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The Guardian Politics30 Mar 2026

Families hardest hit by energy crisis could be given funds dispensed by local councils

As the war in Iran continues, ministers debate several options for extending support to households Middle East crisis – live updates Families hardest hit by the looming energy crisis caused by the conflict in the Middle East could be given funds dispensed by local councils, under plans being considered by UK ministers keen to keep a lid on costs. As concerns increase about the impact of rising fuel and energy costs in response to a drawn-out war in Iran, a government official said several opt

Defence
The Guardian Politics30 Mar 2026

How will the Iran war play at the ballot box in May? – podcast

Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot look at how the continuing and deepening conflict in the Middle East will hit people in the UK, and how it could impact May’s elections. Plus, as parliament breaks for recess, has the assisted dying bill reached the end of the road? Continue reading...

PoliticsDefence
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

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

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 Politics27 Mar 2026

Reform candidate in Wales steps down after apparent Nazi salute

Party announces Corey Edwards’ decision to quit Senedd election campaign on grounds of mental health A Reform UK candidate for the Welsh Senedd elections in May has announced he is standing down because of his mental health, after a photograph emerged of him apparently making a Nazi salute as an imitation of Adolf Hitler. The announcement by Reform comes a day after Nigel Farage defended Corey Edwards, its lead candidate for the Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg constituency, saying he might have instead

PoliticsDefenceReformHousingHealthcare
The Guardian Politics27 Mar 2026

Ministers should ‘start doing stuff’ to help farmers and cut fuel costs, says Asda boss

Allan Leighton predicts food prices will inevitably rise, as group’s full-year profits dive by a third to £764m Asda’s executive chair has called on the government to “stand up and start doing stuff” to support farmers and ease the price of fuel as he warned that food prices would inevitably rise as a result of the conflict in the Middle East. Allan Leighton said farmers were under pressure but the supermarket had so far received “a trickle of requests not an avalanche” of cost price increases f

Defence
The Guardian Politics27 Mar 2026

Cabinet Office to ask Mandelson to provide messages from personal phone

Exchanges about US ambassador appointment may be lost after McSweeney’s phone was stolen UK politics live – latest updates Peter Mandelson will be asked to supply messages from his personal phone as part of the investigation into his appointment as Keir Starmer’s ambassador to the US. In February, MPs forced the government to commit to publishing tens of thousands of documents after a controversy erupted over the prime minister’s awareness of the former peer’s links to the convicted child sex

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics27 Mar 2026

Starmer says Iran and Ukraine wars could reshape global order and ‘define us for a generation’ – UK politics live

His remarks come as foreign secretary Yvette Cooper meets her counterparts at a G7 meeting in France The second day of the G7 meeting near Paris is under way. We heard from Yvette Cooper earlier this morning before the summit began, saying she and other foreign ministers will discuss the conflict in the Middle East “where we want to see a swift resolution that reaches regional stability and security and opens the strait of Hormuz”. The narrow waterway, one of the world’s busiest oil shipping cha

PoliticsDefence