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The Guardian Politics7 May 2026

If Labour now decides the PM is no longer up to the job, there’s just one problem: neither is anyone else | Gaby Hinsliff

Whoever leads Britain through the next three years may have to navigate a recession, even a war. The way we choose that person needs an urgent overhaul This is going to be an ugly weekend for British politics. How ugly we won’t quite know until Saturday night, when enough votes will have been counted to judge whether Keir Starmer’s government has suffered merely a midterm kicking or a full-blown collapse, and what dark forces may have been unleashed in the process. For you needn’t be a Labour vo

PoliticsEconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics7 May 2026

Cut UK speed limits to reduce Iran war impact on consumers, thinktank urges

Cap of 20mph in towns and cities and 60mph on motorways would cut fuel demand and combat rising prices, IPPR says Britain should lower speed limits for drivers as part of a package of measures to reduce the impact of the Iran war on consumers, a thinktank has said. Capping legal speeds at 20mph in towns and cities and 60mph on motorways would help reduce fuel demand and combat soaring oil prices triggered by conflict, according to the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR). Continue readin

Defence
The Guardian Politics6 May 2026

Trainline says Middle East tensions hitting European rail bookings

Profits jump to £122m at ticketing retailer but it expects flat or declining revenues over the coming year Business live – latest updates Trainline has said the US standoff with Iran is hitting its revenues, with rail ticket sales to foreign visitors to Europe affected. The UK-based international ticketing aganet said it expected revenues to stay flat or decline over the coming year, citing “the effects of geopolitical tensions in the Middle East on inbound air traffic into Europe”. Continue

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics6 May 2026

Airlines and companies using fuel surcharges to cover surge in costs, UK survey shows

Firms raising prices at fastest rate in three years, driven by soaring energy and wage bills but also extra cost of metals and plastics Business live – latest updates Oil prices fall as Trump hails ‘progress’ on Iran deal Airlines and other companies are increasingly using fuel surcharges to cover soaring costs, a survey has found, in a further sign of Iran war-linked inflation hitting the economy. A poll of companies in the services sector, which includes airlines, found rising fuel prices h

EconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics6 May 2026

Apps, activists and an ‘air war’: Essex campaign is test of Reform UK’s professionalisation

Nigel Farage’s party sees local elections as showcase for a sleeker approach borrowing from an unlikely source Nigel Farage was midway through his walkabout of Waltham Abbey when a hunting horn loudly sounded on the Essex market town’s pedestrianised high street. “Oi oiii!” exclaimed the owner of Ouch Tattoos, Rob Chillingworth, putting down the instrument and reaching out a welcoming hand to the approaching Reform UK leader. For Farage, this was the latest stop in a midweek tour of half a dozen

PoliticsDefenceReform
The Guardian Politics6 May 2026

Labour’s nationwide collapse risks making Nigel Farage the face of the UK’s fragile union | Rafael Behr

Scottish and Welsh nationalism will be further radicalised if Reform UK sets the tone of debate over inclusion in the British state Keir Starmer has neither a heartland nor a stronghold. That is the picture likely to emerge once all the votes in this week’s local and devolved elections have been counted. Council seats in Labour’s traditional northern-English working-class base will fall to Reform UK. Parts of inner London, where the electoral map has been red for decades, will go Green. Rafael B

PoliticsDefenceEnvironmentReform
The Guardian Politics5 May 2026

Reinstate windfall tax on banks after surge in profits, TUC urges

Unions group wants rate returned from 3% to 8% after big four UK lenders reveal £14bn total profit in first quarter An increased windfall tax should be imposed on the UK’s largest banks according to trade union leaders, after the big four lenders reported almost £14bn in first-quarter profits, partly fuelled by market turbulence caused by the Iran war. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) renewed its call for an increase in the current bank surcharge, which was reduced from 8% to 3% of profits above

EconomyDefenceHousing
The Guardian Politics5 May 2026

MoD has no system to detect civilian harm caused by military, study shows

Revelation comes after report commissioned by department released in response to charity’s FoI request The Ministry of Defence has no system for examining whether UK military action has killed or injured civilians in war, a study commissioned by the department has revealed. The MoD also “does not maintain a central register of civilian harm incidents or allegations” and, despite mass casualties caused by other countries, has concluded there is no need to do so because its existing mitigation is

Defence
The Guardian Politics5 May 2026

Stop plotting to oust Keir Starmer, ex-deputy Labour leader urges MPs

Tom Watson, who had role in attempted coup against Tony Blair in 2006, said move would go down extremely badly with voters Labour MPs have been urged to stop plotting to remove Keir Starmer by Tom Watson, who as a junior minister spearheaded the last attempted coup against a Labour prime minister, faced by Tony Blair in 2006. Watson’s warning came as Steve Reed, the housing and communities secretary, and a key Starmer loyalist, said Labour would risk “annihilation” if it decided to try to change

PoliticsDefenceHousing
The Guardian Politics5 May 2026

Farage deploys the rottweiler to distract from awkward £5m gift story | John Crace

Zia Yusuf’s mad idea of building detention centres for illegal immigrants exclusively in areas that vote Green works a treat It’s a classic from the Donald Trump playbook: everything’s been going a bit tits up, so you create a distraction. Get everyone looking in the wrong direction. Last week was the worst in months for Reform. First the party was pegged back in the opinion polls, then the Guardian revealed Nigel Farage had been given a £5m handout by Christopher Harborne, a Thai-based crypto d

ImmigrationDefenceEnvironmentReform
The Guardian Politics5 May 2026

Rachel Reeves and Scott Bessent argued in person about Iran war, sources say

UK chancellor said to have told US treasury secretary she did not like his tone during meeting in Washington in April UK politics live – latest updates Middle East crisis – live updates Rachel Reeves had an angry exchange with her US counterpart, Scott Bessent, in Washington last month over the war in Iran, sources have said, in the latest sign of the deepening tensions between the two countries. The chancellor and the US treasury secretary argued in person during the spring meetings of the I

PoliticsEconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics5 May 2026

Cabinet minister warns Labour against ‘doomscrolling’ through leaders like the Tories

Communities secretary Steve Reed urges MPs not to move against Keir Starmer and says most people are ‘sick and tired of all this psychodrama’ Labour should not be “doomscrolling” through leaders like the Conservatives, the communities secretary, Steve Reed, has said, urging MPs not to move against Keir Starmer after the May elections. MPs who fear Starmer cannot lead the party into the next general election because of his unpopularity are understood to have been discussing whether to lay out a t

PoliticsDefence