Nearly 60 Labour MPs call for UK to immediately recognise Palestinian state

Nearly 60 Labour MPs have demanded the UK immediately recognises Palestine as a state, after Israel’s defence minister announced plans to force all residents of Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah.The MPs, who include centrist and leftwing backbenchers, sent a letter to David Lammy on Thursday warning they believed Gaza was being ethnically cleansed.They are urging the foreign secretary to take immediate steps to prevent the Israeli government from carrying out its Rafah plan, and to go further and recognise Palestinian statehood immediately.The letter was sent just after the French president, Emmanuel Macron, made a similar plea at a joint press conference with Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister.The MPs wrote: “It is with great urgency and concern that we are writing to you regarding the Israeli defence minister’s announcement on Monday of his plans to forcibly transfer all Palestinian civilians in Gaza to a camp in the ruined city of Rafah without allowing them to leave

MPs and political candidates face ‘industrial’ levels of abuse, minister says

MPs and political candidates are facing “industrial” levels of intimidation and harassment, a minister has warned, as the government outlines plans for stricter punishments for those found guilty of abuse.Rushanara Ali, the minister for democracy, said her colleagues were suffering worse harassment than ever before and warned this was deterring many young people from becoming politically active.With two MPs having been killed in recent years and multiple candidates saying they were harassed during last year’s election campaign, the government says it is acting before further acts of violence are committed.“In the time that I’ve been an MP, we’ve lost colleagues – my friend Jo Cox, Sir David Amess,” Ali said. “We also had the horrific situation of Stephen Timms being attacked in the first week that I was elected in 2010

Rayner ’will not be pushed around’ by Unite after union votes to suspend her

Angela Rayner has said she will not be “pushed around” by the Unite trade union after it voted to suspend her membership and rethink its ties with the party.The deputy prime minister was censured by the union over her role in the Birmingham bin strike, although party sources said Rayner resigned her membership of Unite some months ago.The motion passed at Unite’s policy conference is a sign of how bad relations have become between Labour and its historically largest trade union donor over the dispute about pay and conditions, which the union says would impose pay cuts of £8,000 on some Birmingham workers.It is also an escalation of wider tensions between the party and Unite, one of the most leftwing affiliated unions, which has been campaigning against the cuts to the winter fuel allowance cuts and disability benefits.Unite’s move against Rayner appeared to be largely symbolic and took place as she and her cabinet colleagues were at the prime minister’s official country residence, Chequers, for an away day to look at the political year ahead

Labour should raise national insurance in autumn budget, says Ed Balls – UK politics live

Labour should raise national insurance in the budget in the autumn, Ed Balls, the former shadow chancellor, has said.Balls made the comment in the latest episode of his Political Currency podcast, which he co-hosts with the former Tory chancellor George Osborne. Although Balls now works as a broadcaster and podcaster, he is still seen as one of the leading economic thinkers in Labour politics, having worked for years as Gordon Brown’s chief adviser, served in cabinet, and then held the Treasury brief in Ed Miliband’s shadow cabinet.Discussing how the government could raise the revenue it needs, in particular to fill the £6bn financial hole caused by two recent U-turns, Balls said he thought the government should raise national insurance. He said:I would do employees’ national insurance, and I would also do a penny on corporation tax - or 2p - and at the same time do an enterprise, capital gains tax-style cut for people growing their businesses

Government inheriting poor value assets due to bad handling of PFI contracts, watchdog says

Bad management of private finance contracts is leading to poor quality assets being handed back to the government, including schools and hospitals, according to parliament’s spending watchdog.Its report into the use of private finance initiatives (PFI) for infrastructure comes at a time when the government has identified private investment in projects such as power plants and transport outside London as a key part of its growth agenda.However, the public accounts committee (PAC) is warning that a series of problems with PFI deals could put the government’s ambitions to attract investors for such schemes “in jeopardy”.Setting out a series of recommendations to ministers, MPs on the committee said that UK infrastructure risked becoming “stony ground” for investors unless major changes were made.PFI took off under Tony Blair’s government, which saw it as a way of building key public projects without adding to the national debt

Keir Starmer accepts invitation to visit Donald Trump in Scotland

Keir Starmer has accepted an invitation to visit US president Donald Trump during his expected trip to Scotland this month, according to a report.The details of the visit, including the date, are still being finalised, Reuters reported. The White House has not commented on the report.Trump and Starmer signed a trade deal last month on the sidelines of the G7 summit in Canada that formally lowered some US tariffs on imports from Britain. The deal came after the prime minister visited the White House in February, presenting Trump with an invitation from King Charles for a future state visit, which Trump accepted