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The Guardian Politics23 Mar 2026

What’s at stake for UK in May’s local elections: six key questions

Reform, Plaid Cymru, the SNP and the Greens are all banking on big gains and nationwide repercussions On 7 May, three of the UK’s four nations go to the polls in a series of elections with much potential significance, not just for who ends up governing various bodies, but also for the future political direction of the country. Here is what is at stake. Continue reading...

PoliticsEnvironment
The Guardian Politics23 Mar 2026

‘Anyone but Labour’ or ‘anyone but Reform’? Clash of animosities likely to define May local elections

While Labour braces for a rout that could see off Starmer, a rising drive to keep out Farage is complicating expectations Local elections are often regarded as a referendum on the sitting government, with many previous administrations taking a bloody nose from the electorate but successfully fighting back by the next general election. Senior Labour figures have taken to reeling off a list of midterm results – 1999, 2003, 2012 – to prove that point. “As we get closer to the general election, it w

PoliticsReform
The Guardian Politics23 Mar 2026

Small swings, high drama: why UK polls are less volatile than they seem – in charts

In what is beginning to look like a fragmented five-party system, small swings carry outsized political consequences Cabinet reshuffles, party infighting, policy reversals, byelections, defections and apparently huge swings in support – the UK’s political news cycle feels especially relentless at the moment. But if you look closely at the polls since last year’s local elections, remarkably little has changed. Continue reading...

PoliticsHousing
The Guardian Politics23 Mar 2026

Funding for populist-right ‘media-political complex’ exceeded £170m in five years, research finds

Handful of billionaires gave huge sums in particular to media organisations that boosted rightwing politicians, says Liam Byrne MP More than £170m was given to MPs, political parties, media organisations and thinktanks aligned with the UK’s populist right over the past five years, new research from the Labour MP Liam Byrne has found. Byrne, a former cabinet minister who chairs parliament’s business committee, said he had identified a “media-political complex” funded largely by a handful of billi

PoliticsReform
The Guardian Politics22 Mar 2026

Ministers confirm locations for seven new towns in England

Programme is being billed as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a century Ministers have confirmed the locations for seven new towns, which include under-developed inner-city land, a historic village and an existing new town. The programme is being billed by the housing and communities department as the most ambitious housebuilding project in England for half a century, with the planned construction of between 15,000 and 40,000 homes in each new town. Continue reading.

Housing
The Guardian Politics22 Mar 2026

The Guardian view on aid cuts: Britain championed development funding – its meanness is shortsighted | Editorial

The steep reductions are a grave error, both morally and pragmatically. But a better case needs to be made for spending Progress is possible. Over two decades, global child mortality plummeted. There were many reasons for a 39% reduction in deaths in lower and middle income countries between 2001 and 2021, but a significant one was overseas development aid, which supported everything from sanitation to vaccination programmes to food security. That shift has slowed, and – like similar advances –

The Guardian Politics22 Mar 2026

The Guardian view on prisons: sentencing reform has not eased the sense of crisis | Editorial

The increased use of tags makes sense if done right. But years of accumulated problems include a depleted probation workforce Given the frayed and depleted state of the public sector, it is not surprising that prisons in England and Wales are struggling to escape from a sense of perpetual crisis. Recent days saw the latest in a series of urgent notifications. These put a prison in special measures, and require ministers to produce an action plan within a month. Inspectors found that Woodhill in

Crime
The Guardian Politics22 Mar 2026

James Cleverly disagrees with Nick Timothy about Islamic public prayer ceremony

Shadow justice secretary had called Trafalgar Square event an ‘act of domination’ James Cleverly has said he disagrees with his Conservative frontbench colleague Nick Timothy that public Muslim prayers are an act of domination, as another senior Tory called for the party to respect the right to worship. Kemi Badenoch has defended Timothy, the shadow justice secretary, after he posted images of mass prayer at a Ramadan event on Monday evening in Trafalgar Square, calling it “an act of domination”

DefenceReform
The Guardian Politics22 Mar 2026

‘This country has been our home’: US family in UK threatened with detention over visa mix-up

Tim and Christen Bass are barred from working and facing homelessness after indefinite leave application rejected by Home Office An American family who have brought their children up in the UK are facing the threat of homelessness and detention due to confusion over a Home Office application form. Tim Bass, a data and technology consultant, and his wife, Christen, an autism specialist, have lived in the UK since arriving on a skilled worker visa in 2019. The couple have lived with their two chil

Immigration
The Guardian Politics22 Mar 2026

Starmer adviser urges ministers to look at profits cap for energy and petrol firms

PM’s ‘cost of living champion’ calls for consideration of temporary measure to prevent profiteering from Iran war The government’s top cost of living adviser has called on ministers to explore a temporary cap on the profits of energy and petrol companies to prevent them from cashing in excessively on the war in the Middle East. Richard Walker – a Labour peer, the chair of Iceland supermarkets and the prime minister’s “cost of living champion” – said he had asked the government to examine limitin

EconomyDefence
The Guardian Politics22 Mar 2026

'Big Chungus' and racist meme coins: Nigel Farage’s cameos are rife with the language of the online far right | Robert Topinka

The Reform UK leader uses the energy of memes to fuel his popularity, but this should not distract us from the seriousness of his purpose Guardian investigation into Farage on Cameo Nigel Farage has spent the past five years upending politics, breaking the two-party hold on parliament, and apparently sending several Cameo videos a day to his paying customers, charging £374,893 overall. But the Reform UK leader’s side hustle isn’t separate from his political work: posting is politics now, which

PoliticsReformHousing
The Guardian Politics22 Mar 2026

Iran not believed to have capability or intent to bomb Britain, says UK minister

Steve Reed says ‘UK is not going to be dragged into this war’ after Israeli warnings that Iranian missiles could hit Europe Middle East crisis live – latest updates Iran is not believed to have the capability or intent to hit the UK with its missiles, a cabinet minister has said, after Tehran aimed two at the UK-US airbase on Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. One missile failed to reach the island, while another was shot down by a US warship, according to reports. It was the longest-range atta

PoliticsDefence