Politics LIVE: Starmer's Labour hits record low as CRUSHING new data emerges
Starmer's Labour have hit record low after just four months in charge
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Sir Keir Starmer's Labour Party have sunk to a damning new low in national polls - just four months after coming to power.
Latest YouGov data sees Labour soar to a 57 per cent disapproval rating and a meagre 18 per cent approval rating - the biggest gap between the two since the last days of the Tory Government.
The General Election had seen Britons' disapproval of the Government sink - the biggest drop since February 2011, the start of YouGov's polling.
But the months since, punctuated by riots, Winter Fuel Payment Cuts, accusations of "two-tier" policing and justice, an ongoing donations row and much more, have seen Labour squander their lead.
Alongside the domestic rows, Starmer has also let the Chagos Islands go - risking the British archipelago slipping into China's grasp.
The islands will be handed over to Mauritius alongside a "financial support" package in order to "address wrongs of the past", David Lammy's Foreign Office said.
Boris Johnson branded the move "total nonsense", speaking to GB News, and claimed the Labour Government are "trying to look like the good guys".
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SNP left raging by Starmer's green energy announcement
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn criticised the Carbon Capture announcement
PASNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said: “This really isn’t that hard – if you want economic growth, if you want to create jobs, if you want to develop a domestic supply chain, and if you want to hit net zero, then you invest in the Acorn project.
“For years we’ve been waiting for the Tories to back this project and despite offering ‘change’, the Labour Government have followed the same path by prioritising projects in the North of England, offering the Scottish cluster no certainty at all.
“We’ve seen with Grangemouth what happens when you don’t invest in the energy transition and, at this point, Labour look desperate to repeat those mistakes with their absurd tax changes and failure to invest in CCUS here in the north east.
“We know that Ed Miliband and the Labour Party have lofty ambitions for net zero but their clumsy and clueless approach to the north east indicates that they have no idea how to actually deliver on their aims.”
Starmer speaks of delight at assisted dying vote
Sir Keir Starmer said he is pleased he could keep his vow to Dame Esther Rantzen to make time for a debate and vote on assisted dying as a Bill is set to come before Parliament this month.
The broadcaster, who is terminally ill and has been outspoken in her calls for change, said she was not expecting to have a chance to witness such a debate in her lifetime and that the news has filled her with hope.
Dame Esther had a telephone conversation with Starmer earlier this year – before he became Prime Minister – in which he pledged his commitment on the issue.
Starmer said today: “I’m very pleased that I’m able, as it were, to make good on the promise I made to Esther Rantzen.
“The Government will be neutral on this as you know, but I did make that commitment to a free vote and I am sticking to that commitment.”
Britain HITS BACK after Argentina's attempts to exploit Starmer's Chagos Islands decision to 'reclaim' Falklands
In light of yesterday's controversial move, Argentina renewed its vow to take full sovereignty of the Falklands
PADowning Street has scrambled to defend the Falkland Islands after Argentina's attempts to leverage the Chagos Islands debacle for its own gain.
In light of yesterday's controversial move, Argentina renewed its vow to take full sovereignty of the Falklands, with its foreign minister threatening "concrete action" to hand the islands over to Buenos Aires.
No10 has hit back with a Downing Street spokesman told GB News: "To be very clear on the Falklands, Chagos does not change our policy or approach to other overseas territories."
Starmer unveils Labour's new carbon capture plans
The Government’s plans for two carbon capture clusters in Merseyside and Teesside is the “politics of national renewal in action”, Sir Keir Starmer has said.
Speaking at a glassmaking factory in Cheshire as he announced the plans, the Prime Minister said: “For our energy intensive industries like glassmaking here, or cement, or steel, or ceramics, you are familiar with these, the security that the future belongs to them.
“That the necessary mission of decarbonisation does not mean de-industrialisation. This if you like, is the politics of national renewal in action.”
Earlier, Energy Secretary Ed Miliband paid tribute to the end of coal-fired energy production in the UK, telling the audience: “If Monday was the end of an era, today with this Government’s decisions a new era begins.
“Carbon capture and storage, a new industry, a new generation of good jobs in our industrial heartlands.”
Nigel Farage demands Parliament debate on Chagos Islands 'surrender'
Miliband blasts Labour offering business bosses cash for access
Labour should not offer companies meetings with ministers in return for cash again, Ed Miliband has suggested.
The Energy Secretary was responding to reports that a Labour Party commercial team had offered company chiefs a chance to “gain insight” with Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds in exchange for £30,000.
Miliband told ITV’s Good Morning Britain: "Whether it is me or Jonathan Reynolds – it is not about paying to have access.
"That is not what we are about, no."
READ MORE ON THE ORIGINAL STORY ABOUT THE CASH FOR ACCESS OUTRAGE
Jonathan Powell defends Starmer on Chagos Islands amid outrage
Jonathan Powell, the Prime Minister’s special envoy for negotiations between the UK and Mauritius, said China would not be able to develop a base in the Chagos Islands.
He said United States officials have been “intimately involved” in the negotiations, telling Times Radio: “Every single sentence and paragraph has been through an inter-agency process, all of the agencies in Washington. We’ve secured all of their red lines in that negotiation.
“When you come to see the detailed treaty, which is really quite long with the exchanges of letters, you’ll see that this idea of a Chinese base is just hooey. It can’t happen, won’t happen.
“And also the fact that some of the newspapers have suggested Mauritius is an ally of China – it could hardly be further from the truth. Mauritius is very, very close to India and the Indians also have welcomed this agreement because they see it as so important for security in the Indian Ocean.
“Mauritius is one of only two countries in Africa that’s not a member of China’s Belt and Road (Initiative). So this notion that we’ve somehow given the Chagos Islands to an ally of China is rubbish, and anyway the negotiations were started by the previous Tory government.”
Warning rich are already abandoning UK over Labour policies
The chairman of West Ham United has said the Government’s proposed crackdown on non-doms “isn’t very nice”, as he cut the asking price of his London mansion by £10 million amid a tough prime property market.
David Sullivan, who is a majority shareholder of the football club, revealed he was selling the property at a loss.
“Interest rates are high — they’re coming down but not much. I also think what the Government is doing to the non-doms isn’t very nice, and a lot of rich people are leaving the country as a result of what they anticipate in the Budget,” he told Bloomberg.
“Three or four of my friends have already gone to Monaco or Dubai.”
Boris Johnson blasts Starmer for 'completely wrong' Chagos Islands decision - 'Total nonsense!'
In a sneak peak ahead of Sunday's hour long sit down with GB News, former Prime Minister Boris Johnson has weighed in on Labour's surrender of the Chagos Islands, branding the move "total nonsense".
Speaking to GB News, Johnson slammed Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, claiming the Labour Government are "trying to look like the good guys".
Met police risks sparking 'two-tier policing' outrage after businesses targeted with antisemitic graffiti
The Phoenix Cinema was daubed with graffiti which read "say no to art washing"XLondon's Metropolitan Police could risk "two-tier policing" accusations over not cracking down on apparent antisemitic graffiti, MPs have warned.
A total of 10 Conservative MPs have written to the force's commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, telling him that unless the Met gets to grips with a spate of alleged criminal damage on buildings across the capital, it risks the condemnation of the British public.
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