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The Guardian Politics20 Mar 2026

UK ministers begin contingency planning amid fears for economic effects of Iran war

Britain authorises use of military bases to strike Iranian missile launchers that target shipping in strait of Hormuz • Middle East crisis – live updates Donald Trump has branded the UK and other Nato allies “cowards” but anger is growing among cabinet ministers that his war in Iran could jeopardise Britain’s fragile finances. Senior members of the government are in despair about the potential effects on the economy, with experts warning of higher energy prices and mortgage and borrowing costs.

PoliticsEconomyDefenceHousing
The Guardian Politics20 Mar 2026

Is it time for the UK to acknowledge the ‘rhetoric to reality gap’ on its military power?

Forces have been stripped back since the cold war but political stasis is dangerous in the face of growing global threats It will have been more than three weeks since the US and Israel first attacked Iran when the first British warship finally arrives off the coast of Cyprus, a belated defensive deployment that has highlighted the lack of military capacity available to the UK. Nominally, HMS Dragon was one of three destroyers available out of six. In reality the warship has had to be hauled out

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics20 Mar 2026

‘We need to think much bigger’: trade minister calls for greater ambition in UK-EU reset

Exclusive: Chris Bryant says policy agreements are being done in bits and pieces but a greater vision is needed by both sides It was all smiles and warm handshakes when the two men in charge of renegotiating the UK’s relationship with the EU met in Brussels this week. Maroš Šefčovič and the UK minister for EU relations, Nick Thomas-Symonds, sharing a stage on the third floor of the vast European parliament building, were at pains to show the cross-Channel relationship was in a good place after y

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics20 Mar 2026

Ministers look at blueprint for economic overhaul amid fears cost of living could hand election to far right

Many MPs say they are frustrated with communications strategy that brands both Reform and Greens as extremists Cabinet ministers have been studying a blueprint for Labour to radically overhaul its economic offer and messaging, including devolving tax powers, abolishing national insurance and major property tax reforms. Passed around dozens of MPs, the paper argues that without a major rethink, the failure to tackle the discontent on the cost of living will hand the next election to a hard-right

PoliticsEconomyEnvironmentHousing
The Guardian Politics20 Mar 2026

House of Lords has ‘signed its own death warrant’ by stalling assisted dying bill, says MP

Kim Leadbeater joins protest against delaying of bill to allow assisted dying in the UK and says people are ‘extremely angry’ The House of Lords “signed its own death warrant” over its stalling of the UK assisted dying bill, the MP Kim Leadbeater said as she joined more than a dozen terminally ill and bereaved people in protest outside parliament. Marking the second anniversary of the death at Dignitas of the prominent assisted dying campaigner Paola Marra, Leadbeater, whose private member’s bil

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics20 Mar 2026

Claimants drop lawsuit against Gerry Adams over IRA bombings

Three people were suing ex-Sinn Féin leader for liability over IRA bombings in UK which left them injured Three men who sued the former Sinn Féin leader Gerry Adams over three Irish Republican Army bombings in Britain have withdrawn their lawsuit, their lawyers told the high court in London. Adams, who became the president of Sinn Féin in 1983 when it was the IRA’s political wing, was for many years the best-known face of the movement seeking to end British rule in Northern Ireland. Continue re

PoliticsDefenceCrime
The Guardian Politics20 Mar 2026

There’s nothing sinister about Muslim prayers in Trafalgar Square. As a bishop, I reject the right’s attacks on worship | Arun Arora

At a time when Britain has never felt more divided, we should draw on Christian values to reject hate and focus on what unites us When you think about the unedifying political furore about the open iftar held in Trafalgar Square, try to bear in mind that every year on Remembrance Day – a stone’s throw from Trafalgar Square – the bishop of London leads a public Christian act of lamentation in the open air. It is an act of religious observance which happens in cities, towns and villages across the

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics20 Mar 2026

Reform UK success in local elections could endanger national climate targets, report says – UK politics live

LSE research found some Reform councillors have denied the reality of climate science, and mention of climate has been removed from strategy documents Richard Hermer, the attorney general, has challenged Kemi Badenoch to say whether she would object to Jewish prayer in public, after the Conservative leader backed one of her shadow ministers who said an Islamic prayer event was intimidating and un-British, Peter Walker reports. Iran’s foreign minister has warned the UK it sees its choice to let t

PoliticsDefenceEnvironmentReform
The Guardian Politics20 Mar 2026

Labour will be decimated in May local elections, Unite leader says

Sharon Graham tells party to ‘wake up and smell the coffee’ after ‘shameful’ handling of Birmingham bin strike Labour will be “decimated” in the upcoming local elections and should “hang their heads in shame” over the handling of the Birmingham bin strike, Unite’s general secretary has said. In a speech to refuse workers near a waste depot in Tyseley on Thursday, Sharon Graham said working people were moving away from Labour in droves and called on the party to “wake up and smell the coffee”. C

Politics
The Guardian Politics20 Mar 2026

Rightwing narrative fuelling false belief UK public oppose net zero, study finds

Reform, Tory and some media rhetoric runs contrary to poll showing far more voters for net zero than against it Political elites are out of step with the public appetite for net zero, according to analysis that identifies rightwing media narratives as fuelling a false backlash against climate action. Media coverage of net zero is more than twice as likely to be negative than public attitudes and is driving a false perception that net zero policies are unpopular with voters, the analysis found.

PoliticsEnvironment
The Guardian Politics19 Mar 2026

Nigel Farage condemned over call to ban public prayer for Muslims in the UK

Reform party leader criticised for making comments after event held in London’s Trafalgar Square this week Muslim leaders have condemned Nigel Farage’s call to ban public prayer by Muslims in the UK as bigoted and warned of a “growing tide of hate” after the Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, questioned whether the events fitted “within the norms of British culture”. Farage was speaking at the launch of Reform UK’s manifesto for the forthcoming Scottish parliament elections when he made the rem

PoliticsDefenceReform
The Guardian Politics19 Mar 2026

Kemi Badenoch channels her fantasies as she launches the Tories’ local election campaign | John Crace

This wasn’t just a mean-spirited version of Britain, it was also positively deranged Abandon hope all ye who enter here. You’d have thought this would be the very definition of futility. An act of defiant nihilism. A few weeks ago Kemi Badenoch had declared that the Tory candidate for Gorton and Denton, Charlotte Cadden, had been the real winner despite getting under 2% of the vote and losing her deposit. Now Kemi was to launch the Conservatives’ local election campaign in the certain knowledge

Politics