Starmer pledges to tackle new cost of living crisis at May elections campaign launch
The 7 May elections are taking place against a backdrop of “war on two fronts”, Keir Starmer has said, as he pledged action to tackle the resurgent cost of living crisis.Launching Labour’s English local elections campaign in Wolverhampton on Monday, the prime minister said: “We’re facing a war on two fronts – the Ukraine war, now four and a bit years in … and now the Iran war, which I know is causing huge concern.“People look at their screens and they’re worried when they see explosions, infrastructure blown up, the rhetoric that goes with it, worried about whether this is going to escalate even further.”Labour is braced for heavy losses in English council votes on 7 May, in particular in the north-east and London, amid challenges from Reform UK on the right and the Green party on the left.The contests are seen as a major test for Starmer’s premiership.
There are also national elections in Scotland and Wales.After 27 years of Labour government in Wales, several surveys suggest voters want change and that the contest for the next Senedd is a two-horse race between Plaid Cymru and Reform UK, with Labour in a distant third.Starmer’s unpopularity also looks set to deny Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar a chance of victory over the incumbent Scottish National party in Holyrood.Starmer said Labour was going out into the English campaigns “on the front foot” and “relishing the opportunity to go to doorsteps and say to people: vote Labour for the following reasons: vote Labour because of our values, vote Labour because of our leadership, vote Labour because it makes a huge difference to so many lives across the country.”He stressed his party understood that “whatever is going on in the world, whatever is going on in politics, and there’s a lot in both, most people are concerned most of all about the cost of living”.
UK-wide measures announced by Starmer on Monday to help with soaring costs caused by the latest round of fighting in the Middle East include a lower energy price cap and an increase in the minimum wage – moves Labour hopes will stem the party’s haemorrhaging support.At Welsh Labour’s manifesto launch in Swansea, held at the same time Starmer was speaking in Wolverhampton, the party’s leader, Eluned Morgan, pledged to freeze income tax rates if re-elected, saying “times have been tough enough already”.Morgan said people wanted “a little more certainty.A little more stability.A little less dread about the next bill or the next news story.
”At Reform UK’s Wales manifesto launch this month, Nigel Farage suggested the Senedd election would be viewed as a referendum on Starmer’s leadership.Morgan has previously sought to distance her government from the Labour administration in Westminster, but she offered her support to the prime minister earlier this year after calls for his resignation, including a high-profile demand from Sarwar.Also in Wales on Monday morning, Plaid Cymru launched its bid to form the first non-Labour-led administration in Cardiff Bay since devolution began in 1999.Speaking at the Senedd campaign launch in Bedwas, near Caerphilly, the Welsh nationalist party’s leader, Rhun ap Iorwerth, called the 7 May vote the “most important election in the history of devolution”.“Labour’s time is up – they are now out of the picture.
This campaign is a straight choice between Plaid Cymru and Reform, between hope and division, between credibility and chaos,” he said.“7 May is an opportunity to choose new beginnings for Wales, new ideas, a new energy, a higher level of ambition than ever before.”
The Guide #236: Is celebrity casting a cynical marketing stunt or does it help to democratise theatre?
Timothée Chalamet might have smirked his way out of an Oscar. Sabrina Carpenter might have been roundly snubbed at the Grammys. But there’s one place both would be welcomed with open arms: the UK theatre scene.It seems we can’t get enough of celebs on stage (acting chops preferable but not mandatory). This week alone, London’s West End features Stranger Things star Sadie Sink, singer Self Esteem and Strictly cutie pie Johannes Radebe
From The Magic Faraway Tree to 5 Seconds of Summer: your complete entertainment guide to the week ahead
Enid Blyton’s classic kids’ fantasy novel gets the big-screen treatment, while the Aussie boyband hit the UK’s arenasThe Magic Faraway TreeOut now A family relocate to the countryside where they find a magic tree that transports them to a fantasy realm in this family adventure. Simon Farnaby (Paddington 2) adapts the Enid Blyton series for the big screen, with Andrew Garfield and Claire Foy starring as Mr and Mrs Thompson.They Will Kill YouOut now This latest eat-the-rich horror, directed by Kirill Sokolov, pits plucky ex-con Asia (Zazie Beetz) as a woman who answers a bad-faith “help wanted” ad against the inhabitants of a luxurious but demonic New York apartment complex that demands regular human sacrifices from its cult of devotees.SplitsvilleOut now Billed as an unromantic comedy about four people navigating the opportunities and pitfalls of ethical non-monogamy, this modern farce follows two couples as they make up and break up in different combinations. With Dakota Johnson, Adria Arjona, Kyle Marvin (who also co-wrote the script) and Michael Angelo Covino (who also directed and co-wrote)
Jimmy Kimmel on Mike Johnson’s new award for Trump: ‘You can almost feel his spine exiting his body’
Late-night hosts mocked the Republican party’s inaugural “America First” award for Donald Trump as he finally reveals the “present” he received from Iran.Jimmy Kimmel had a field day with the Republican National Committee’s inaugural “America First” award, presented to Trump on Wednesday by Mike Johnson, the House speaker, who described the prize as “appropriate for the new golden era in America”.“I can’t figure out who should be more embarrassed: the guy who came up with the new award, or the guy who proudly accepted the new award,” Kimmel laughed.“Watch Mike Johnson here,” he added before a clip of the lawmaker’s speech. “You can almost feel his spine exiting his body
Dark Mofo: 2026 festival to show Willem Dafoe film that can only be watched by one person at a time
A hallucinatory experimental film starring Willem Dafoe and Charlotte Rampling that can only be watched by one person at a time is heading to Australia as part of Tasmania’s 2026 Dark Mofo festival.It’s estimated that only 500 people in the world have seen French artist Loris Gréaud’s film Sculpt since its premiere at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2016 – although the exact figure is hard to know, since he later gave the files to hackers to distribute over the dark web.But come June, a lucky few can bid to join the film’s rarefied audience, when Gréaud presents a new edit – bemusingly titled Sculpt: Eye of the Duck – to one audience member at a time at a secret location outside of Hobart. It exemplifies the kind of weird and wonderful, rare and had-to-be-there experience that Dark Mofo has become known for.On the morning of each performance, hopeful viewers will be able to queue at a box office in downtown Hobart for one of nine timed, solo-viewing slots that day
Seth Meyers on Donald Trump’s ‘present’ from Iran: ‘Is the president getting catfished?’
Late-night hosts speculated on Donald Trump’s mystery “present” from Iran, as well as his delusions about a war he claims the US is not in.On Wednesday’s Late Night, Seth Meyers reminded viewers, once again, that Donald Trump “promised no more wars in the Middle East” before his recent military strikes on Iran.“But you guys, good news! It’s not a war,” he joked. Instead, according to Trump, it’s an “excursion” or “a little journey” in Iran. “Stop calling it an excursion!” Meyers exclaimed
Will this ‘Doritos-inspired’ hot cross bun cause some spicy full-scale anarchy – or is it merely weird-smelling clickbait?
Alyx, I tried one of the orange bread-things you left in the office kitchen. What was that?That, Julia, was the apotheosis of this year’s Easter rush of frankenfoods, a “Doritos-inspired” cheesy jalapeño hot cross bun. The trend of turning everything into a hot cross bun and turning hot cross buns into everything has been going for a while now, and this year the world’s biggest food companies got on board like brands at a pride parade in 2015.A savoury take is the most obvious of the not-crosses, which is why I bought it, but I also walked past a shelf filled with discounted Iced Vovo hot cross buns, alongside a bunch of other Arnott’s biscuits. If I’d gone to Woolworths instead of Coles, I could have picked up various CadburyxHXB collabs; and Aldi is doing a carrot cake number
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