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The Guardian Politics16 Jun 2026

Anti-Burnham fake news on Makerfield Facebook accounts has surged, report finds – UK politics live

Nearly one in six pieces of news shared in local Facebook groups during the campaign is false, Social Market Foundation report finds Good morning. Andy Burnham seems to be on course to win the Makerfield byelection on Thursday. But, if he does win, it will be despite a huge increase in the amount of hostile, fake news about him circulating on local Facebook groups. This has been documented in a report out today by the Social Market Foundation thinktank that has important implications not just fo

Politics
The Guardian Politics16 Jun 2026

Thames Water nationalisation moves closer as government ‘objects to rescue deal’

Environment secretary reportedly raised concerns that customers would face ‘undue burden’ from £10bn plan Thames Water should be nationalised, says Burnham Business live – latest updates The UK environment secretary has reportedly objected to a £10bn rescue proposal for Thames Water because it would place an “undue burden” on consumers, pushing the troubled utilities firm closer towards public ownership. Emma Reynolds, the environment secretary, wrote to Ofwat, the regulator, on Monday to rai

DefenceEnvironment
The Guardian Politics16 Jun 2026

Mamdani’s pied-à-terre tax isn’t far off Labour’s housing policy. Not that you’ll ever hear Starmer say it | Anna Minton

The UK has its own progressive policies such as the second home and ‘mansion’ taxes. So why isn’t the PM shouting it from the rooftops? In April, to mark the day on which Americans are expected to file their taxes, the New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani, filmed himself on Billionaires’ Row, an enclave of super-tall apartment buildings just south of Central Park. When he took office, he said, he would tax the rich, and now, outside the hedge fund billionaire Ken Griffin’s $238m penthouse, he was read

EconomyHousing
The Guardian Politics16 Jun 2026

‘Unbelievable’ waste and inefficiency at MoD, says ex-defence minister Al Carns

Exclusive: Carns, who quit last week, says he was angered by unwillingness to confront sunk costs of legacy programmes There is “unbelievable” waste and inefficiency at the Ministry of Defence (MoD), the former armed forces minister Al Carns has said, adding that every time he would “turn a stone over” he would get another shock. Carns said that during his time as a defence minister he had been angered by the unwillingness to confront the sunk costs of legacy programmes – and suggested mismanage

Defence
The Guardian Politics16 Jun 2026

Division in UK probably worse now than in run-up to Brexit, says Kim Leadbeater

Labour MP warns of voices fanning hatred on eve of 10th anniversary of the murder of her sister, the MP Jo Cox Political hatred and division in the UK is probably worse now than during the Brexit referendum, when Jo Cox was murdered, says Kim Leadbeater, Cox’s sister who is now also a Labour MP. Speaking to the Guardian’s Today in Focus podcast Leadbeater, who was elected to the same Yorkshire seat held by Cox in a 2021 byelection, said everyone in public life had a responsibility to try and eas

PoliticsDefenceCrime
The Guardian Politics16 Jun 2026

The old ‘warfare v welfare’ arguments are back – but it’s Britain’s real duty to spend on both | Frances Ryan

While we need protecting from foreign enemies, slashing benefits in favour of defence will make millions less, not more, safe As the row over the military budget grows, Keir Starmer has spent much of the past few days insisting he’s spending huge sums of taxpayer money on defence. Every single government department has made cuts to fund next month’s defence investment plan (Dip), the prime minister promised, resulting in “the biggest sustained increase since the cold war”. On Sunday, the culture

EconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics16 Jun 2026

Labour MPs doubt EHRC guidance on court’s biological sex ruling is workable

Exclusive: Commons motion calls for code of practice to be blocked amid concerns over impact on transgender people A number of Labour MPs are increasingly doubtful that the guidance on how organisations should implement the supreme court ruling on sex as it applies in the Equality Act is workable in the real world, with some predicting it will unleash a wave of competing legal claims. A total of 135 MPs, 69 of them from Labour, have signed a Commons motion calling for the code of practice drafte

PoliticsDefenceReformCrime
The Guardian Politics16 Jun 2026

How the murder of my sister, Jo Cox, changed Britain – podcast

It’s a decade since the MP for Batley and Spen was killed by a far-right extremist. Her sister, Kim Leadbeater, who took over her parliamentary seat, explains what lessons are still to be learned Jo Cox was the Labour MP for Batley and Spen, the place she had grown up and had known her whole life. She was firmly pro-Europe, a passionate campaigner for social justice, and the mother of two young children, aged five and three. On 16 June 2016, at the height of a toxic Brexit campaign, she was murd

PoliticsReformCrime
The Guardian Politics15 Jun 2026

Starmer vows new sanctions on Russia and nuclear energy support for Ukraine

G7 told ‘we will stand with Ukraine for as long as it takes’, with Russia’s finance networks and shadow fleet targeted Keir Starmer has vowed to “choke off” Russian revenue with further sanctions and to provide hundreds of millions of pounds worth of energy support for Ukraine, as he met world leaders in France for the G7. After a torrid political week at home, the British prime minister sought to put himself on the front foot on the international stage at the meeting of the group of seven, whic

Politics
The Guardian Politics15 Jun 2026

Defence secretary questioned by MPs over timing of Healey quitting and tanker seizure

Dan Jarvis under pressure about why Russian oil tanker in Channel was captured days after his predecessor resigned Dan Jarvis has told MPs that the Russian oil tanker seized on Sunday had been monitored for several days as he deflected suggestions that its seizure had been ordered by a prime minister under pressure after the resignation of John Healey last week. The new defence secretary, flanked supportively in the Commons by the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, said the Smyrtos had been “closely tra

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics15 Jun 2026

UK ministers lobby Trump to avert backlash against social media ban

No 10 is worried about retaliation from White House over restrictions to under-16s’ internet use Ministers have embarked on a concerted lobbying operation to prevent a backlash from the Trump administration to the under-16s social media ban announced by Keir Starmer on Monday. Officials said they have spent weeks trying to reassure senior Trump officials and the US president himself that the restrictions were not specifically aimed at US technology companies. Continue reading...

The Guardian Politics15 Jun 2026

‘The genie’s out the bottle’: parents react to UK under-16s social media ban

Some feel this is a concrete step to protect children, but others argue ‘we’re trying to fix the symptoms and not the disease’ The UK government has announced a social media ban for under-16s, which it says is expected to come into force next spring. Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, X and Facebook will all be blocked. It will also ban under-16 access for “user-to-user platforms” that enable social interaction between users and allow them to post material. Continue reading...

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