Starmer restores powers to ousted hereditary peers in Lords shake-up

Dozens of hereditary peers whose seats have been abolished have had their lawmaking powers restored as Keir Starmer seeks to accelerate changes to the House of Lords.It is understood that 15 Conservative hereditary peers, two Labour and nine crossbenchers have been handed life peerages, enabling their return to the red benches.The apparent concession was made in a bid to end a long battle over Starmer’s plans to remove the right of the last remaining hereditary peers to sit in the Lords, a commitment made in Labour’s 2024 manifesto.A government source described the parliamentary session that has just ended as “tortuous” given that every stage of the bill to abolish hereditary peers has resulted in considerable disruption in the Lords, as well as demands in private meetings for compensation for removed peers.The peers have already been subject to a due diligence process run by the House of Lords appointment commission, which includes a check by HM Revenue and Customs

Polanski criticised for reposting comment suggesting police arresting Golders Greens suspect used excessive force – as it happened

The Green party leader, Zack Polanski, has been criticised for retweeting a post on X suggesting that the police used excessive force when they arrested the suspect in the Golders Green attack.Polanski, a profilic user of social media, reposted without comment a tweet which, referring to Mark Rowley, the Met police commissioner, contained the message message: “So essentially his officers were repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by a Taser.”Mike Tapp, a Home Office minister, responded by saying:double quotation markI’m disgusted that anyone with this view is leading any political party. The Green Party has hit a new low.A spokesperson for the Jewish Labour Movement said:double quotation markThe Jewish community is hugely grateful to the police for apprehending a knife-wielding terrorist before he stabbed more Jews

It’s amazing how much damage Kemi can do to herself in five minutes on local radio | John Crace

It was the sort of day that every politician dreads. One where you can’t not say and do something. The pressure to come up with the right words. The knowledge that even if you do find the right words, they still won’t be enough.Nothing anyone can say can mitigate the horror of the latest antisemitic attacks in north London on Wednesday

Labour calls on Jenrick to give £37,500 campaign donation to charity amid electoral law investigation

Labour has called on Robert Jenrick to give up almost £40,000 donated to his campaign to be Conservative leader in 2024 following allegations that the sum came from an impermissible foreign donor now convicted of fraud.The party called for Jenrick to make a donation to charity after the Guardian revealed the Electoral Commission has been investigating claims that £37,500 out of £100,000 given to his campaign by a UK company Spott Fitness ultimately came from a company run by a US-based businessman, Gary Klopfenstein.The watchdog has also referred evidence to the police to assess whether any electoral laws have been broken. Its inquiries are now paused while the police review the material. The exact scope of the review is unclear and the police have not confirmed whether it relates to any specific individual

Could Lib Dems become the biggest party in English local government?

It has been an election buildup dominated by the rise of Reform UK and the Greens, and the contrasting woes of Labour and the Tories. But there is a chance that on 8 May the Liberal Democrats, largely ignored in recent weeks, could wake up as the biggest party in English local government.This is just one of several paradoxes for the party’s leader, Ed Davey, and his team. They are fifth in many national polls, with a rating barely changed from 2024. But Lib Dem bosses are sanguine, convinced that UK politics is now so different, so atomised, to make headline polling almost irrelevant

Mapped: the elections that could deliver ‘unprecedented’ losses for Labour

Labour is on track for its worst local election performance next Thursday, data analysed by the Guardian shows, in a blow that will pile further pressure on Keir Starmer’s leadership.Barring a drastic change in fortunes, Labour’s vote-share could fall to historic lows across elections for councils in England and devolved parliaments in Wales and Scotland on 7 May, with big gains for Reform, the Greens and nationalist parties, according to recent polling.The collapse in support is particularly existential in the race for the Welsh parliament, the Senedd, which Labour has dominated since its creation in 1999.Polling shows Labour’s vote share falling by more than half in Wales, enough to push the party into third place, with Reform and Plaid Cymru vying for first.Labour’s long-term decline in Scotland is expected to continue, with the Scottish National party likely to remain in power in Holyrood and Reform headed for second place