News

Original reporting and the latest political headlines from across the UK.

Our Articles

Mainstream Headlines

Filtering by:Source: The Guardian Politics×Clear all

2181 headlines found — Page 133 of 182

The Guardian Politics30 Mar 2026

Starmer to say Iran war means Labour’s values needed more than ever at local elections campaign launch – UK politics live

UK PM to chair meeting in Downing Street on how government responds to economic consequences of Iran war later on Monday Good morning. Keir Starmer will today chair a meeting in Downing Street on how the government responds to the economic consequences of the Iran war, which has the potential to upend much of what the government is trying to do to improve living standards. And so he is probably not too happy about the fact that this morning he has to attend an event in the West Midlands launchin

PoliticsEconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics30 Mar 2026

MPs wary of move against Starmer while war is raging

Even after electoral disaster, Iran war gives many MPs pause for thought about timing of leadership contest A week after Labour’s election victory in July 2024, officials at Labour HQ held their first crisis meeting about the May 2026 local elections. The party had just secured a 174-seat majority and already strategists were predicting it would be very tough, though none were assuming the prime minister’s own position would be vulnerable. Continue reading...

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics29 Mar 2026

Rachel Reeves to tell G7 accelerating shift to clean energy is best defence against energy price shocks

Starmer to convene major energy industry and insurance figures to draw up emergency plans amid continued blockade of strait of Hormuz Rachel Reeves will warn G7 nations they must move faster on clean energy to insulate economies against global price shocks from oil and gas as she and the energy secretary Ed Miliband meet G7 finance and energy ministers on Monday. Keir Starmer will also gather major energy industry and insurance figures to thrash out what emergency measures might be needed to con

Defence
The Guardian Politics29 Mar 2026

Keir Starmer to launch local elections campaign with focus on cost of living

PM will also cite Iran war as reason to stick with Labour, as party adopts new slogan: ‘Pride in Britain’ Keir Starmer will say that a vote for Reform UK will put at risk progress Labour is making on the cost of living, arguing that Britain’s values are being tested in a volatile world. Launching the party’s local elections campaign with a new slogan: “Pride in Britain”, Starmer will urge voters to stay the course with Labour. A dire set of results are predicted for the party in Wales, Scotland

PoliticsEconomyDefenceReform
The Guardian Politics29 Mar 2026

NHS restructure is greatest danger to Streeting’s effort to revive service

Health secretary still confident of success but critics say scrapping of NHS England has been ‘a total car crash’ NHS to miss targets for cutting A&E wait times and performance in England In the Great Hall at the University of East London last Wednesday, the perennially upbeat Wes Streeting was exuding even greater positivity than usual. After years of neglect under the Conservatives, he said, the NHS was starting to revive thanks to Labour’s medicine. In a bravura performance in front of an a

EducationHealthcare
The Guardian Politics29 Mar 2026

NHS to miss targets for cutting A&E wait times and performance in England

Exclusive: Health secretary’s pledges in doubt as analysis shows health service will not deliver key improvements The NHS is set to miss key targets to shorten waiting times for help at A&E, cancer care and planned hospital treatment, leaving millions of patients facing persistently long delays. The health service in England will not deliver a series of milestone improvements in its performance that ministers demanded it achieve by the time the fiscal year ends on Tuesday, a Guardian analysis of

EconomyHealthcare
The Guardian Politics29 Mar 2026

EU offers UK ‘emergency brake’ on youth mobility scheme numbers

Britain wants limits on young people entering country but Europe opposes this as scheme aims to celebrate links An “emergency brake” could be put on the number of people coming to the UK from Europe as part of a new youth experience scheme, under terms being offered to Britain by EU negotiators Britain wants an outright cap, but the EU opposes this on the basis that the scheme is supposed to be a positive one aimed at celebrating and preserving links with the EU. Continue reading...

The Guardian Politics29 Mar 2026

Disabled benefit claimants face lower payments if conditions not deemed lifelong, charities say

Forthcoming rules mean debilitating conditions may not meet strict ‘severe and lifelong’ eligibility criteria, say disabled people’s organisations Hundreds of thousands of severely ill and disabled people making new claims will have their benefits cut if the government assesses that their condition might improve, charities have said. In April, the health element of universal credit – an extra payment for people assessed as too unwell to work or prepare for work – will be reduced to £50 a week an

The Guardian Politics29 Mar 2026

War in Iran erodes the chancellor’s headroom and exposes our fragility | Heather Stewart

Rachel Reeves boasts of the £23bn she has built up against her fiscal rules but now she – or any future steward of the economy – has little space to manoeuvre It is with no pleasure that I must report a depressing domestic byproduct of the war in the Middle East: headroom chat is back. Of course, shifts in investors’ appetite for gilts – UK government bonds – are trivial, in the context of the bloodshed in Iran and beyond. Continue reading...

EconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics29 Mar 2026

Keir Starmer says UK will ‘have to act’ to curb addictive features of social media

In his strongest intervention yet, PM says some features ‘shouldn’t be permitted’, while education secretary says things ‘are going to change’ Keir Starmer has backed banning addictive social media features in his strongest intervention yet on curbs that could be placed on tech companies, saying the features “shouldn’t be permitted”. The prime minister said the government was “going to have to act” on the algorithms that hook young people and children to social media, such as scrolling or “strea

Education
The Guardian Politics29 Mar 2026

Nigel Farage’s farming adviser calls for wheat prices to double

Exclusive: critics warn Reform UK use of trade policy would increase food costs amid cost-of-living crisis Nigel Farage’s farming adviser has called for a doubling of wheat prices by using trade policy, which critics have said would hike food costs during a cost-of-living crisis. Arable farmer and campaigner Clive Bailye has been appointed as a farming and land use adviser for Reform UK. Bailye owns the website The Farming Forum, a social network for farmers, and helped organise the large-scale

DefenceReform
The Guardian Politics29 Mar 2026

Reform insiders fear links to extreme figures such as Andrew Tate will scare off voters

Nigel Farage has called Tate an ‘important voice’ for young men and held back from criticising his misogynistic views Reform insiders are becoming increasingly irritated by the party’s association with Andrew Tate and other extreme online celebrities whose views are too toxic for the mainstream voters Nigel Farage needs to win over. Insiders have revealed that as Reform prepare for power they are trying to end their association with more controversial figures on the right such as Tate, whose ext

Reform