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The Guardian Politics17 May 2026

The Guardian view on policing the internet: Ofcom must pusher harder on illegal content | Editorial

Jess Phillips’ frustration about online safety highlights the alarming reluctance to confront big tech The £950,000 fine imposed by Ofcom on a US-based suicide forum that is implicated in over 160 UK deaths marks an intensification of the regulator’s efforts to make the internet safer. Campaigners against online harms, including relatives of people who have taken their own lives, are justifiably angry that it has taken so long to get to this point. Even now, Ofcom is giving the website’s operato

The Guardian Politics17 May 2026

Thames Water investors say temporary nationalisation would slow its recovery

Comments come after Andy Burnham says he would renationalise water and other businesses as PM Investors in Thames Water have told the Labour government that a temporary nationalisation of the embattled company would slow its turnaround, after calls from Andy Burnham to put key utilities under public control. As Keir Starmer’s grip on power appeared to be fading, the Greater Manchester mayor suggested at the weekend that the renationalisation of water and energy would form part of his policy agen

The Guardian Politics17 May 2026

Whatever happens with the leadership, Labour must tackle the issue of social care head-on | Heather Stewart

The challenge of how to look after an ageing population has been ducked by politicians for too long If a new Labour leader wants to underline their determination to wrestle with Britain’s political challenges, it is hard to think of a better place to start than with the creaking social care settlement. A new collection of essays, to be published by the Fabian Society this week, urges the government – whoever leads it – to crack on with creating a “national care service” more closely aligned to t

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics17 May 2026

Culture secretary says Streeting’s call for UK to rejoin EU is ‘odd’

Lisa Nandy told the BBC she did not understand ‘sudden focus on Europe’ from Labour leadership hopeful UK politics live – latest updates The UK culture secretary has dismissed calls for Britain to re-enter the European Union as “odd”, a day after her former cabinet colleague Wes Streeting said the country’s future lies back in the bloc. Lisa Nandy criticised the former health secretary on Sunday, saying his comments over the weekend risked reopening a debate that was settled with the Brexit re

Politics
The Guardian Politics17 May 2026

Labour leadership talk ‘froth and nonsense’, says senior minister – UK politics live

Lisa Nandy says no candidate has launched a challenge to Keir Starmer, despite ‘feverish speculation’ around Andy Burnham and Wes Streeting Asked by Trevor Phillips on Sky News why she had not told Andy Burnham to “stay in Manchester”, Lisa Nandy said she wanted the Greater Manchester Mayor – whose decision to stand as an MP has led to a by-election in Makerfield - to return to Westminster. “When you say, ‘stay in Manchester’, we can hear you up North, our voices matter in national politics, And

Politics
The Guardian Politics17 May 2026

Plaid Cymru has forged a brand of inclusive nationalism. That's why it beat Reform in Wales | Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett

Growing up in Gwynedd, I was made to feel not ‘Welsh enough’. But things have changed – and the Senedd victory shows the politics of exclusion has no answer Plaid Cymru and its leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, made political history this month: they won the Senedd. For the first time ever, Wales now has a progressive majority that is not dependent on Labour. Polls had put Plaid and Reform UK neck and neck. In the run-up to the election, some of my Welsh friends were panicking. They were relieved that R

PoliticsReform
The Guardian Politics17 May 2026

‘It was always the way to vote Labour here’: party’s proud Welsh heartland makes a clean break of it

Labour’s sometime safest seat in the UK, birthplace of Aneurin Bevan and Neil Kinnock, last week sent no Labour delegates to the new Senedd Reminders of the Labour movement’s roots are inescapable in Tredegar, south Wales: murals pay tribute to party giants Aneurin Bevan and Neil Kinnock, both of whom were born here. The Workmen’s Hall Library is long gone, replaced by a car park, but the Cambrian Inn, which hosted early trade unions and Chartist groups, survives. The Tredegar Medical Aid Societ

The Guardian Politics17 May 2026

The ungovernable country? Why Britain keeps losing prime ministers

May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, and now perhaps Starmer: each one was brought low for a reason. But what if the deeper problem is the office itself? They were times in which prime ministers seemed to be on their way out as soon as they’d arrived. The big strategic decisions the country faced were ducked or postponed. The public finances repeatedly wobbled, yet efforts to rationalise the tax system faltered in the face of vested interests, including farmers. Reforms to social security were trumpeted

Economy
The Guardian Politics16 May 2026

Tommy Robinson tells tens of thousands at London rally to prepare for ‘battle of Britain’

Turnout down at second Unite the Kingdom march featuring Islamophobic and ethnonationalist hate speech and flyers The far-right activist Tommy Robinson told tens of thousands of supporters to prepare for the “battle of Britain” during a rally in central London on Saturday. Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, drew tens of thousands of supporters on to the streets of central London for the second year running in an event where Islamophobic and ethnonationalist hate speech and flyer

The Guardian Politics16 May 2026

‘We need a different path’: Andy Burnham vows to put energy and water under public control

Greater Manchester mayor says programme of renationalisation would be key policy if he succeeds Keir Starmer as PM Andy Burnham has suggested that a programme of mass renationalisation would be at the centre of his policy platform if he succeeds Keir Starmer as prime minister. The Greater Manchester mayor is seeking a return to Westminster via a byelection in Makerfield. He has been widely expected to challenge Starmer for the Labour leadership if elected and is seen as the favoured candidate of

PoliticsHousing
The Guardian Politics16 May 2026

Streeting launches scathing attack on Starmer - and calls for UK to rejoin EU

Ex-health secretary, who is expected to launch leadership bid soon, condemns ‘heavy-handed’ approach Wes Streeting has launched a scathing attack on what he described as Keir Starmer’s “heavy-handed” leadership culture, which he claimed had stifled creative policy thinking in government. Streeting criticised the effectiveness of Labour’s first two years in power – all of which he has spent in cabinet – saying Labour “arrived in government underprepared in too many areas and lacking clarity of vi

Politics
The Guardian Politics16 May 2026

Extra 4,000 officers in London as police brace for far-right and pro-Palestine marches – live

Police will be monitoring both Tommy Robinson’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ march and also the annual ‘Nakba day’ pro-Palestine march The Metropolitan police is preparing for what it described as potentially “one of the busiest days for policing in recent years” as tens of thousands of people are expected to descend on central London for two major demonstrations. Armoured vehicles, horses, dogs, drones and helicopters will be deployed along with 4,000 officers to police the far-right Unite the Kingdom (

Crime