Labour MPs in the Red Wall have called on Sir Keir Starmer to ignore calls to rejoin the European Union.
Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan has suggested it was "inevitable" that Britain would end up heading back towards the EU, suggesting on a "daily basis " he had seen "the damage Brexit has done to not just London, but to Londoners, the damage economically, socially and culturally."
Trade minister Sir Chris Bryant yesterday refused to rule out campaigning to rejoin the bloc, telling Sky News: "I think we should be immensely ambitious about our relationship with the European Union.
“You know what we were promised in the Brexit referendum, which incidentally was a pack of lies, we were promised frictionless trade. Give me frictionless trade however you want it and do it fast."
Now, MP for Bassetlaw and head of the party's Red Wall group Jo White, said Labour should be focusing on more important priorities.
She told The Sun: "Now is not the time or the place to be talking about going back into the EU. What we need to focus on is good trade deals and what is best for our economy.
"I don’t want to spend the next three years looking at the past, we have to look forward."
Labour's MP for Bolsover Natalie Fleet added: “While London may want to rejoin, areas like mine that voted 70 per cent to leave definitely do not. In an increasingly divided world, the last thing we need is to divide the country all over again by restarting this debate."
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: "We will not be rejoining the customs union, the single market or returning to freedom of movement. Those are our red lines as per the Government’s manifesto.
"We do want a closer economic partnership with the EU, but rejoining the customs union would unpick important trade agreements we’ve reached, including our deals with the US and India."
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Union chief says Labour will be 'decimated' at local elections
The General Secretary of Unite said Labour should "hang their heads in shame" as she suggested Sir Keir Starmer's party will be "decimated" at the local elections.
Sharon Graham said working class people were moving away from Labour in droves and called on the party to "wake up and smell the coffee"
She spoke to refuse workers near a waste depot in Tyseley, south Birmingham where the bin strike rumbles on.
Ms Graham told union members: "We are in one of the most significant strikes in decades.
"An attack from a Labour council under a Labour government. Labour should hang their heads in shame. They are an absolute disgrace."
Conservative frontbencher accuses Labour of 'undermining national security'
Matt Vickers called on Labour to 'drill' the North Sea
|GB NEWS
A Conservative frontbencher has accused Labour of "undermining national security" as he called on Sir Keir Starmer to drill the natural energy resources in the North Sea.
Shadow Policing Minister Matt Vickers told GB News: "We're seeing record levels of borrowing by this Government. We need to take a look at how much we are spending on welfare.
"That bill is ballooning and it is not fair on those who do the right thing and work hard.
"When you look at challenges of fiscal and energy crisis, we have oil and gas aplenty in the North Sea but this Government has made the decision not to allow us to drill that.
"The end result is we are importing oil and gas and that means higher emissions, its worse for the environment and we are paying a bigger price.
"It undermines our national security. It's costing a lot of people, certainly in my part of the world, their jobs."
Teaching union boss warns Reform UK would make education a 'hostile place'
Reform UK would make education a hostile place for many children, a teaching union has warned, as leaders said divisive messaging on social media is appearing in classrooms.
General secretary Daniel Kebede told reporters the National Education Union has real concern over what a Reform government would mean for education.
He said: "I do not think Suella Braverman would be a particularly positive force for education. I think not only will they bring about hyper-austerity in public services, including education, they will make education a real hostile place for children who are LGBT, black, migrant, refugee.
"They run contrary as a political organisation to the views of our union and our profession more broadly."
Asked if he thought Reform was far-right, Mr Kebede told reporters conference decided last year it views Reform as "racist, far-right, or similar".
Zack Polanski admits becoming Prime Minister isn't the 'target'
The Green Party has seen a rise in membership under leader Zack Polanski
|PA
Zack Polanski has admitted being Prime Minister is not his target, but added he has upgraded his initial aims since becoming Green Party leader.
The London Assembly member said that the party's rise in membership and improved polling results have forced him to reassess his ambitions for the party he was elected to lead in September 2025.
He told the BBC that "winning a lot more MPs" and local councillors was his aim.
He said: "I was talking about 30-40 when I ran for leader. Now, saying that it feels under ambitious and actually as our poll ratings are tripling, we’re getting more and more members.
"When I became or when I ran for leader, we had about 55,000 members. We’ve just hit over 220,000."
When asked if he wanted to become Prime Minister, Mr Polanski said: "That really isn’t the target right now. It’s definitely in my mind because I get asked about it all the time.
"The next step is to win a lot more MPs and potentially hold the balance of power and then I think that’s really interesting because you’re having conversations about proportional representation, a wealth tax, climate action and various other policies to reduce people’s cost of living and make life better for everyone in this country."
Kemi Badenoch vows: 'This rubbish must STOP' as hospitals and universities shun King's portrait
The overwhelming majority of universities and hospitals in the country snubbed the Government's offer of a free portrait of the King shortly after his coronation in 2023, GB News can reveal.
Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, blamed the poor take-up of the £131 picture of the King on managers in the public sector who were unnecessarily worried that people would be offended.
"All of this rubbish needs to stop," she told GB News' Chopper's Political Podcast.
UK borrowing costs jump to 'second highest on record' as Rachel Reeves faces 'challenging environment'
Borrowing figures have jumped to 'second highest on record' | GETTY / ONS Public sector borrowing came in at £14.3billion in February 2026, up £2.2billion from the same time the year before, according to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
This is also the second-highest February borrowing figure on record, just below the 2021 pandemic-era figure, in a blow to Chancellor Rachel Reeves's plans for the economy.
Notably, central Government debt interest costs primarily fueled February 2026's figures, alongside the increased costs of providing public services and benefit spending.
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