
How long before the ‘rebel' Labour MPs jump ship to Corbyn's party?
These 'rebel MPs' (and those who forced Starmer to change recently) are going to be kicked out at the next General Election anyway, so why not stand up for what they believe in and join Corbyn and co to boot Starmer and his useless bunch out?
Will it change much? I certainly think it will, because it can't get any worse under this current lot masquerading as Labour when everyone knows they are Tories in disguise!
Jim Todd
Cumbernauld

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


STV News
an hour ago
- STV News
Starmer to raise Gaza ceasefire and UK steel tariffs in Trump meeting
Sir Keir Starmer is expected to raise the prospect of reviving ceasefire talks between Israel and Hamas and the future of tariffs on British steel as he meets Donald Trump in Scotland. The Prime Minister will travel to Ayrshire, where the US president is staying at his Turnberry golf resort, for wide-ranging discussions on trade and the Middle East as international alarm grows over starvation in Gaza. The two leaders have built a rapport on the world stage despite their differing political backgrounds, with Trump praising Starmer for doing a 'very good job' in office ahead of their talks on Monday. But humanitarian conditions in Gaza and uncertainty over US import taxes on key British goods in America threaten to complicate their bilateral meeting. PA Media The US president has been playing golf at his Turnberry resort in Scotland (PA). Peace talks in the Middle East came to a standstill last week after Washington and Israel recalled negotiating teams from Qatar, with White House special envoy Steve Witkoff blaming Hamas for a 'lack of desire' to reach an agreement. Since then, Israel has promised military pauses in three populated areas of Gaza to allow designated UN convoys of aid to reach desperate Palestinians. But the UK, which is joining efforts to airdrop aid into the enclave and evacuate children in need of medical assistance, has said that access to supplies must be 'urgently' widened. In his talks with Trump, Starmer will 'welcome the President's administration working with partners in Qatar and Egypt to bring about a ceasefire in Gaza', Number 10 said. 'He will discuss further with him what more can be done to secure the ceasefire urgently, bring an end to the unspeakable suffering and starvation in Gaza and free the hostages who have been held so cruelly for so long.' The leaders will also talk 'one-on-one about advancing implementation of the landmark Economic Prosperity Deal so that Brits and Americans can benefit from boosted trade links between their two countries', it said. The agreement signed at the G7 summit last month slashed trade barriers on goods from both countries. But tariffs for the steel industry, which is of key economic importance to the UK, were left to stand at 25% rather than falling to zero as originally agreed. Concerns had previously been raised that the sector could face a levy of up to 50% – the US's global rate – unless a further agreement was made by July 9, when Mr Trump said he would start implementing import taxes on America's trading partners. But that deadline has been and gone without any concrete update on the status of UK steel. Downing Street said that both sides are working 'at pace' to 'go further to deliver benefits to working people on both sides of the Atlantic' and to give UK industry 'the security it needs'. The two leaders are also expected to discuss the war in Ukraine, which Number 10 said would include 'applying pressure' on Vladimir Putin to end the invasion, before travelling on together for a private engagement in Aberdeen. It comes after Trump announced he had agreed 'the biggest deal ever made' between the US and the European Union after meeting Ursula von der Leyen for high-stakes talks at Turnberry on Sunday. After a day playing golf, the US leader met the President of the EU Commission to hammer out the broad terms of an agreement that will subject the bloc to 15% tariffs on most of its goods entering America. This is lower than a 30% levy previously threatened by the US president. The agreement will include 'zero for zero' tariffs on a number of products including aircraft, some agricultural goods and certain chemicals, as well as EU purchases of US energy worth 750 billion dollars (£558 billion) over three years. Speaking to journalists on Sunday about his meeting with Starmer, Trump said: 'We're meeting about a lot of things. We have our trade deal and it's been a great deal. 'It's good for us. It's good for them and good for us. I think the UK is very happy, they've been trying for 12 years to get it and they got it, and it's a great trade deal for both, works out very well. 'We'll be discussing that. I think we're going to be discussing a lot about Israel. 'They're very much involved in terms of wanting something to happen. 'He's doing a very good job, by the way.' Trump's private trip to the UK comes ahead of a planned state visit in September. Get all the latest news from around the country Follow STV News Scan the QR code on your mobile device for all the latest news from around the country


Telegraph
2 hours ago
- Telegraph
Labour's cruelty towards grieving parents is totally unforgivable
How can the British state be so generous towards foreigners but so mean towards its own citizens? The cost of housing migrants has tripled to £4m a day as Channel crossings continue to soar. On top of this, we are giving asylum-seekers taxpayer-funded payment cards for buying essentials such as food – which this week we learnt some were using for gambling. A Freedom of Information request found that more than 6,500 payments in gambling settings were attempted by those with Aspen cards, given by the Home Office to those awaiting an asylum decision to allow them to buy basic items, with small weekly top-ups. So we've got migrants attempting to squander our hard-earned cash – and then when British taxpayers need help from the state, they're abandoned. This week, Labour lords blocked a move to give parents of critically ill children workplace rights and financial support. Currently, only parents of newborn babies who become unwell within the first 28 days of life are entitled to paid leave and job protection to be by their child's bedside. But if their child is diagnosed with cancer at 29 days old, the parents get no help beyond unpaid Carer's Leave, capped at a week a year. On Sunday, I spoke to Ceri Menai-Davis on my GB News show. He and his wife, Frances, lost their six-year-old son to cancer in 2021 and are campaigning through their charity, It's Never You, for Hugh's Law, which would give parents 12 weeks statutory paid leave if their child is diagnosed with a critical or terminal illness, up to the age of 16. But Labour peers blocked it, despite it costing a minimal amount due to the mercifully small number of parents affected (around 4,000 a year). Surely this is a no-brainer? Your child is dying, you have to be at their bedside, you need help to pay the bills. If this isn't what the welfare state was built for then what is? It certainly wasn't designed for illegal migrants to try to place state-subsidised bets.


The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Monday briefing: How automatic voter registration could redraw Britain's political map
Good morning. A 12-year-old today will be able to vote in the next general election, unless it's called early. When I first heard that, I laughed. No wonder there's so much focus on Labour's plan to lower the voting age to 16. But it's another reform that could have a far greater impact on who votes – and who wins. The government has announced plans to introduce automatic voter registration, or AVR, where people are added to the electoral roll using existing government data, such as tax or passport records. Right now, voters in the UK have to register themselves. It's a clunky and outdated system. One study recently the most difficult registration processes in any liberal democracy. The result is that millions of people fall through the cracks. In 2023, about 8 million UK adults weren't correctly registered to vote, according to the Electoral Commission. So what could AVR mean politically? How does it shift power in a significant way, for parties both on the right and the left? I spoke to Luke Tryl, director of the nonprofit organisation More in Common, to find out. Euro 2025 | In a stunning comeback, England won the Euros on penalties, beating Spain 3-1 in extra time. They were scored by Chloe Kelly, Niamh Charles and Alex Greenwood. Trade | Donald Trump and Ursula von der Leyen announced a US/EU trade deal after a meeting on Trump's golf course in Scotland. The deal involves a 15% baseline tariff for most EU exports to the US. Gaza | Keir Starmer will recall his cabinet for an emergency meeting on the Gaza crisis, as cross-party MPs warned his talks with Donald Trump provided a critical juncture in helping to resolve the conflict. Thailand and Cambodia | The leaders of Thailand and Cambodia will meet in Malaysia today for talks to end a border conflict that has led to deadly military clashes and the displacement of 150,000 people. Health | Demand for weight loss drugs is becoming so 'unsustainable' that demand may soon outstrip supply, pharmacists have said, warning supply problems could encourage people to turn to unregulated online sources, despite the risks. The core case for automatic voter registration, beyond party politics, is simple: it expands the franchise. It ensures that as many eligible people as possible are actually able to vote. Tryl pointed out that certain groups are much less likely to be registered, which in turn deepens existing inequalities. Those most likely to be missing are younger people, renters, lower-income families, settled migrants, students and people from minority ethnic backgrounds. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) recently found a stark 19 percentage-point turnout gap between homeowners and renters. 'Those groups end up having a disproportionately lower electoral voice because they're not registered, and that has a real impact on policy,' he said. It's not just about democratic engagement. Who is in the voter pool clearly influences what decisions get made and who is ultimately elected, Tryl explained. He added that people in poorer communities often face a range of barriers, from time poverty and low awareness to disconnection from the political system and a lack of stable housing. Students, he said, may struggle with dual registration, while some migrants may not realise they're eligible to vote, or may not feel entitled to take part. How will it shift power? One of the biggest potential political impacts is on boundary changes. Registration rates vary between seats, Tryl said, so some MPs, especially in under-registered urban areas, are effectively representing far more people than others. And that's because constituency boundaries are based on the number of registered voters, not the number of eligible people. 'The difference in some seats can be tens of thousands of people,' he said. So where does this under-registration happen? 'It's mostly cities; places like Liverpool, Leeds, Bristol, London. MPs in these inner-city areas are representing larger populations, but that's not reflected in boundary calculations. If legislation goes through and we assume more eligible voters are registered, those people will finally be counted,' he added. Simply put, Tryl explained, this would mean more representation, and more parliamentary seats in urban and student-heavy areas. But with the total number of seats in parliament fixed at 650, that shift would inevitably come at the expense of rural, more affluent constituencies. 'It's hard to argue against the principle of automatic registration, but the boundary changes could make rural constituencies, some of which are already geographically large, even bigger,' Tryl said. Who is set to benefit? The most obvious party set to benefit is Labour, which tends to perform better in urban and student-heavy areas. But Tryl tells me that others are also likely to gain from this change. 'The Greens tend to perform better in inner cities and student areas. Some of the inner-city areas that we're talking about are where the independents have done very well, in parts of Birmingham and potentially in parts of London,' Tryl said. 'The big losers are likely to be the Conservatives, who tend to represent more affluent, high-registration areas, and the Liberal Democrats, who've made gains in the so-called Blue walls – former Tory, leafy, affluent strongholds.' Last week, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana formally launched a new political party, targeting the very inner-city seats likely to gain from automatic voter registration. Polling suggests the party could capture about 10% of the vote, potentially eating into Labour and Green support. Zack Polanski, who is running to be the next Green party leader, has already said he is open to working with any party willing to challenge Reform. This emerging 'Green-left' alliance could be pivotal in shaping the electoral map. On Friday, the group We Deserve Better, backed by the Guardian columnist Owen Jones, launched a campaign calling for a formal electoral pact between Corbyn and Sultana's party and the Greens. As for Reform UK, it's difficult to draw firm conclusions for now, Tryl said. But previous research (pdf) suggests the party's base is made up largely of older, non‑graduate, culturally conservative voters, many disillusioned with the Conservatives or drawn from the Brexit camp. Will this increase voter turnout? While this reform could have a far bigger effect on the electorate than extending the vote to 16- and 17-year-olds – there are about 1.5 million of them in the UK compared with an estimated eight million eligible voters who aren't registered – it is unlikely to lead to a dramatic surge in turnout, Tryl said. Voter turnout in UK general elections used to be consistently high, staying above 70% from 1945 right up until 1997, and even topping 80% in 1950 and 1951. But it had plunged to just 59.4% by the time Tony Blair secured his second term in 2001. Turnout did climb again between 2010 and 2019, yet it has never returned to 70%. In the most recent election in 2024, it slipped again, landing at 59.7%. 'I think that represents a wider democratic disillusionment and disengagement,' Tryl said, but added that there was public support for AVR. 'Forty-five per cent said they supported it, just 21% opposed. So it is more popular than allowing 16- and 17-year-olds to vote. But clearly that needs to go and sit alongside wider democratic engagement in a nonpartisan way.' People need to feel that voting matters. And, Tryl added: 'The fundamental challenge is too many people do not think that government is either willing, because they think politicians are only in it for themselves, and the system is rigged, or capable … to take on Britain's big challenges to bring about the change the country needs. When seven in 10 people say the country is getting worse, and the top word used to describe Britain is 'broken,' you've got overlapping crises: of trust, of exhaustion, of people feeling like they've lost control and agency. That is driving disengagement far more than the specifics of the democratic system.' The task for every party across the political spectrum in the coming years, Tryl said, is to prove that 'government can work and that it can be a force for good'. Sign up to First Edition Our morning email breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Four years ago, the Conservative MP David Amess was stabbed to death in his surgery by an Islamic State sympathiser. In a searing interview by Anna Moore, his daughter Katie (pictured above) expresses her pain at his violent death, and the government's refusal to hold an inquiry. Alex Needham, acting head of newsletters The University of Edinburgh played an 'outsized' role in the creation of racist scientific theories and greatly profited from transatlantic slavery. Brilliant reporting by my colleagues of a landmark inquiry into the university's history. Aamna Films and TV shows might be eschewing sex scenes, but literary fiction is going in the other direction, with Sally Rooney, Miranda July, Yael van der Wouden and others all writing recent novels that explicitly explore the sex lives of their protagonists. Why? Because sex, writes Lara Feigel, opens 'selfhood to otherness with extravagant force'. Alex Labour MP Chris Hinchliff was suspended for what No 10 called 'persistent knobheadery'. His crime? Pushing stronger environmental protections. He told the Guardian this language reflects 'a certain set of people … for whom it's all a personality thing, it's all a game'. Aamna In a piece of great tenderness and beauty, Poppy Noor writes about her son Mo Ibrahim Lingwood-Noor, who died in childbirth, and how she moved through the aftermath of this devastating event. Alex Cricket | India drew in the fourth test against England after Ravindra Jadeja (pictured above) and Washington Sundar both completed centuries. England lead the series 2-1. Cycling | Tadej Pogacar has sealed his fourth Tour de France victory in Paris after the final stage from Mantes-la-Ville to the Champs Élysées. The 26-year-old beat his closest rival, Jonas Vingegaard, by almost four and half minute Formula One | Oscar Piastri comfortably won the Belgium Grand Prix as rain lashed down on to the track. The 24-year-old Australian saw off his McLaren teammate Lando Norris. England's Euro victory dominates the front pages – with the Guardian labelling them 'Queens of Europe'. The Mirror has 'LionYESses', while the i also goes with 'Queens of Europe!' The Sun focuses on goalie Hannah Hampton with 'The Hann of God'. Elsewhere, the Times has 'Starmer to press Trump on Gaza'. The Financial Times reports 'Brussels accepts 15% US tariffs to fix 'unfair' trade relations, says Trump', and the Telegraph says 'Trump: Wind power is a 'con-job''. Finally, the Mail focuses on protests in Epping, with 'Now shut migrant protest hotel'. The hunt for the next Dalai Lama The Guardian's south Asia correspondent, Hannah Ellis-Petersen, and the Tibet activist Lhadon Tethong discuss the battle between Buddhist monks and the Chinese state over the successor to the Dalai Lama (pictured above). A bit of good news to remind you that the world's not all bad Despite not making the Belgium squad, footballer Yana Daniëls (pictured above) is making her own contribution to Euro 2025, handcrafting boxes for every player-of-the-match trophy in a converted Wirral garage, using locally sourced wood from Arrowe Park. After suffering from a career-threatening injury a decade ago, Daniëls was forced to plan ahead. She said, 'When you get older you start to realise: 'How long will I play on for? Will I need to find a normal job?' Daniëls' interest in carpentry developed through DIY requests from fellow teammates for the Liverpool changing rooms, including a table and a personalised shoe rack. Sign up here for a weekly roundup of The Upside, sent to you every Sunday And finally, the Guardian's puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow. Quick crossword Cryptic crossword Wordiply