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The Guardian Politics5 Apr 2026

Workers, pensioners and children: all better off. Ignore the critics – we really are standing up for working people | Keir Starmer

Day-one rights to statutory sick pay and paternity leave begin on Monday, and that fits the pattern. From my own life, I know people’s anxieties, and I will respond Starmer attacks Greens, saying vote for Labour rivals puts new workers’ rights at risk This week 27 years ago, a Labour government introduced the minimum wage. At the time, the voices of the status quo lined up against it, but Labour made a choice: to stand up for working people. My government is doing the same. On Monday, the bigg

Environment
The Guardian Politics5 Apr 2026

The Guardian view on Britain’s religious right: using and abusing faith in the pursuit of power | Editorial

A professed desire to protect the country’s Christian identity is cover for a divisive politics which ignores the central message of the gospels In an interview conducted a few days after the beginning of Lent, Reform UK’s Muslim home affairs spokesperson, Zia Yusuf, outlined a new policy to prevent churches being converted to mosques. This was an “incendiary” issue relating to Christian heritage, Mr Yusuf claimed, which was causing anxiety across the United Kingdom. Subsequent analysis by the T

PoliticsReform
The Guardian Politics5 Apr 2026

UK has detained 76 ‘age-disputed’ children under one in, one out scheme

Concerns raised over minors placed in adult detention centres since removals began under scheme in September More than 70 children from various conflict zones whose ages were disputed by the Home Office have been held in detention centres in the UK in preparation for forced removal to France under the government’s “one in, one out” scheme, research shows. The one in, one out initiative means each small boat arrival can be forcibly returned to France in exchange for another person – who has not a

The Guardian Politics5 Apr 2026

Labour to back down on foie gras and fur bans to ease EU trade deal

Exclusive: Animal welfare charities ‘bitterly disappointed’ that Labour plans to backtrack on manifesto commitments The government is to break a manifesto commitment to ban foie gras imports, and has declined to stop fur imports, after the EU made these red lines in its discussions for a trade deal. Animal welfare charities say they are “bitterly disappointed” that ministers are failing to use powers granted by Brexit to restrict the import of these “cruel” items. Continue reading...

The Guardian Politics5 Apr 2026

Welcome to the MrBeastification of British politics: the latest trick up Nigel Farage's sleeve | Kirsty Major

The Reform UK leader’s energy bill giveaway certainly grabs our attention – but it’s a distraction from the real winners and losers You can already imagine the video. A man stands in the middle of a suburban English street holding a wad of cash in his hands. Grinning at the camera he says: “I’m about to pay this entire street’s energy bills.” Cut to gliding drone footage of the neighbourhood. The man knocks on a front door and a bewildered looking woman answers in a fleecy dressing gown. “Congra

PoliticsReform
The Guardian Politics5 Apr 2026

Fair Work Agency’s priorities criticised days before its launch

Cornerstone of the UK’s Employment Rights Act ‘in danger of becoming a dead duck’, says Unite boss The government has asked its new employment rights watchdog to reduce the regulatory burden on business, it has emerged, a request that worker advocates said risks turning the agency into “a dead duck”. The Fair Work Agency (FWA), which is being launched on Tuesday, is a cornerstone of Labour’s Employment Rights Act. It will bring together several existing labour enforcement bodies and its responsi

The Guardian Politics5 Apr 2026

Ministers working with Labour backbenchers to temper Mahmood immigration plans

Exclusive: Starmer urged to go further with exemptions if he wants to avoid widespread anger from his own MPs A number of ministers concerned about Shabana Mahmood’s immigration changes are working behind the scenes with backbenchers to secure more exemptions, the Guardian has learned. Keir Starmer is consulting on the proposed changes, which would make it harder to achieve settled status in the UK, and is under pressure from within his own party to say the measures should not apply to people wh

PoliticsImmigration
The Guardian Politics4 Apr 2026

Rise in number of girls being identified as victims in county lines exploitation, data shows

Charities suggest ‘gendered understanding’ of crime means services often fail to recognise girls and young women as victims An increasing number of girls are being identified as victims of county lines exploitation, figures have shown. Data from Catch22, the charity that provides the national county lines support service, said girls and young women formed 22% of its caseload in 2025, up from 15% the previous year. Continue reading...

Crime
The Guardian Politics4 Apr 2026

‘Breakfast reset’: Will marmalade really be renamed in post-Brexit food deal?

UK reportedly considering aligning with EU rules allowing all conserves to be labelled as marmalade The story is, in Fleet Street terminology, a marmalade-dropper. The name marmalade is being dropped. But is it? Continue reading...

The Guardian Politics4 Apr 2026

Unions privately voice misgivings over BMA pay demands and doctors’ strikes

Senior figures express concerns over medical union’s refusal of pay rise that is higher than offer to other NHS staff Trade unions have privately expressed qualms about the forthcoming doctors’ strikes, expressing frustration at the conduct of the talks and the demands of the British Medical Association. The BMA is pushing for a pay rise higher than the 3.5% offered to doctors by the government, with strikes planned for next week. Continue reading...

Healthcare
The Guardian Politics4 Apr 2026

New North Sea drilling would barely reduce UK gas imports at all, data shows

Exclusive: research finds Jackdaw field would provide only about 2% of current demand, and Rosebank only 1% Opening major new fields in the North Sea would make almost no difference to the UK’s reliance on gas imports, research has shown. The Jackdaw field, one of the largest unexploited gasfields in the North Sea, would displace only 2% of the UK’s current imports of gas, which would leave the UK still almost entirely dependent on supplies from Norway and a few other sources. Continue reading.

Housing
The Guardian Politics4 Apr 2026

Biometric checks stalled again for cross-Channel travellers

Fears of Easter chaos over scaling up of new EU border system are eased, with no facial IDs for Eurotunnel and Eurostar passengers Passengers crossing the Channel from the UK to France will not face new biometric checks in the coming weeks, despite an imminent deadline for the complete implementation of the EU’s entry-exit system (EES), ports say. Airlines and airports across Europe have feared chaos over the Easter holidays. Continue reading...

Immigration