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The Guardian Politics4 Jul 2026

OpenAI’s apparent failure to visit key site raises questions over Stargate UK project

Exclusive: £20bn of ‘potential’ £30bn AI investment touted by UK ministers appears to have been hypothetical It was to be the biggest undertaking in Britain for OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Stargate UK – a multibillion-pound UK datacentre project – would represent “a major step forward in the US-UK technology partnership”. But the plans were paused in April, with an OpenAI spokesperson citing concerns over regulation and high energy costs. Continue reading...

DefenceHousing
The Guardian Politics4 Jul 2026

Boris Johnson wasted my levelling up idea. Here’s how Burnham and his ‘good growth’ plan can do better | Justine Greening

The need to devolve power and share prosperity is as strong as ever. Whatever the project is called, whoever is in No 10, the priority now is actual delivery Andy Burnham has set out his vision for “good growth in every postcode”. It may seem like levelling up 2.0 – and if so, that’s very good news for the country. Because, unlike his Labour and Conservative predecessors, Burnham may well have a far better sense of how to deliver it. Boris Johnson lifted the levelling up language from the Depar

Environment
The Guardian Politics4 Jul 2026

Labour should win next election under Burnham after work already done, Starmer says

Prime minister holds no ‘personal animosity’ toward Burnham and emphasises success at improving NHS waiting lists and ‘stabilising economy’ Labour “should go on to win the next election” under his likely successor, Andy Burnham, Keir Starmer has said, based on what he has achieved while in power. In his first interview since he announced he will quit as prime minister, Starmer also said he held no “personal animosity” toward Burnham, who is expected to succeed him. Continue reading...

PoliticsEconomyDefenceHealthcare
The Guardian Politics4 Jul 2026

British Medical Association could axe up to a third of its staff amid cash crisis

Exclusive: Anger at union’s decision to put 200 of its 600 staff in England at risk of redundancy The British Medical Association is threatening to axe up to a third of its entire workforce to help it tackle a significant cash crisis. The doctors’ union has placed 200 of its 600 staff in England at risk of redundancy. That has triggered anxiety and fury among staff, who have accused the BMA of appalling behaviour and “hypocrisy”. Continue reading...

Healthcare
The Guardian Politics4 Jul 2026

What’s holding back Britain’s green energy revolution? – a visual story

Labour has approved a wave of renewable energy projects, but turning plans into power remains slow. Why is that? Labour has a race on its hands if it is to lock in its promise to achieve a virtually zero-carbon electricity system by 2030. Britain’s next prime minister will have to move fast: the climate emergency is raging, high energy bills are driving up the cost of living and the reactionary right is threatening a fossil fuel push if it wins power. Continue reading...

EconomyEnvironment
The Guardian Politics4 Jul 2026

Overseas education project for women and girls axed by UK after two years

The programme, aimed at keeping 1m girls in school across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, withdrawn after aid cuts A leading higher education programme, aimed at keeping 1 million girls in school across Africa, Asia and the Middle East, has been axed by the British government just two years after it was announced. The scheme, Strengthening higher education for female empowerment (SHEFE), which was unveiled with some fanfare two years ago by the outgoing Conservative government, had a £45m budg

Education
The Guardian Politics4 Jul 2026

UK and Ireland leaders fear for union’s future under Farage-led government

Politicians across Celtic nations braced for constitutional turmoil if Reform continues to rise The rise of Nigel Farage has prompted political leaders across Ireland, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to game the unthinkable: the break-up of the United Kingdom. Unionists who wish to save the union and nationalists who wish to end it are bracing for constitutional turmoil if Reform UK emerges triumphant – with Farage as prime minister or official leader of the opposition – after the next elec

PoliticsReform
The Guardian Politics4 Jul 2026

Britain has so many stories. The reason we fund the arts together is so we can tell them | James Graham

Dear England, Ink, Sherwood … I owe my career to publicly funded art. Never downplay it: it’s how we speak to each other James Graham is a British playwright and television writer It shouldn’t feel like a contentious image: a large cross of St George – England’s national flag – being unfurled and laid out on a raked stage. But at that time, in that place, and in this way, you could feel one of those unique, intake-of-breath moments that happen sometimes in the theatre. The place in question wa

The Guardian Politics3 Jul 2026

Starmer warns Burnham he cannot spend less time on diplomacy

Prime minister also speaks of his ‘intensely personal decision’ to step down in first interview since resigning Keir Starmer has warned his likely successor Andy Burnham that it will not be possible to spend less time focusing on international affairs. Speaking during a BBC interview, he also spoke of his “intensely personal” decision to announce his resignation last month after two years as prime minister. Continue reading...

Defence
The Guardian Politics3 Jul 2026

The Guardian view on Labour’s next chancellor: send for Ed Miliband | Editorial

Andy Burnham needs the Treasury to serve devolution, raise living standards and renew the economy. The energy secretary meets that test There are few things on which this column would agree with George Osborne. Voting to remain in the European Union was one. Backing Labour’s Ed Miliband to be the next chancellor is another. Mr Osborne, whose austerity programme redistributed pain downwards while protecting privilege at the top, had only a week ago on his podcast, Political Currency, dismissed Mr

PoliticsEconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics3 Jul 2026

Reform UK-led council fails to attract any sponsors for union flag scheme

Party had justified plan to hang flags in Nottinghamshire on basis that local businesses would foot £75,000 bill A £75,000 scheme by a Reform-led council to hang union flags at sites across the county, which the party said would “not cost the taxpayer a single penny” as it would be sponsored by local businesses, has failed to attract a single sponsor, it has emerged. The plan to attach the flags to brackets on about 180 lamp-posts and other places was agreed in the autumn by Nottinghamshire’s co

EconomyReform
The Guardian Politics3 Jul 2026

Is Andy Burnham dodging scrutiny, or is he just a different type of communicator?

Avoiding traditional questions and stilted broadcast clips, incoming PM has evolved his style of media management He is due to become prime minister in just over a fortnight as parliament begins its six-week summer break. But at a marquee speech this week, he took precisely zero questions. So is Andy Burnham, as opposition leader Kemi Badenoch claims, dodging scrutiny? His allies say no: he is simply going about it in his own way. The former Greater Manchester mayor is very obviously a different

PoliticsHousing