Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has said that he had a “reasonable” conversation with Keir Starmer yesterday, despite Sarwar having not retracted his call for the PM to quit.Sarwar said that he stood by what he said when he announced on Monday that he wanted Starmer to stand down.But he also said he was “looking to the future”, implying that he is not actively trying to orchestrate Starmer’s removal now.The news on Monday that Sarwar was going to say Starmer should go prompted intense speculation as to whether cabinet ministers would also declare he no longer had their confidence.But all members of the cabinet did subsequently issue statements backing Starmer, it became obvious that there would be no immediate leadership contest, and on Wednesday Sarwar indicated that he wanted to draw a line under the dispute.

He did not withdraw what he had said, but he did not repeat his call for Starmer’s resignation either.Speaking to reporters today, Sarwar said he and Starmer spoke yesterday.He said:It was a perfectly fair and reasonable conversation about how we make sure that we are focused on the election on May 7.He’s determined that he wants to deliver for the people of Scotland.I made very clear that I want a UK Labour government demonstrating it’s delivering for Scotland, and I made clear that the choice in the election campaign is going to be between me and John Swinney [the first minister].

I didn’t step back from what I said, I stand by what I said and what I stated, but I’m looking to the future and the choice between me and John Swinney for this country.The event saw Sarwar restate his party’s support for nuclear energy, which allowed him to joke that he had taken the “nuclear option” twice in the same week.Sarwar also said he felt “liberated” after calling Starmer’s resignation.“Honesty is strength, not weakness,” he said when asked if he felt stronger in his position after Monday’s statement.We have seen dishonesty from this SNP government time and time again.

I feel liberated and energised for the election campaign ahead, because, for me, my first loyalty and my first priority is to my country, Scotland.Kemi Badenoch has been speaking at the Welsh Conservative conference.She started with jibes about the unpopularity of the Labour government in Cardiff.But the Tories are hardly very popular there either.More in Common has today published some polling for the Senedd elections in May and it suggests that Reform UK is well ahead.

Polling often does not provide an accurate guide to election results.But normally polling companies produce results that are broadly similar.That is not happening in Wales.While More in Common has Reform UK in the lead by seven points, a YouGov poll last month had Plaid Cymru 14 points ahead.However, both polls suggest the most likely outcome after the election is a Plaid-led government.

If the More in Common figures turn out to be accurate, Reform UK and the Tories would be close to having a majority – but Plaid is in a stronger position because it has it more potential coalition partners.Brexit would never happened without YouTube, Nigel Farage has claimed.The Reform UK leader made this assertion, about the influence of YouTube and social media generally, in an interview with Nick Robinson for his Political Thinking podcast.Farage was arguing that (contrary to what Robinson was suggesting) that social media has been a force for good – although this argument is unlikely to impress voters as a whole, who now believe Brexit was a mistake by a margin of almost two to one.When Robinson put it to Farage that social media was having a negative impact on children and families, Farage replied:Hang on.

We’d never had had Brexit without YouTube.I wouldn’t have existed without YouTube.Nobody would know who Nigel Farage is without YouTube.It was because YouTube came along my speeches in the European parliament started to reach enormous audiences, and then the Today programme started inviting me on because of the level of public attention that I was getting.So, actually, social media has been quite an important part of, you can call it the populist revolt or whatever it is.

Farage said he was worried about some aspects of social media,When Robinson put it Farage that because he was pro-Trump, he would not stand up to US social media companies, he did not accept that,And he said that “of course” he was worried about the impact of social media on under-16s,Anas Sarwar, the Scottish Labour leader, has said that he had a “reasonable” conversation with Keir Starmer yesterday, despite Sarwar having not retracted his call for the PM to quit,Sarwar said that he stood by what he said when he announced on Monday that he wanted Starmer to stand down.

But he also said he was “looking to the future”, implying that he is not actively trying to orchestrate Starmer’s removal now.The news on Monday that Sarwar was going to say Starmer should go prompted intense speculation as to whether cabinet ministers would also declare he no longer had their confidence.But all members of the cabinet did subsequently issue statements backing Starmer, it became obvious that there would be no immediate leadership contest, and on Wednesday Sarwar indicated that he wanted to draw a line under the dispute.He did not withdraw what he had said, but he did not repeat his call for Starmer’s resignation either.Speaking to reporters today, Sarwar said he and Starmer spoke yesterday.

He said:It was a perfectly fair and reasonable conversation about how we make sure that we are focused on the election on May 7.He’s determined that he wants to deliver for the people of Scotland.I made very clear that I want a UK Labour government demonstrating it’s delivering for Scotland, and I made clear that the choice in the election campaign is going to be between me and John Swinney [the first minister].I didn’t step back from what I said, I stand by what I said and what I stated, but I’m looking to the future and the choice between me and John Swinney for this country.The event saw Sarwar restate his party’s support for nuclear energy, which allowed him to joke that he had taken the “nuclear option” twice in the same week.

Sarwar also said he felt “liberated” after calling Starmer’s resignation,“Honesty is strength, not weakness,” he said when asked if he felt stronger in his position after Monday’s statement,We have seen dishonesty from this SNP government time and time again,I feel liberated and energised for the election campaign ahead, because, for me, my first loyalty and my first priority is to my country, Scotland,Keir Starmer has landed in Germany where he will attend the Munich Security Conference.

Jakub Krupa is covering the conference on his Europe live blog.Liberal Democrat support for the Scottish government’s budget is not a signal a potential deal could be struck with the SNP after the Holyrood election, Ed Davey has said.As the Press Association reports, the Lib Dems in Scotland announced the deal with the SNP government on Thursday, securing more funding for hospices and 40% rates relief for hospitality firms – an increase from the 15% proposed initially.PA says:The government was not forced to make a deal with other parties to get the votes required to pass the budget, with Labour having announced before the plans were unveiled it would abstain and effectively wave it through its three parliamentary stages.Speaking to PA on Edinburgh’s Portobello Beach this morning, the Lib Dem’s UK leader hailed the deal.

“We got a hugely brilliant deal for Scottish business and the care and hospice sector here – I’m really proud of that,” Davey said.“The budget was going to go through, because Labour had said they were going to abstain, but we still managed to use our skill to negotiate a brilliant deal, particularly on business rate relief for the hospitality sector.”Asked if the deal was a sign of potential future co-operation with the SNP, Davey said: “No.”He added that “unlike any other party”, the Lib Dems had managed a deal.“The failure of the Scottish Conservatives is huge,” he said.

“Scottish Labour failed, the Scottish Greens failed.“It was the Liberal Democrats who managed, even though this budget was going to go through without our support, to get something for Scottish business, and I’m so proud of [Scottish Lib Dem leader] Alex Cole-Hamilton and the team in Holyrood.”There were two council byelections yesterday.The Conservatives have held a seat in Worth Valley, Bradford, where counting only took place this morning.There is a lot more interest in the result from Fletton and Woodston in Peterborough, where Reform UK has won a seat that was previously held by Labour.

Labour came fourth.Election Maps UK have posted the results.Fletton & Woodston (Peterborough) Council By-Election Result:➡️ RFM: 29.4% (New)🌍 GRN: 27.6% (+16.

2)🌳 CON: 21.8% (-11.8)🌹 LAB: 16.8% (-31.2)🔶 LDM: 4.

4% (-0.7)No TUSC (-1.9) as previous.Reform GAIN from Labour.Changes w/ 2024.

Here is Luke Tryl, the pollster from More in Common, commenting on the results.We’re not in Kansas anymore latest:Green + Reform 57%Labour + Conservative 38.6%In 2024 (18 months ago!) Lab + Con was 81.6%And these are from Zack Polanski, the Green party leader.Labour’s vote is collapsing everywhere.

In Peterborough last night, as in Gorton and Denton, voting Green is the only way to stop Reform,There were 36 votes between the Green Party and Reform,36 votes,Reform are absolutely stoppable - and the Green Party can win with our message to lower bills, protect the NHS and rebuild public services,Britain will spend £400m developing long-range missiles this year as part of “a new deal for European security”, John Healey, the defence secretary, has announced.

As PA Media reports, the money will go towards replacements for the Storm Shadow missile, which has been used by Ukraine to hit targets across the Russian border.PA says:These include the Stratus “stealth” missile being developed with France and Italy and the Deep Precision Strike system being built in cooperation with Germany.Healey is expected to discuss both projects along with further industrial cooperation with Britain’s European allies at the Munich Security Conference, which begins today.Healey said the projects would “deliver the cutting-edge weapons that will keep the UK and Nato safe, boost deterrence and build a new deal for European security”.Part of a 2024 defence agreement with Berlin, Deep Precision Strike is intended to provide a hypersonic missile capable of flying at more than five times the speed of sound and with a range of more than 2,000km.

It is expected to come into service in the 2030s.Hypersonic missiles, which can travel fast enough to evade air defences, have been deployed by Russia in Ukraine alongside other ballistic missiles and attack drones.Healey said: “To meet this new era of rising threats, we need hard power, strong alliances and sure diplomacy.“We can see from the war in Ukraine the decisive impact of long-range precision weapons, so the UK is stepping up, investing more than £400 million for long-range and hypersonic weapons this year.”Prof Brian Bell, who is currently chair of the migration advisory committee and an economic professor at King’s College London, has been appointed as the Treasury’s new chief economic adviser, the government has announced.

He replaces Sam Beckett,The Equality and Human Rights Commission has welcomed a high court ruling defending the interim guidance it issued to organisations about the implications of the supreme court judgement saying that, when the Equality Act refers to sex, it means biological sex,The guidance – described as an “interim update” – was controversial because it was seen as over-prescriptive, and the Good Law Project launched a legal challenge,But today the high court has said the guidance was legal,Mary-Ann Stephenson, chair of the EHRC, said:We welcome the court’s conclusion that the interim update was lawful and the EHRC did not act in breach of its statutory duties.

We issued the interim update in response to a high level of demand immediately after the supreme court’s ruling.We were concerned that organisations and individuals could be subject to misinformation and misrepresentation of the judgment and its consequences.That might have led to them failing to comply with the law: adopting or maintaining discriminatory policies or practices, to the detriment of those the law is supposed to protect.As Britain’s equality regulator, we uphold and enforce the Equality Act.This is the second time the way we have done our duty in the wake of the supreme court’s ruling has been tested in the courts.

Both times our actions have been found to be lawful.Jo Maugham, head of the Good Law Project, said that his organisation will appeal against the ruling, which he described as “quite clearly wrong”.In a statement, he said:It is wrong because it reduces trans people to a third sex.It is wrong because it gives little or no weight to the harm done to trans people by excluding them.And it is wrong because it is not interested enough in the rights of people who are trans to keep their status private