Rotherham: Shaun Wright Former councillor responsible for children's services; later Police and Crime Commissioner Roger Stone Former leader of Rotherham Council Martin Kimber Former council chief executive Joyce Thacker Former director of children's services Paul Lakin Former council leader Pam Allen Former senior council figure Mike Cuff Former council officer Ged Fitzgerald Former council chief executive Tom Cray Former senior council officer Telford: Shaun Davies Labour c

MPs voted by 309 to 113 on Wednesday to reject a Conservative Opposition Day motion that condemned government plans to house up to 1,256 male asylum seekers at a former Ministry of Defence site near the Oxfordshire village of Piddington and called for the UK to withdraw from the European Convention on Human Rights in order to deport illegal migrants. The motion, tabled by Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch, shadow home secretary Chris Philp and shadow women and equalities mini

Labour has held the Holborn and St Pancras seat in a parliamentary by-election, defeating Green Party leader Zack Polanski in the first major electoral test of Andy Burnham’s premiership. The contest, held on 8 October 2026, followed the resignation of former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, who had represented the north London constituency since 2015. Starmer stepped down as an MP on 1 September after leaving Downing Street earlier in the year; he was replaced as Labour lead

"The British right is fracturing"

The 2026 Conservative Party Conference in Birmingham was a four-day attempt to show a party that has stopped arguing with itself and started arguing with Andy Burnham’s Labour government instead. Held at the ICC from Sunday 4 to Wednesday 7 October, it was smaller and quieter than the old set-piece conferences, more united behind Kemi Badenoch, and built around one document and a run of tax, defence and welfare pledges. Sunday: the principles Badenoch opened by welcoming dele

The Green Party of England and Wales has circulated an Inclusive Terminology Guidance document to members ahead of its conference, advising against a range of everyday terms on the grounds that they can create unwelcoming or exclusionary environments. The guidance, reported by outlets including The Spectator and LBC in late September and early October 2026, lists specific words and phrases as outdated or unacceptable and ties repeated deliberate misuse to the party’s code of

In late 2022, way before UK Dispatch was a thing, I was one of those political accounts talking about the news every day, and about what the mainstream media does not show. I put my email in my TikTok bio so people who did not have Instagram, or who didn't want to put a video on their own TikTok, could send me clips. Someone, or some people, then used that email to threaten to kill me. From 18 April 2022 to 12 November 2022, every other day, an email arrived saying they were

A will was debated of the legislation is the European Convention on Human Rights (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill — Commons Bill 92 of the 2026–27 session. It is a presentation private member’s bill introduced by Conservative MP Mike Wood (Kingswinford and South Staffordshire), supported by Sir Christopher Chope, and first printed on 22 June 2026. It is extremely short. Clause 1 says: The Prime Minister may notify, under Article 58 of the ECHR, the United Kingdom’s intention

The Restore Britain’s new Holborn and St Pancras candidate works as in-house counsel for a Chinese state-owned oil company and has been involved with a diversity-focused legal charity. That combination has prompted sharp questions about candidate vetting from commentator Raheem Kassam on the same day Rupert Lowe announced the selection. On 15 September 2026, Lowe's party posted that Tyler Johnson would stand for the party in the 8 October by-election triggered by Keir Starmer

Reform UK Ben Delo £36M 2026 Conservative Lord (J) Sainsbury £10M 2022 Reform UK Christopher Harborne £9M 2019 Lib Dems Lord (D) Sainsbury £8M 2019 Conservative Mohamed Mansour £5M 2023 Conservative Frank Hester £5M 2023 Conservative Stuart Wheeler £5M 2001 Conservative Sir J P Getty £5M 2001 Reform UK Ben Delo £4M 2026 Labour Cayman Islands £4M 2024 Conservative Lord Laidlaw £2.9M 2007

UK MPs have voted down legislation that would have legalised assisted dying for terminally ill adults in England and Wales. The Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill was defeated at its second reading on Friday 11 September 2026 by 286 votes to 270 — a majority of 16. The result ends the latest attempt to change the law after a two-year parliamentary process and makes it highly unlikely the issue will return before the next general election. What the bill would have done:

On 9 September, Burnham rejected Conservative proposals to partly fund higher defence spending through cuts to welfare, specifically reforms to housing benefit estimated to save around £4 billion. He stated that national security “can’t come at the expense of social security,” arguing that such cuts would risk widespread homelessness and that community resilience underpins broader security. Burnham reaffirmed an “absolute” commitment to defence, pledging to set a path toward

1. Lillian Jones LAB 2. Sarah Hall LAB 3. Connor Naismith LAB 4. Wera Hobhouse LIB 5. Siobhain McDonagh LAB 6. Lauren Sullivan LAB 7. Alberto Costa CON 8. Kim Johnson LAB 9. Liz Saville Roberts PC 10. Ian Lavery LAB 11. Chris Law SNP 12. Daisy Cooper LIB 13. Laura Kyrke-Smith LAB 14. Cat Eccles LAB

What is actually being alleged: A friend told The Sunday Express that two of Farage’s family members had their accounts frozen because of their association with him. GB News said it had contacted Reform UK to verify the claim. The Daily Mail reported the same detail two days earlier, attributing it to allies and adding that Farage was “furious” about the effect of his career on his family. Farage went further in his own words. Speaking this weekend, he said the impact on rela

Reform UK’s largest-ever annual conference kicked off this week in Birmingham, with party leader Nigel Farage and senior figures setting out a detailed vision for how they would govern if they win the next UK general election. The event, running through September 5 at the NEC, has drawn a bigger crowd than last year, including business leaders and international guests such as Jordan Bardella of France’s National Rally. Organizers described the tone as “very serious,” focused

Reform UK chairman Lee Anderson has said he will stand down from Parliament after the next general election, describing national politics as a chapter that is coming to a close. In an exclusive interview with The Sun published on 2 September 2026, the 59-year-old Ashfield MP said: “Life’s ebbing away, young man. It’s slipping away so I’m going to try something else.” He added that he wanted “one more term after this, which will take me up to my late 60s,” before turning to ot

The former prime minister said it was “the right time” to leave Parliament and focus on international affairs. He told the Camden New Journal it had been “a huge honour and privilege” to represent the north London seat since 2015, succeeding Frank Dobson. Starmer had previously indicated he would remain an MP until the next general election in 2029, but changed his mind after reflecting over the summer. He plans to concentrate on defence, security, trade and technology, while

Festus Akinbusoye has entered the Conservative race for London Mayor, setting up a contest with Sir James Cleverly for the party’s 2028 nomination. The former Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner announced the move on GB News and in interviews published on 1 September 2026. Guido Fawkes flagged it the same morning with the headline “Cleverly’s Challenger.” Akinbusoye, now a Westminster City councillor, is pitching himself as the outsider the Tories need after more than

Andy Burnham’s government is tightening an early-release scheme born of a severe prison overcrowding crisis, but campaigners say thousands of domestic abusers will still leave jail sooner than planned. The Sentencing Act 2026 changes automatic release points for most prisoners serving standard determinate sentences in England and Wales. Lower-level offenders who previously served 40% or 50% of their term in custody can now be released after one-third. More serious offenders