Politics LIVE: Reform MP Rupert Lowe says 'it's too early to know' if Nigel Farage will be 'good PM' in extraordinary remarks about own leader

Keir Starmer backs call for new justice guidelines amid fears over 'two-tier' justice

Sir Keir Starmer has endorsed the Justice Secretary’s call for a reversal of new guidance for judges over concerns about “two-tier” sentencing, Downing Street said.

No10 refused to “get ahead of” Shabana Mahmood writing to the Sentencing Council and awaiting their response when asked if the Prime Minister feels strongly enough to legislate to overturn the changes.

A Downing Street spokesman said: “The first step as the Justice Secretary set out is for her to write to the Sentencing Council. We await their response.

“I’m not going to get ahead of that process.”

The spokesman said the Prime Minister “backs [the Justice Secretary’s] comments.”

Ukraine's UK ambassador: 'America is DESTROYING the world order'

The United States is "destroying" the "international rules-based order" by trying to meet Russia "halfway" on a peace deal in Ukraine, the country's ambassador to the UK has warned.

Valerii Zaluzhnyi told a conference at the Chatham House think tank that a thawing in Russo-American relations under Donald Trump were "a huge challenge" - and said Nato could collapse while Europe could become Vladimir Putin's next target.

"We see that it is not just the axis of evil and Russia trying to revise the world order, but the US is finally destroying this order," he said.

Ex-Ukrainian armed forces chief Zaluzhnyi, who took over as Volodymyr Zelensky's ambassador to London in 2024, also said the White House had "questioned the unity of the whole Western world".

He added that talks between the US and Russia - "headed by a war criminal" - showed that the Trump White House "makes steps towards the Kremlin, trying to meet them halfway".

Eddie Dempsey elected RMT boss after unopposed leadership bid

Eddie Dempsey has been elected as general secretary of the RMT following the retirement of Mick Lynch, the union has said.

Dempsey, who ran unopposed to replace unionist firebrand Lynch - vowed not to "take the foot off the gas" in the group's ongoing campaign for better pay.

"For the last 20 years we have focused laser-like on things that divide us - it's true of the left as well as the right.

"The role of unions has to be a voice for unity, promoting a world of decent pay and jobs, a good education for our children, a health service that looks after people when they are sick and a pension giving dignity in retirement," he said.

Starmer told to plan for 'terrifying strategic betrayal' as Donald Trump could end Trident missile partnership

Sir Keir Starmer has been told to put plans in place for the "terrifying strategic betrayal" of Donald Trump bringing the UK-US Trident nuclear missile partnership to an end.

The missiles, designed in the US by Lockheed Martin, are jointly maintained - which costs far less than if the Royal Navy were to carry out the work on its own.

But much of Britain's nuclear stockpile is kept in the States - while in-service Trident missiles are sent across the Atlantic for periodic refurbishing.

Defence industry analyst Nicholas Drummond said that while it was "extremely unlikely" that Trump would sever the nuclear partnership, Britain needed to plan for a future in which he refuses to give the UK the missiles for its nuclear deterrent.

Such a refusal would be a "strategic betrayal on a grand scale that would damage him and America," Drummond told The Telegraph.

"When it comes to support and maintenance, I would say that we are largely dependent on the US for parts and technical assistance. If this was withdrawn, it would also weaken our deterrent," he said.

"Anyone who suggested this a year ago would have been dismissed as an idiot. Now it is a scenario that we need to plan for."

Former Defence Select Committee Chair Tobias Ellwood, however, counselled calm.

"Whatever [Trump] decides, it won't affect our current ability - because he will be out of office by the time the missiles need to be replaced," he said.

'They're TERRIFIED!' Tice launches assault on Scotland as 'desperate' SNP and Labour face down surging Reform UK

Scottish First Minister John Swinney and Labour leader Anas Sarwar are "terrified" of Reform UK, Richard Tice has said.

The party's deputy leader, speaking to the BBC ahead of announcing the defection of two more councillors to Reform, said it has "almost got more members now in Scotland than the Labour Party".

"We're going up in the polls, I think you're going to see us by the summer around 20 per cent," he said. "We've almost got more members now in Scotland than the Labour Party.

"I think that's the reason why John Swinney and the Labour Party, Anas Sarwar, are terrified."

Swinney recently vowed to "lock out" Nigel Farage's party from the Scottish Parliament - and claimed the Brexit heavyweight was "fundamentally racist" and "represents bigotry".

But Tice insisted the SNP boss was wrong, and said he was "being juvenile because he is terrified".

"I think desperate people throw out silly, juvenile slogans," Tice said.

"At the end of the day, trust the electorate, and the reason we are going up in the polls is because our policies are the policies that will make people better off."

Ireland will 'do anything it can' to help Starmer's EU 'reset' as Labour ramps up Brussels love-in

Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin has vowed that his country will do anything it can to help Sir Keir Starmer's plot to "reset" the UK's relationship with the European Union.

Speaking at a UK-Ireland summit in Liverpool, Martin said: "It's an extremely important relationship for Ireland - and when the UK economy does well, the Irish economy does well.

"So as far as we are concerned, this is a joint effort and endeavour. In that context, as I've said to the Prime Minister, anything we can do to facilitate greater harmony and access to the EU markets the better in terms of goods and services.

"Or, to put it another way, reduce barriers if that's possible."

While Starmer added: "We are having this summit, we are embarking on the next chapter for our two countries, binding them ever closer together in circumstances where we’re living in an ever more volatile world.

"I think that a reset, bringing our countries closer together, is the obvious and right thing to do in any event... We're strengthening our alliance with the EU."

Labour refuses to rule out MORE taxes in fresh assault on working Britons

A Labour Minister has refused to rule out any new taxes as Rachel Reeves gears up to chop public spending in her Spring Statement.

Industry Minister Sarah Jones told ITV's Good Morning Britain: "I'm not going to speculate. I’m sorry about that, on what the Chancellor may or may not do.”

"We know that we are waiting for the OBR, that we are looking at our spending, that we are investigating every penny that we spend in government, so that we are spending taxpayers' money wisely."

Probed again on whether tax rises could be looming, Jones said: "I'm not going to speculate on anything that may or may not come from the Chancellor.

"Those are her decisions to make, and she will make them in the national interest."

Hawkish Labour MPs urge banks to class defence investments as 'ethical' in bid to turn on the tap to military spending surge

The "Labour Growth Group" of more than 100 party MPs and peers have written to British banks and fund managers urging them to stop classing defence investments as "unethical", the Financial Times reports.

In a major bid to boost Britain's arms industry, an open letter - signed by ex-Nato head Lord George Robertson, Royal Navy chief admiral Lord Alan West, and Defence Select Committee chairman Tan Dhesi - has called on financiers to scrap "ill-considered" environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment requirements.

It warns how ESG rules "often wrongly exclude all defence investment as 'unethical'" - and says scrapping them would turn on "the financial taps to the firms that stand ready to deliver the best of British innovation, capability and skills".

It follows Rachel Reeves's opening up of the "National Wealth Fund" last week to enable investment in the UK defence industry in order to support Ukraine's war effort.

"With defence manufacturers in constituencies nationwide, there is clear potential to drive economic growth," the group added.

'Rule-breaking' Rachel Reeves risks public humiliation if she hikes tax or slashes spending 'at first time of asking', think tank warns

Rachel Reeves risks public humiliation if she hikes tax or slashes spending to cover for breaking her own fiscal rules, the Institute for Fiscal Studies has warned.

The Chancellor has set two self-imposed rules in a bid to mop up a "£22billion black hole" - that day-to-day spending must be paid for by revenue, not borrowing, and to have debt falling as a share of national income by 2028/29.

At her October Budget, the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) said she had left herself £9.9billion of headroom against the first rule - but the office's updated forecast this month is likely to see that wiped out.

The IFS said that if Reeves was put on course to breach her fiscal rules, "it seems more likely than not that she will respond by altering tax or spending plans" than wait until her next Budget to announce policy changes in response.

Breaking the rules "at the first time of asking" could be seen as humiliating, dent her credibility in the markets and lead to months of politically damaging speculation about possible tax rises in the autumn, it said.

'Two-tier justice under two-tier Keir!' Robert Jenrick tears into 'outrageous' sentencing guidelines on GB News in fresh attack on Shabana Mahmood

Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has hit out at the Government's latest move towards "two-tier justice under two-tier Keir" after issuing new guidelines for sentencing judges.

The Sentencing Council has told magistrates and judges to "normally consider" ordering a pre-sentence report on an offender if they came from “an ethnic minority, cultural minority, and/or faith minority community".

Clashing with Jenrick in the Commons following his challenge on the guidelines, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood claimed that there will "never be a two-tier sentencing approach under my watch or under this Labour Government".

Discussing the guidelines on GB News, Jenrick criticised the "completely outrageous and ludicrous" move and claimed the advice on sentencing shows a "bias against straight white men".

WATCH ROBERT JENRICK'S FURIOUS INTERVIEW HERE

Healey in Washington for crunch peace talks as EU welcomes Zelensky

Defence Secretary John Healey is in Washington DC for crunch peace talks with American counterpart Pete Hegseth today - as Europe prepares to unleash hundreds of billions of Euros of military spending at a major EU summit.

Healey and Hegseth - whose public relationship has appeared strong despite a rocky few weeks for US-UK ties - will sit down for a bilateral meeting on a possible peace plan in Ukraine.

The meeting comes ahead of a major EU defence meeting later today - where leaders from the Brussels bloc's 27 member states will come together with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to sign off on a nine-figure military spending boost.

Healey was asked as he arrived in DC yesterday what he would say to his counterpart about the issue when they meet for talks.

"Those are discussions for tomorrow, but it's part of a two-day programme and we're working hard for peace," he said.

Labour Minister invokes Troubles as she sidesteps questions on US-Ukraine intelligence row

Labour's Industry Minister Sarah Jones has invoked Britain's role in bringing the Troubles to an end as she side-stepped questions on America's withdrawal of intelligence sharing with Ukraine.

Jones told Times Radio this morning that the UK must be an "honest broker" in bringing the war in Ukraine to an end - but that commenting on "every twist and turn" would not be "the right thing to do".

"The role that we are playing in this situation is to be an honest broker, and the Prime Minister has been clear that that means we're not commenting on every twist and turn or comment that has been made overnight," she said. "It wouldn't be the right thing to do."

"We learnt in Northern Ireland how important it is when you are playing that honest broker role, to not be commenting on every twist and turn, but to be sticking to our principles which I think everybody in the country supports in terms of continuing to support Ukraine, playing that role to stop the fighting.

"And that means working with the US, working with France, working with others."

Asked whether it was a principle that intelligence should be shared with Ukraine, Jones added: "We don't comment on intelligence matters, as I said. The principle is that we will support Ukraine. That is an unwavering position."

Yesterday's top story: 'Two-tier justice!' Ethnic minority criminals to receive 'special treatment' in courts

Britain's Sentencing Council has been accused of "two-tier justice" following reports ethnic minority criminals are to receive "special treatment".

The body published new principles for judges to follow when imposing community and custodial sentences, including whether to suspend jail time.

Among the guidelines, magistrates and judges have been told to "normally consider" ordering a pre-sentence report on an offender if they came from “an ethnic minority, cultural minority, and/or faith minority community."

As a result, Shadow Justice Secretary Robert Jenrick has launched into a scathing attack on "two-tier" Britain...

READ THE FULL STORY HERE