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294 headlines found — Page 4 of 25

The Guardian Politics3 Aug 2026

Apple launches legal challenge against UK government demand to access data

The Home Office has made a fresh request for ‘back door’ access to encrypted iCloud data belonging to British users Apple has launched a new legal challenge against a UK government demand to access its customers’ highly encrypted data, a year after the Home Office agreed to abandon its previous request. The US tech company launched the legal complaint last month at the Investigatory Powers Tribunal (IPT), an independent court that has the power to investigate claims that the UK intelligence serv

Crime
The Guardian Politics2 Aug 2026

Burnham to focus on keeping child rapists in prison as release scheme talks enter final day

Review goes down to the wire after ministers speak with victims’ representatives and support services Andy Burnham is focused on preventing the release of child sexual abuse perpetrators as part of the government’s early release scheme, as urgent talks on which serious criminals could be exempted go down to the wire. Government ministers are understood to have 24 hours to assess which criminals can be released early to free up prison space, with every exemption weighed up against the threat of t

Crime
The Guardian Politics1 Aug 2026

‘The lead singer is unavailable’: Is Nigel Farage spending his summer in hiding?

The Reform UK leader is keeping a low profile and his approval ratings have sunk since Burnham took office. What’s the outlook for the Clacton byelection? This time last year, Nigel Farage was making the political weather. His freewheeling weekly press conferences filled a sparse news agenda, setting out eye-catching policies on areas such as crime and immigration. This year? Less so. The Reform UK leader is expected to hold a press conference in London next week. If so, it would be just his thi

PoliticsImmigrationReformCrime
The Guardian Politics31 Jul 2026

Will Burnham fix our barbaric prisons – or cave to rightwing populism? The answer is a tragedy | Simon Jenkins

England and Wales’s prisons are overcrowded, drug-infested and barbaric. Labour has halted a once-in-a-generation effort to change that sorry state Andy Burnham’s “pausing” of the Starmer government’s prisoner release scheme and the resignation of its architect, James Timpson, are disasters. They indicate a Downing Street that puts populism ahead of policy. England and Wales’s prisons are a total disgrace. Timpson was the first justice minister in 15 years prepared to handle them. Now he has gon

PoliticsReformCrime
The Guardian Politics30 Jul 2026

UK government reviews why police ceding criminal cases to US military

Exclusive: ministers and police chiefs examining how cases involving US military personnel on UK soil are handled after Guardian revelations The UK government and police chiefs are reviewing the process through which US military personnel accused of committing serious crimes on UK soil are avoiding the British justice system. The effort, involving multiple government departments, is examining why UK police forces, which have primary responsibility for investigating such cases, have been ceding j

DefenceReformCrime
The Guardian Politics27 Jul 2026

Police make inquiries after Farage reports Polanski post for ‘inciting murder’

Green party leader shared picture of man wearing T-shirt with words ‘we’re only making plans for Nigel’ alongside a guillotine Police are “conducting inquiries” into an image shared by Green party leader Zack Polanski on Instagram after Reform UK reported it for “inciting murder”. The image showed a man wearing a black T-shirt with the words “we’re only making plans for Nigel”, alongside a photograph of a guillotine. Continue reading...

EnvironmentReformCrime
The Guardian Politics27 Jul 2026

GB News pundit Matthew Torbitt pleads guilty to fraud while Labour aide

Torbitt admits to two counts of fraud by false representation in relation to his parliamentary expenses A GB News pundit has admitted fraud in relation to his parliamentary expenses when he was a Labour aide. Matthew Torbitt, a prominent political commentator who once described himself as “Britain’s favourite lefty”, pleaded guilty to two counts of fraud by false representation at a hearing at Thames magistrates court on Monday. Continue reading...

PoliticsCrime
The Guardian Politics27 Jul 2026

When it comes to predicting the future, why are TV writers better than politicians? | Zoe Williams

From BBC drama The Rapture on the climate crisis to Apple’s Criminal Record on the rise of the far right, culture often sees what politics fails to In the BBC’s new apocalypse drama, The Rapture, the UK is engulfed in a terrifying heatwave. I watched a preview of the programme in May, while preparing to interview the lead actor Ruth Madeley. I thought at the time: “This will be much more frightening when it chimes with the real life weather, bad luck for them that it’s not coming out for a coupl

PoliticsEnvironmentCrime
The Guardian Politics26 Jul 2026

Birmingham council accused of giving ‘free rein’ to group erecting England flags

Campaigners call for injunction against Raise the Colours, which is accused of spreading anti-immigration rhetoric Birmingham residents have accused the local council and police of “dragging their heels” and giving “free rein” to a group responsible for erecting flags across the city. Raise the Colours, which describes itself as a grassroots movement, has been placing union jack and St George’s cross flags on lamp-posts, roundabouts and other public infrastructure since last summer. Continue re

ImmigrationCrime
The Guardian Politics26 Jul 2026

Am I a chicken-shop lefty? Here's what a French fast food row taught me about politics | Coco Khan

Feathers are flying over the halal chicken chain Master Poulet opening a branch in gentrified Saint-Ouen-sur-Seine – it’s an issue of wealth and class we know only too well How do you like your progressive politics? Are you net-zero left or anti-identity politics left? A “legalising drugs” kind of radical or someone whose public sector solidarity includes police? Nato or Nat-no? The reputation for infighting in lefty spaces – where policy disagreements harden into personal tests of morality – ne

PoliticsDefenceCrime
The Guardian Politics25 Jul 2026

Police investigate payments to Reform UK first revealed by The Guardian

Scotland Yard is looking at two £250,000 donations to the party by Britain Means Business before the 2024 election Payments to Reform UK first revealed by the Guardian are now being investigated by the Metropolitan police. The inquiry is scrutinising payments made to the party via a company controlled by its deputy leader, Richard Tice. Continue reading...

PoliticsReformCrime
The Guardian Politics24 Jul 2026

Reform councillors told to describe donations inquiry as establishment stitch-up

‘Daily routine of hit jobs and smears will not deter us from winning next general election,’ party briefing notes say Reform UK has instructed its councillors to describe a police investigation into donations from the mother of George Cottrell as an establishment stitch-up, as polling showed the party’s popularity plummeting. Internal briefing documents circulated to the party’s councillors included instructions to respond to questions about a Metropolitan police investigation into party donatio

PoliticsReformCrime