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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
The Guardian Politics26 Mar 2026

NHS bosses say resident doctors’ strike will cause ‘maximum harm’

BMA’s decision to withdraw from talks with government and NHS chiefs has sparked a war of words NHS bosses have accused resident doctors of seeking to cause “maximum harm” to patients by striking for six days next month over pay and jobs. Wes Streeting has given resident – formerly junior – doctors in England until 2 April to reconsider their rejection on Wednesday of his “generous” offer to end the dispute. It would have given them £700m in extra pay over the next three years. Continue reading

DefenceHealthcare
The Guardian Politics26 Mar 2026

Rachel Reeves urged to raise taxes on companies profiting from war on Iran

Charities say taxes should rise for banks, defence and energy companies which stand to make windfall profits Middle East crisis live Rachel Reeves is being urged to raise taxes on businesses generating “windfall” profits linked to the US-Israel war on Iran to fund emergency cost of living support for UK households. With the government under pressure to respond, a group of leading charities, campaigners and trade unions said the chancellor could raise billions by taxing “excess profits” linked

EconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics26 Mar 2026

Trump describes UK aircraft carriers as ‘toys’ in latest anti-Nato jibe

Starmer tells MPs he will not react to US president’s repeated insults amid Iran war Middle East crisis – live updates UK politics live – latest updates Donald Trump has dismissed British warships as “toys” in his latest jibe at Nato countries for their lack of involvement in the joint US-Israeli strikes on Iran. Speaking at the White House on Thursday, he claimed he had told the UK: “Don’t bother, we don’t need it.” Trump has previously alleged that he requested two aircraft carriers from th

PoliticsDefence
The Guardian Politics26 Mar 2026

UK CO2 plant to reopen amid fears Iran war could lead to shortage

Teesside site mothballed in September given £100m by government to restart production for at least three months A shuttered carbon dioxide plant on Teesside is to reopen with £100m of government investment in response to fears that the war in Iran could trigger shortages of the gas that multiple industries rely on. The business secretary, Peter Kyle, has approved the reopening of the Ensus plant to help bolster production of CO2, which has uses ranging from carbonating drinks and keeping food fr

DefenceEnvironment
The Guardian Politics26 Mar 2026

Starmer promises to tackle ‘addictive’ social media platforms after peers inflict fresh defeat on government – UK politics live

The government has launched a consultation on banning social media for under-16s but peers voted to move faster House of Lords pushes for Australian-style social media ban for under-16s Good morning. It is going to be a busy political news day, but potentially quite a mixed and messy one. Keir Starmer is in Helsinki for a meeting of the Joint Expeditionary Force (the northern European military pact – the Nordics, the Baltics, the Dutch and the UK), and he has already been speaking to the media

PoliticsDefence