MPs demand Reform suspend candidate over claims he celebrated rape of Sikh women

Labour MPs have called for a Reform UK election candidate in Essex to be suspended after he allegedly celebrated the rape of two Sikh women in the Midlands.A joint investigation by the Mirror and the anti-racism campaign group Hope Not Hate alleged Stuart Prior, who is standing for Reform in Rayleigh West (for Essex county council) as well as Sweyne Park and Grange (for Rochford district council), had made a string of racist comments on social media in the past few months. This included declaring white people the “master race” and calling Muslim people “rats”.Zarah Sultana, the former Labour MP and co-founder of Your Party, in a post on X in October, highlighted the rapes of two Sikh and Punjabi women in Walsall and Oldbury and said: “These horrifying attacks show how racism and misogyny feed each other – fuelled by the rise of fascism and hate.” In response, Prior, 54, is alleged to have said: “Good

Farage’s partner refuses to confirm how she paid for house in his constituency

Nigel Farage’s partner, Laure Ferrari, has refused to confirm how she paid for a house in the Reform leader and MP’s constituency of Clacton, adding “there’s more than one way to pay for a house”.In an interview with French publication Le Monde, Ferrari was questioned over revelations in the Guardian that she had purchased a house in her name in Clacton after Farage had claimed to be the buyer.Farage initially said the arrangement was for “security” reasons. Some months later, he told reporters that Ferrari came from “a very wealthy French family and can afford it” – although a subsequent BBC investigation raised further questions about the size of her family’s alleged wealth.Quizzed by Le Monde on the issue, the publication said she “dodged” the question

‘Close to zero impact’: US study casts doubt on effect of phone ban in schools

Strict bans on mobile phones in schools have “close to zero” impact on student learning and show no evidence of improvements in attendance or online bullying, a study has found.Researchers at US universities including Stanford and Duke looked at nearly 1,800 US schools where students’ phones were kept in locked pouches and found little or no differences in outcomes compared with similar schools without strict bans.The report concluded that among schools instituting a ban: “For academic achievement, average effects on test scores are consistently close to zero.”The results will come as a disappointment to teaching unions and campaigners in England who backed the government’s recent move to restrict the use of mobile phones in schools. A ban is likely to come into force next year

Greens must take immediate action against antisemitism in party, says Lucas

The former Green leader Caroline Lucas has called for the party to take immediate action against candidates who have made antisemitic comments or posts, following a series of cases before Thursday’s elections.Lucas, who led or co-led the party for six years and served as its first MP, said that while the number of such cases was limited, they could not be ignored.“Statements that have now come to light from a handful of @TheGreenParty candidates are totally unacceptable & require immediate action,” she wrote on X. “There’s no place for antisemitism or any hate speech in the party. This is a society-wide problem and needs to be rooted out wherever it’s found

Vote Lib Dem or ‘regret it’ living under a Reform council, Davey tells voters

Voters in the home counties will “regret it for a long time” if they do not back the Liberal Democrats and wake up to a Reform-led council, Ed Davey has said.The Lib Dems leader has identified five councils – East Surrey, West Surrey, Hampshire, West Sussex and Huntingdonshire – where his party could win overall control, as well as swathes of the former “blue wall” where Davey said it was a “straight fight” between his party and Reform at the English local elections.More than 5,000 councillors will be elected on Thursday, with more than half of these being in either London or the south-east. Some projections show the Lib Dems gaining 500 seats, with Labour losing as many as 1,800. The Greens are also expected to gain hundreds of seats, with top projections putting the figure at 1,700

Reform UK plan to set up migrant detention centres in Green-voting areas condemned by other parties – as it happened

A Reform UK proposal to prioritise places that vote for Green councils or MPs when it sets up detention centres for migrants facing deportation has been denounced as “abhorrent” from opponents across the political spectrum.Reform says it would deport “all illegal migrants” and, to make this possible, it has announced plans for deportation centres holding up to 24,000 people.In a post on social media, Zia Yusuf, Reform’s home affairs spokesperson, said that these would be located in Green-voting areas. He explained:double quotation markSo here’s our promise:A Reform government will not put any migrant detention facilities in any constituency with a Reform MP.Nor will we put them where Reform controls the council