Guardian Politics

Home secretary to make some migrants wait 10 years or more for right to settle in UK Good morning. Often these days, when the government has a big announcement and just before the relevant minister starts to give the details in a statement to MPs, Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, erupts with fury and rants and raves at the Treasury bench about how all the main points have already been leaked to the media, in contravention of the ministerial code. Not today. Shabana Mahmood, the home secretary

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Survey finds UK government’s decision to impose trade ban was not a decisive factor in how Israelis voted in election The UK government’s decision to impose a ban on trade in goods from illegal settlements was not decisive in how Israelis voted in their general election, but a majority think the Israeli government’s settlements policy should change if it is going to lead to further sanctions, a new poll of Israelis shows. There had been fierce criticism of the UK foreign secretary Ed Miliband’s

Exclusive: Professional bodies call for regulation to boost confidence and protect public from abuse in ‘landmark’ report Ministers should introduce statutory regulation for counsellors and psychotherapists to protect the public from abuse, according to a report that has been hailed as a “watershed moment” for the profession. Unlike most other healthcare roles, including doctors, midwives and osteopaths, “psychotherapist” and “counsellor” are not protected titles nor statutorily regulated profes

From France’s Jordan Bardella to Italy’s Giorgia Meloni, organised youth politics has produced many rightwing leaders. Democrats must catch up The leaders of the most successful populist radical right parties in western Europe have one thing in common that is often overlooked. Italy’s Matteo Salvini, Jordan Bardella from France, Jimmie Åkesson from the Sweden Democrats, and Tom Van Grieken from Belgium’s Vlaams Belang all led the youth wing of the parties they now run. These movements shaped the

British prime minister has now agreed to structured dialogue on reparatory justice but issue remains off formal Chogm agenda British officials initially insisted that discussions of reparations for slavery should not be on the agenda of the Commonwealth leaders’ summit in Antigua and Barbuda – and even warned that Andy Burnham would not attend the meeting if the subject was formally included, according to a leading Caribbean political figure. Ralph Gonsalves, a former prime minister of St Vincen

MPs say Shabana Mahmood’s new rules risk staff shortages in health and social care and second Windrush scandal Shabana Mahmood will announce sweeping new rules on Monday on how long legal migrants must wait for permanent settlement in the UK, with most likely to wait a decade and some up to 15 years. Ministers – including the housing secretary, Angela Rayner – had raised concerns about the effect the rules would have on careworkers already in the UK who would be likely to face a 15-year wait for

Exclusive: Plan to allow students from bloc pay same fees as Britons contingent on entry to industrial programme, officials say Ministers are prepared to spend as much as £450m a year to give students from the EU discounted university fees, the Guardian has learned, but only if Brussels allows the UK access to its Made in Europe industrial programme. The UK government has drawn up plans to allow students arriving from the continent pay the same fees as British students, sources say, and is willi

Adrian Ramsay says some new members would be ‘more at home’ in Your Party or Socialist Workers party The former Green party leader Adrian Ramsay has said the party must fix its internal democracy to avoid a takeover by the hard left, saying that some new members “might be more at home” in Your Party or the Socialist Workers party. Ramsay, who has been critical of the handling of the row over a “Zionism is racism” motion passed at the Green party conference, said there were a “small number” of in

Manifesto promise to equalise rates before next election is now ‘a question of when’, John Healey tells BBC Labour looks less likely to meet its manifesto pledge to equalise the minimum wage for younger workers before the next election, after the chancellor failed to guarantee the rise within that timeframe. John Healey said on Sunday the government was still committed to the increase but failed to spell out when it would be achieved. In the budget, a rise in the minimum wage was handed to adult

Tory leader says apology would be ‘navel-gazing distraction’ and would be used as lever for financial compensation Kemi Badenoch has said an apology for Britain’s role in the transatlantic slave trade would be a “navel-gazing distraction”, describing slavery as an evil “in which people from every continent and region participated”. Speaking to broadcasters on Sunday, Badenoch also questioned whether it was worth future leaders attending the Commonwealth summit, given that it was now dominated by

Former chancellor says leaving European Union has made Britain ‘poorer, weaker and less secure’ The former chancellor Rachel Reeves has argued the UK’s future should be inside the EU, saying Brexit has made the UK “poorer, weaker and less secure”. Writing in the Sunday Times, the Labour former cabinet minister said she welcomed “Andy Burnham’s leadership” after remarks made by the prime minister in recent days fuelled questions about the prospect of Britain returning to the bloc or adopting its

What if someone told you the truth about the economy? For years, governments have tried spending more, spending less, cutting red tape, Brexit, levelling up – and still failed to increase growth per person in the UK. So what’s the lesson from the great British fairytale? On the latest episode of Radical Thinking with Aditya Chakrabortty, rebel economists Karel Williams and Sukhdev Johal explain why they believe praying for growth is a fool’s dream – and why it won’t improve your life You can wat

UK children’s minister Josh MacAlister has travelled to Copenhagen to see what can be learned from Danish system In a quiet suburb on the outskirts of Copenhagen sits a large white house, set back from the road behind a purple-leaved plum tree. It looks much like the rest of the buildings on the street and there is little outward sign this is Josephine Schneider’s House, considered one of the best children’s homes in the world. Danish children’s homes are often cited as the gold standard of chil

We need policies that stop treating property as a store of wealth and that allow people to move home cheaply John Healey’s critics on the right and left accused him of dodging the big questions in his first budget. The chancellor failed to announce reforms that might tackle some of Britain’s chronic problems, they say. Healey’s scatter-gun budget, as the Resolution Foundation called it, was more about politics than economics, and unapologetically so. Continue reading...

Shift in dealings with Washington not likely to reset once Trump leaves Oval Office, former PM says The UK and other European nations must draw closer together as the US becomes a less-reliable partner, Keir Starmer has said in his first significant political intervention since leaving No 10. The former prime minister warned European leaders of the threat posed by Russia, among others, and said the shift in relations with Washington during Donald Trump’s presidency was not likely to reset once h

For Westminster’s special budget edition of the series, politicians have played to their strengths. Bombast, duplicity, distrust: it’s all second nature You join us on a steam train in Scotland as we head to the next episode of the BBC’s hit show Political Traitors. It’s like the celebrity edition, except that everyone is less comely – politics being the practice of show business for ugly people. For this week’s task, the players have to construct a “budget” of tiny crowd-pleasing measures, care

What if someone told you the truth about the economy? For years, governments have tried spending more, spending less, cutting red tape, Brexit, levelling up – and still failed to increase growth per person in the UK. So what’s the lesson from the great British fairytale? On the latest episode of Radical Thinking with Aditya Chakrabortty, the rebel economists Karel Williams and Sukhdev Johal explain why they believe praying for growth is a fool’s dream – and why it won’t improve your life You can

John Healey’s budget offered a ‘sting in the tail’ for savers by raising tax rates but there are ways to ease the pain Savers were both winners and losers in Wednesday’s budget. In his first outing as chancellor, John Healey dropped a plan to cut the cash Isa limit for under-65s but surprised everyone with an extra tax charge on savings and property income. His predecessor, Rachel Reeves, had already announced a plan to increase the income tax rates for savers and landlords that was due to take

There is always debate about the concept’s necessity and efficacy. But with nativists in their pomp, it’s good to focus on who we are and why What forces shaped four generations of Black Britons? | The panel Pity Black History Month UK, assailed on all sides. Those on the right seek to end the celebration on the basis that it amounts to special treatment for a group that doesn’t deserve it. History should be colour-blind: society should not differentiate, they say. We are not racist, we just wan