Free Republic

Parliament has been recalled for a rare Saturday sitting to pass an emergency law aimed at saving British Steel's Scunthorpe plant from imminent closure. Sir Keir Starmer said the legislation would allow ministers to "take control" of the Lincolnshire site and stop its Chinese owner from closing its blast furnaces. The move opens the door to a full nationalisation of the company at a later stage, with the prime minister saying "all options" remained on the table. Talks have been taking place this week to keep production going at the firm, after owners Jingye said its blast furnaces were "no...

Sir Keir Starmer is unlikely to meet Kamala Harris before the US presidential election in 12 days' time, Downing Street has indicated. The prime minister met Republican nominee Donald Trump in New York last month, and suggested he wanted to do the same with Democrat Harris. But Sir Keir is now in Samoa for a Commonwealth leaders' summit, as the US campaign enters its final stage before the poll on 5 November. In recent days, there have been tensions between the Labour Party and the Trump campaign over Labour staffers who volunteered to campaign for Harris. The Trump team have...