Politics

Most people received the blaring alert at 19:00 BST on Friday – and it came as a surprise given the government had not told people it was coming, as it has done for tests of the system. The notification, which cautioned against the use of disposable barbecues, naked flames or …

Green Party leader Zack Polanski, and Labour MPs Bell Ribiero-Addy, Clive Lewis and Nadia Whittome are among the politicians to have signed the statement, alongside former England footballer Eni Aluko, National Education Union general secretary Daniel Kebede, and broadcaster Carol Vorderman. It calls for an “immediate public inquiry into how …

Before Farage quit his Clacton seat in July, Parliament’s standards watchdog had been investigating him for not declaring a £5m gift he received from billionaire Reform UK donor Christopher Harborne before he became an MP. He said the by-election was a “people versus the establishment” showdown, saying the “people of …

British-made drones are being used to strike targets in Russia for the first time. The drones, built by two separate British companies, have been used in mainland Russia in widespread and successful targeting of military and industrial targets, including refineries and warehouses of online retailer Wildberries. The strikes, first reported …

Under the plans, Jenrick said they would invest in talking therapies, physiotherapy and employment support to move away from people claiming health Universal Credit (UC) payments and Personal Independent Payments (Pip). People with “lover-level conditions” would no longer receive payments, instead accounts run by local councils and mayors will provide …

British diplomats in six locations around the world, including Buenos Aires and Santiago in South America, will no longer get hardship payments for working in dangerous cities. Bonuses and respite breaks are granted to those working in cities considered risky, such as Beirut in Lebanon, or with high crime, such …

It is a question prompting at least some debate within the party. “When he goes down this angry route he doesn’t help himself,” the prominent Reform activist Tim Montgomerie told Radio 4’s The World At One. Montgomerie, the founder of the ConservativeHome website, defected to Reform two years ago. He …

It is “almost inevitable” Nigel Farage will be found in breach of parliamentary rules for failing to declare £5 million given to him by a crypto billionaire, Harriet Harman has told Sky News. The veteran politician, who was deputy Labour leader under Gordon Brown, explained on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast …

The government has issued a temporary ban on the sale of disposable barbeques as they pose a “significant risk to the public” during the current drought and heatwave conditions, according to advice published online. The Department for Business, Innovation, Science and Trade said the product has been the cause of …

Disabled and terminally ill campaigners have written to Prime Minister Andy Burnham urging him to reform social and palliative care before assisted dying legislation is introduced in England and Wales. The Assist Us To Live group says people are currently being “failed by society” and “introducing assisted dying in these …

Max Barrett was one of the 9,455 people who voted for self-styled intergalactic space warrior Count Binface. “It would be nice if he won, because it would be good for the area,” Barrett said. “There’d be a lot more tourism and it’d just be interesting him representing this area.” The …

Here’s a look back at previous by-elections in the east of England. The Mid Bedfordshire by-election in 2023, won by Labour, drew attention to the lack of infrastructure on new housing developments and the Corby by-election of 2012 put the future of Kettering Hospital into the spotlight. Was it any …

Farage had earlier told supporters at a Reform UK event that he was “damned if I’m going to stand on a stage, having won a resounding victory, a ringing endorsement of all that I’ve tried to fight for, and you’ve tried to fight for, and be demeaned and humiliated by …

Nigel Farage has won the Clacton by-election and returned as the constituency’s MP but skipped the result declaration, saying he did not want to be “humiliated by nobodies”. The Reform UK leader won with 63% of the vote on a turnout of 44% in a highly unusual by-election that he …

Count Binface – whose real name is Jonathan David Harvey – received 9,455 votes for the Clacton by-election. BBC News

Farage won 22,239 votes, with Count Binface in second with 9,455 votes. BBC News

Nigel Farage did not turn up to savour his victory in the by-election he triggered himself. Overnight he told a rally of Reform UK supporters he had been advised there was an “organised campaign to disrupt and degrade the result” and wanted to avoid being “demeaned and humiliated by nobodies”. …

Votes are being counted in the Clacton by-election, with results expected in the early hours of Friday. BBC News

Votes are being counted in the Clacton by-election, with results expected in the early hours of Friday. BBC News

A Reform UK councillor has been suspended from the party after non-recent social media posts appeared to show him calling for a former Commons Speaker to be hanged. In a post on X from 2019, Kirklees councillor Dave Rowan appeared to write “Hang the Dwarf” in relation to a post …