Author: Miles Donavan

‘He was talking very clearly about the policy, he said, being immoral and racist’ BBC presenter Jon Kay challenged Reform’s Zia Yusuf on his false claim that Keir Starmer called voters racist. Starmer said that Reform’s policy to scrap indefinite leave to remain was “immoral and racist”. Last week, Reform announced that it would instead force people to re-apply for visas every five years.  Reform would reportedly raise the visa salary threshold to £60,000, nearly double the median UK salary (£31,602). Starmer told the BBC: “I do think it’s a racist policy, I do think it’s immoral, it needs to…

The charity has warned that ministerial powers over the elections watchdog could be abused by a future authoritarian government Anti-corruption charity Spotlight on Corruption has urged Labour to fully restore the Electoral Commission’s independence and protect UK democracy from a future authoritarian government. In a new report, Democracy in Danger, the charity says current ministerial powers over the Commission “could easily be abused to undermine our democracy”. In the Elections Act 2022, Boris Johnson’s Conservative government introduced new powers to allow ministers to set the priorities of the Electoral Commission. The report revealed that the UK government is currently in…

‘I am speaking out for the thousands of councillors who are at this conference who are worried about going to the doorsteps next May.’ The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, has warned against “underestimating the peril the party is in” at a fringe meeting at the Labour party conference. It comes as Burnham continues to criticise the leadership, warning about the direction of the Labour Party, amid a rising threat from Reform UK. Speaking at a rally for electoral reform, Burnham said: “To those today making calls for simplistic statements of loyalty, I say, if that closes down the…

‘I think It’s taken too long to kick back against the racism, if you take what President Trump said for instance we should’ve come out straight away..’ Labour MP Dawn Butler has said that the Labour government must go further and faster in calling out the bigotry and racism being pushed by Reform UK, after the party continues to whip up fears against minorities. Speaking to Left Foot Forward, Butler said that the government needed to kick back harder against the divisiveness of Nigel Farage’s party, saying it was incumbent upon all to be the firewell against Reform’s racism and…

Phillipson told a fringe meeting that child poverty is a ‘moral scar’ Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson has reiterated at a fringe meeting at the Labour Party conference that scrapping the two-child benefit cap is ‘on the table’ and that she accepts the evidence that the policy is pushing children into poverty, in the clearest indication yet the policy could go. Phillipson, who is hoping to become Labour’s next deputy leader, made the comments as she vowed to bring child poverty numbers down by the end of the current Parliament. The two-child benefit cap was introduced by George Osborne as Conservative…

Right on cue, is the right-wing media’s annual witch-hunt over the Trust’s alleged ‘wokeness.’ Eh-up, is it that time of year again? Yes, we’re fast approaching the National Trust’s Annual General Meeting on November 8, and, right on cue, is the right-wing media’s annual witch-hunt over the Trust’s alleged ‘wokeness.’ Admittedly, it’s started early this year, even by the Mail’s standards. ‘National Trust in new woke row as 13 volunteer gardeners are terminated for failing to be ‘inclusive’,’ was a headline this week. The article continued: “It [National Trust] claimed the gardeners, with more than 100 years of NT volunteering experience, had…

That Reform finds value in this kind of narrative tells us everything we need to know about where the party, and its chosen influencers, want to take the country. One standout column this week – for all the wrong reasons – came from Jack Anderton, a ‘political adviser’ to Reform UK, though better known for managing Nigel Farage’s TikTok account than for any serious policy credentials “Housing illegal migrants in student accommodation is the final proof that young Britons like me are being robbed of our future by an incompetent, self-serving political class,” sets the tone for an incredibly politically…

Only the Mirror gave the speech the front-page treatment it deserved. Despite being one of the most unhinged and nonsensical rants in recent political history, riddled with falsehoods, juvenile digs, and inflammatory vitriol, most newspapers played it safe in their coverage of Donald Trump’s cringe-inducing address to the United Nations General Assembly on September 22. The Times, Daily Mail, Daily Express, and the Sun all omitted the speech from their front pages the next day. The Daily Telegraph focused on Trump’s claim that the West is “going to hell over migration,” while the Financial Times referred to a “Trump tirade”…

The UK now faces dirtier rivers, more polluted air, and higher levels of pesticides in soil compared to many EU member states. Nearly 25,000 people have signed a petition urging the UK government to form a formal environmental partnership with the European Union. The campaign, titled ‘One Earth. One Team’ was launched by European Movement UK, and calls for urgent cooperation to protect nature, reduce pollution, and cut energy bills through greater use of clean energy. At the heart of the movement is growing public concern over the state of the UK’s environment, particularly the continued discharge of untreated sewage…

While speculation about a right-wing pact to ensure that the Tories or Reform can win power is rampant, there’s little mention of any sort of progressive pact to save us from such a fate. “If you’re in a coalition and you’re comfortable, you know it’s not a broad enough coalition,” said US civil rights activist, Bernice Johnson Reagon. And her observation has never felt more relevant in British politics than it does today. ‘Unite the right’ is a catchy slogan and with Tory defections to Reform UK gathering pace, it’s a pact that’s beginning to take shape, at least in the…