‘You can tell the mood has changed’: How Plaid Cymru led the Welsh fightback against Reform

Nigel Farage’s party was on the charge in Wales – but after the seismic Caerphilly byelection, progressives now believe they can come out on top in MayThe night after Plaid Cymru decisively beat Reform UK in the Caerphilly byelection last autumn, spraypaint reading “Now u can fuck off home” appeared on the shutters of the rightwing party’s offices on Cardiff Street.It was quickly cleaned off, but stickers bearing Welsh nationalist and anti-fascist slogans have popped up in its place, either scratched off or covered with duct tape. Reform is still there: the lights are on, and a shop owner next door said people go in and out every day, although no one answered the door when the Guardian rang the bell.The byelection was a golden opportunity for Nigel Farage’s party. Reform poured money and resources into its chance to break off a piece of the Labour heartland and boost its credibility by winning a first seat in the Senedd

Lord Triesman, former Labour minister and FA chair, dies aged 82

Lord Triesman, a former Labour minister and chair of the Football Association, has died at the age of 82. The Labour party said the peer died on Friday night “peacefully and at home”.The former prime minister Tony Blair paid tribute to David Triesman as a “vital part of the New Labour movement”. Labour’s leader in the House of Lords, Angela Smith, described him as “respected and loved by his colleagues for his courtesy, kindness, wisdom, loyalty and generosity of spirit”.Triesman was the general secretary of the Association of University Teachers trade union and the general secretary of the Labour party before he joined Blair’s government in the House of Lords in 2004

Starmer says Gorton and Denton byelection a vote on ‘true patriotism’ as Labour picks local candidate

Keir Starmer has said the byelection in Gorton and Denton will be a referendum on “true patriotism” and that Labour is the only party that can defeat the “poisonous division” of Reform.The prime minister, during his visit to Japan, said he saw the vote as a two-way contest between Labour and Reform UK, as he criticised Nigel Farage’s party.Speaking on the same day that his party selected Angeliki Stogia, a Manchester city councillor, as its candidate in the byelection in the city, Starmer said: “It is very much and very clearly now a byelection between Labour and Reform on key principles.“I see that Tommy Robinson has just come out in support of Matt Goodwin, the Reform candidate. That tells you everything about the politics they intend to inject into this byelection, the politics of poisonous division, so we can see exactly where that’s going

UK and EU to explore renewed talks on defence cooperation

The UK and the EU are exploring the prospect of new talks on closer defence cooperation, as Keir Starmer stressed on Friday that he wanted to “go further” in the UK’s relationship with Brussels. Maroš Šefčovič, the EU’s trade commissioner, is due in London for talks next week, with trade, energy and fisheries on the agenda. But diplomatic sources said the UK is keen to discuss restarting negotiations on defence as soon as it can.Talks for the UK to join the EU’s €150bn (£130bn) Security Action for Europe (Safe) defence fund collapsed in November 2025 amid claims that the EU had set too high a price on entry to the programme.France has denied it was responsible for the breakdown in talks, but diplomatic sources say tension remains between Paris and other member states, particularly Germany, where sources have said they want the UK to be involved in Safe “as soon as possible”

Chalmers rejects opposition claims Labor is fuelling inflation, and says he is ‘impatient for reform’

Jim Chalmers says the May budget will help tackle inflation and strengthen the economy against shocks from Donald Trump’s policies, and has pushed back on opposition claims his government is intensifying cost-of-living pain. Days before another expected interest rate rise from the Reserve Bank of Australia, Chalmers labelled criticism of government spending from the Liberal and National parties as hypocritical, while also saying the government was “open” to big ideas on tax reform and would apply a laser-focus on intergenerational inequity in Labor’s second term. “The same people who say now that the budget is the sole or primary driver of inflation weren’t saying that last year when inflation was falling substantially and the bank cut rates three times,” he said.“We actually improved the budget in December in the update in any case, another $20bn in savings and the sort of responsibility and restraint unrecognisable to our predecessors.”Chalmers praised last week’s landmark speech by Canada’s prime minister, Mark Carney, but stopped short of endorsing Carney’s call for a coalition of middle powers and said Australia would navigate a path between China, as its biggest trading partner, and the United States as a vital defence ally

Jeffrey Epstein sent money to Mandelson’s husband after prison release, emails suggest

Jeffrey Epstein sent thousands of pounds in bank transfers after his release from prison in 2009 to Peter Mandelson’s husband, according to emails published by the US Department of Justice on Friday.The latest documents raise fresh questions about Epstein’s relationship with Mandelson, who was sacked as the UK’s ambassador to Washington when details of his support for the disgraced financier emerged in September.The latest dataset published on Friday shows that Mandelson’s husband, Reinaldo Avila da Silva, emailed Epstein on 7 September 2009, about two months after Epstein was released from prison. Epstein had served 13 months of an 18-month sentence for soliciting prostitution from a minor, for which he was registered as a sex offender. Mandelson was business secretary at the time and in a relationship with da Silva