inflation being "almost doubled on her watch".

The Shadow Chancellor added "Labour are showing they don't understand the economy".

It comes as Shadow Chancellor Mel Stride said "Rachel Reeves claims credit for interest rate cuts - but rates are coming down to support the weak economy she has created".

"Inflation has almost doubled on her watch and unemployment is rising," Stride added.

"Interest rates should be falling faster, but Labour’s jobs tax and reckless borrowing have pushed inflation well above target."

Stride said economists have warned Labour created a £50billion black hole with the Chancellor refusing to rule out further "harmful tax rises".

"Only the Conservatives, under new leadership, believe in sound money and low tax," Stride said.

Prisoners being moved to free up cells in preparation for Palestine Action protests

The Metropolitan Police have warned "anyone showing support" for Palestine Action "can expect to be arrested" ahead of planned protests this weekend.

Hundreds of people are expected to turn out for demonstrations in London on Saturday - in support of Palestine Action which has been proscribed a terrorist group by the Government.

According to Sky News, the prison service has held meetings this week and inmates are being moved to other jails to free up space for potential arrests.

Chris Philp calls PM's 'smash the gangs' pledge 'nothing more than a gimmick'

The Shadow Home Secretary said Keir Starmer's pledge to "smash the gangs" has turned out to be "nothing more than a gimmick that didn't work".

Chris Philp said the new migrant deal was "just the same".

"They are detaining a token handful of arrivals and in return we accept unvetted migrants from France," he said.

"The whole thing is riddled with loopholes, opt-outs and legal escape routes that will make removals near-impossible."

The Conservative party said there were clauses and claims people could make to "avoid the scheme".

"(About) 94 per cent of illegal arrivals will still remain in the UK under this deal," Philp said.

"How exactly is that supposed to deter anyone."

Philp added that France wouldn't share "any personal data under the agreement" about the people the UK receives.

"So even if the French Government knows the migrant has a criminal record or is an extremist or terrorist, they won't tell us," he said.

"Yvette Cooper is busy declaring victory, but the facts speak for themselves - over 25,000 people have crossed the Channel illegally so far this year, making it the worst year on record, and more than 46,000 since Labour took office."

Home Secretary declares 'France is a safe country'

Yvette Cooper said the Government will "robustly defend" any legal challenges to the UK-France pilot scheme after declaring France is a safe country.

It comes after the first people were detained under the scheme on Wednesday.

"It's the beginning of the pilot [scheme], and we will build over time," she said after being pressed about if the deal will be tied-down by legal challenges.

"But we're also clear that France is a safe country, so we will robustly defend against any legal challenge that people try."

Cooper said "we do expect for people to start being returned in a matter of weeks".

Yvette Cooper refuses to reveal number of migrants detained

The Home Secretary said the Government does not want to give information for criminal gangs to "exploit" as she declined questions about how many migrants had been detained by the UK.

Yvette Cooper said "the transfers to immigration removal centres are underway as we speak".

""We won't provide operational details at this point, that criminal gangs can simply use and exploit," she said.

"But no one should be in any doubt. Anyone who arrives from now on is eligible for immediate detention and return."

Former PM says Rachel Reeves should exempt defence pledge from budget rules

Gordon Brown said Rachel Reeves should exempt the Government's defence spending pledge from her borrowing rules in order to free up economic headroom.

The former Prime Minister said the commitment to spend five per cent of GDP on national security by 2035 should be dealt jointly as a "Nato initiative".

He said the costs should be shared across Europe.

It comes as leading economists warned the Chancellor would likely have to raise taxes in the autumn budget to plug a £51 billion black hole in the public finances.

Prime Minister confirms first illegal migrants detained under UK-France pilot scheme

Keir Starmer has confirmed that the first illegal migrants have been detained under the recent UK-France migrant deal which came into effect this week.

"We have detained the first illegal migrants under our new deal before returning them to France," he said.

"If you break the law to enter this country, you will face being sent back."

The Prime Minister said that if he says "I will stop at nothing to secure our borders, I mean it."

Chris Philp: Conservatives will repeal the Human Rights Act in order for UK to deport foreign criminals

The Shadow Home Secretary doubled down on the Conservatives repealing the Human Rights Act in relation to immigration matters.

"We've already said we'll repeal the Human Rights Act ... which means domestic UK judges can't stop the deportation of foreign criminals or people who are here illegally or people that have crossed the Channel," Philp told GB News.

"Those people should all be removed, so repealing the Human Rights Act is the first step."

Philp said the UK "may need to go further".

"And come out of the ECHR entirely, we've got a top lawyer looking at that who's going to report back in just a few weeks time and if we need to leave the ECHR in order to deport foreign criminals, people who are here illegally, and people illegally crossing the Channel, if we need to leave the ECHR to do that ... then we are going to," he added.

When questioned about the Conservatives plan, Philp said to "bare with us for a few more weeks".

"It is important to think it through properly rather than shoot from the hips, so obviously it's easy for Reform ... just to go we'll do this or do that ... without thinking it through, that actually does the British public a disservice," he said.

"If politicians say things ... and then can't deliver them, that's actually bad for the country ... we are doing the work ... we're doing it properly."

Shadow Home Secretary says illegal working is 'rampant'

Chris Philp has declared "illegal working is completely unacceptable" after sharing his experience at an asylum hotel in central London.

"(I) discovered a compound next to that hotel full of bikes for Deliveroo, Uber Eats and Just Eats," he told GB News.

"I spoke to local people that told me that illegal working at that hotel was rampant and the same story is true up and down the country."

The Shadow Home Secretary said it was "serious" for a number of reasons - one being it being a "pull factor".

"People smugglers say to illegal immigrants in Europe, 'come to the UK and you can work illegally' ... that is a pull factor that attracts people over," he said.

"It's also actually dangerous, particularly for women and girls, because if they order a takeaway ... and the person delivering it is an illegal immigrant with no checks ... Deliveroo's got no idea who they actually are, that obviously poses a risk to women and children."

Philp said that the Government must tell asylum claimants that if they are "working illegally" then they should say "good bye to their asylum claim".

Labour MPs warn Keir Starmer against alienating 'nimby' voters

Sir Keir Starmer needs to tone down his attack on "nimbys", Labour MPs have warned.

The Prime Minister is being urged to show "goodwill" to the dozens of rural constituencies that voted for Labour for the first time at the last General Election.

Jenny Riddell-Carpenter, who chairs the Rural Research Group and won the seat of Suffolk Coastal for Labour for the first time in 2024, told The Times: “We need to put the term ‘nimbyism’ to bed. It excludes a whole set of voters from a conversation about what local growth and local opportunity means for them, in their area.

“Shouting people down and calling them nimbys won’t win support for local growth.

“But if we capture what matters locally, build in for nature, and make growth inclusive for our rural areas — we can succeed where the previous government failed.”