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Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce the UK's recognition of a Palestinian state in a statement on Sunday afternoon. The move comes after the prime minister said in July the UK would shift its position in September unless Israel met conditions including agreeing to a ceasefire in Gaza and committing to a long-term sustainable peace deal that delivers a two-state solution. It represents a major change in British foreign policy after successive governments said recognition should come as part of a peace process and at a time of maximum impact. The move has drawn fierce criticism from the Israeli...

Keir Starmer must obey his “legal duty to act to prevent a genocide”, Greta Thunberg has told the Guardian while travelling onboard an aid flotilla heading for Gaza. The Swedish activist said there was a “huge absence of those whose legal responsibility it is to step up” under international law, and called out the UK prime minister before a potential meeting this week with Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog. In a message to Starmer, who has been urged by his own MPs not to meet the Israeli head of state on Wednesday, Thunberg said: “The words we will use to describe...

Leaders of the MAGA movement have a new warning: Don’t let America become like Britain. That was the howling conclusion at a conference of MAGA-aligned policymakers and think tanks this week in Washington, where elite voices, many with close ties to President Donald Trump, painted a dystopian, misleading and anti-Muslim picture of England as a bastion for dangerous immigrants. Stephen K. Bannon, Trump’s former chief of staff who continues to be an influential adviser, decried the “threat of Islamism in the U.K.,” positioning Britain as a cautionary tale of how mass migration could affect the United States. Others called the...

US President Donald Trump has criticised the UK's laws around online speech, saying "strange things are happening" there and that it was "not a good thing". The remarks were in response to a reporter's question during a White House dinner hosting prominent tech leaders.

The United States has joined Israel in accusing Sir Keir Starmer of “rewarding Hamas” after he declared the UK will recognise Palestine in September unless Benjamin Netanyahu’s government makes peace. The Prime Minister issued the ultimatum to his Israeli counterpart after an emergency meeting of his Cabinet. Tammy Bruce, spokesperson for the US State department, said Sir Keir’s remarks were a “slap in the face for the victims of October 7” which “rewards Hamas”. “It allows it to continue. It gives one group hope, and that’s Hamas. It is a rewarding of that kind of behaviour,” she said, adding: “There’s...

Sir Keir Starmer has presented a UK-led peace plan for the Middle East to Donald Trump as he met the US president in Scotland. The Prime Minister started work on a plan with France and Germany over the weekend after an emergency call with the two countries’ leaders, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz. His official spokesman had said earlier that he planned to share details with key allies, including Arab states, in the coming days. In a readout of his meeting with the US president, Downing Street said the two reiterated calls for an immediate ceasefire to pave the way...

Keir Starmer has called Israel’s recent actions in Gaza “appalling, counterproductive and intolerable”, as the UK government comes under mounting pressure to take stronger action after the killings of dozens of civilians at food points in recent days. The prime minister told MPs on Wednesday the UK was considering imposing sanctions on members of the Israeli government, but is so far resisting growing calls for a complete ban on arms sales and immediate recognition of Palestine. Starmer was speaking after several attacks at food distribution hubs in recent days left dozens of people dead and hundreds more injured. The attacks...

Keir Starmer has been posting new policies concerning immigration. Here are a few: "We're charging employers more to recruit from overseas and, if they do, they must prove they are investing in British workers and increasing British skills. That's the fair and right thing to do." "This is my promise to British people: Every area of our immigration system will be tightened up, so we have more control. And migration numbers will fall." "Promise made. Promise delivered." "Under the Tories, nearly one million people came to the UK from overseas between 2019 and 2023. My Labour government is taking back...

Downing Street has said that British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer no longer believes that so-called “transgender women” are actually women in the wake of a Supreme Court ruling confirming the nature of biological reality. Last week, Britain’s top court found that “the concept of sex is binary, a person is either a woman or a man,” meaning that supposedly transgender individuals will be prohibited from using single-sex spaces like female-only changing rooms or bathrooms. The ruling will also likely bar biological males from competing in women’s sports. While Prime Minister Starmer has previously struggled with the concept of binary...

PM Keir Starmer will aim to pass an emergency law on Saturday to "take control" of British Steel's plant in Scunthorpe, which is running out of raw materials to make steel The potential closure of Scunthorpe's British Steel plant would be devastating for workers and their families, the GMB union says If passed, the new law will give power to Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds to direct and control British Steel - and could allow nationalisation later down the line The PM and Reynolds expressed disappointment in British Steel's Chinese owner Jingye, which says it has been losing around £700,000 a...

Police officers on foot will patrol every busy neighbourhood at peak times as part of a set of community-focused measures to be unveiled by Keir Starmer. In an announcement billed as a return to an era of “bobbies on the beat”, the prime minister will also confirm that every neighbourhood in England and Wales will be given a named and contactable police officer. The plans are expected to be in place by July, and follow the government’s promises to restore confidence in community policing. Labour’s leadership is under pressure to offer new policies for party councillors in England to sell...

Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves are actively considering nationalising British Steel in an escalation of plans first revealed in the Guardian last year. The prime minister said all options were on the table to secure the future of the Scunthorpe plant, which is owned by the Chinese firm Jingye and employs about 3,500 people. The possibility of nationalisation was first revealed in December but discussions have taken on fresh urgency with US tariffs and talks about a financial support package to move to less polluting technology having faltered. The government has now been forced to consider more drastic options, ranging...

With a staccato burst, a horn sounded in the control room of the H.M.S. Vanguard, sending the crew of the nuclear-armed Royal Navy submarine to battle stations. The voice of the commanding officer crackled over the intercom. “Set condition 1SQ,” he said, ordering its battery of ballistic missiles to be readied for launch. It was just a drill, conducted last Monday for a visiting V.I.P., Prime Minister Keir Starmer... Back on a tugboat, taking us to shore in the Firth of Clyde, Mr. Starmer sat alone, staring out a window at the gathering clouds. It has been a defining, if...

Keir Starmer’s approval ratings have shot up since Donald Trump returned to the White House and shocked Europe by withdrawing political and military support for Ukraine, according to the latest Opinium poll for the Observer. Starmer’s Labour government as a whole has also gained public support for its response to the global turbulence caused by Trump’s return – on security and economic issues. His personal ratings have risen by 10% – albeit from an alarmingly low point – compared with a month ago. Strikingly, Labour, rather than the Conservatives who are traditionally seen as stronger on defence, are now seen...

Donald Trump has claimed Sir Keir Starmer 'didn't do anything' to end the Ukraine war - just days before he is due to welcome the Prime Minister to the White House. The US President lashed out at Sir Keir and France's Emmanuel Macron amid a transatlantic spat over Mr Trump branding Ukraine's Volodymyr Zelensky a 'dictator'. Those comments riled both the PM and French President, who hit back at Mr Trump's attack on the Ukrainian President and doubled down on their support for Kyiv. Mr Macron also warned Mr Trump against being 'weak' with Russia's Vladimir Putin, amid fears the...

Nigel Farage’s Reform UK has cemented its lead in the polls and has begun to pull ahead of the Westminster establishment parties, according to a survey from YouGov. Just over seven months after the leftist Labour Party swept to power in the UK following the collapse of the neo-liberal “Conservatives”, Nigel Farage’s insurgent sovereigntist-populist Reform party has begun to entrench itself as the preferred party of the British voter. According to a poll conducted this week from top survey firm YouGov, Reform UK has increased its lead over other parties and now stands clearly on top at 27 per cent,...

LONDON, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Britain on Sunday said it would force retailers to implement stricter age-verification checks to stop children buying knives, in a tightening of policy days after a teenager admitted killing three young girls at a Taylor Swift-themed dance event. Axel Rudakubana's knife attack in July was described last week as one of the most harrowing moments in Britain's history by Prime Minister Keir Starmer and has triggered a public inquiry into the failings that allowed it to happen. While that inquiry is expected to focus on why state institutions failed to act on warnings about the...

Labour’s approval rating has slumped to its lowest ever level in a grim start to the New Year for Keir Starmer. The YouGov survey showed that 63% of voters now disapprove of the government’s performance, compared to just 16% who approve. That gives an overall approval rating of minus 47, down two points on the last poll at the end of December. Separately, the poll also found that 40% of Labour voters disapprove of the government’s performance, compared to just 36% who approve. The findings are a fresh blow for Starmer as he tries to get on the front foot...

Nigel Farage says he wants to "mend fences" with Elon Musk, after the billionaire Trump adviser called for him to be replaced as Reform UK party leader. Just before Christmas, Farage told journalists his party was in "negotiations" with Mr Musk, the world's richest man, about a potential donation. But come the new year, the relationship had soured, with Tesla boss Mr Musk saying Farage "did not have what it takes" to lead the party. Farage suggested the snub was over a disagreement about Mr Musk's support for the jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson. Speaking on LBC, Farage said he...

Elon Musk has reignited his feud with the Prime Minister in a social media rant where he called for a new UK election and the release of far-right activist Tommy Robinson from prison. The world’s richest man, who is a close ally of incoming US President Donald Trump, posted a series of tweets on Thursday stating “free Tommy Robinson” and in another said “a new election should be called in Britain”. He added that “only” Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party could “save” Britain.