The image of a grieving parent is not an uncommon sight on the dramatic stage. Euripides, whom Aristotle called “the most tragic of the poets,” returns to the figure of the grief-stricken parent in “Hecuba,” “Hippolytus” and “The Bacchae,” to cite just a few disparate examples of characters brought to their knees by the death of their child.
Shakespeare offers what has become the defining portrait of this inconsolable experience in “King Lear.” Cradling the lifeless body of his murdered daughter, Lear can do nothing but repeat the word “never” five times, the repetition driving home the irrevocable nature of loss.
In tragedy, the protagonist is often plagued by guilt for his own role, however inadvertent or inescapable, in the catastrophe that befell his loved one. Theseus in “Hippolytus” and Agave in “The Bacchae” both have reason to feel that they have blood on their hands. Lear, though “more sinned against than sinning,” recognizes only after it’s too late the error in judgment that led to the devastation from which there can be no return.
The difference with “Guac,” the one-man performance work at the Kirk Douglas Theatre, is that Manuel Oliver isn’t just playing a bereaved father. He is one.
Manuel Oliver in “Guac.”
(Cameron Whitman)
Oliver’s 17-year-old son, Joaquín, known as Guac to family and friends, was one of the 17 lives lost in 2018 at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla. The production, written and performed by Oliver, turns a parent’s grief into a theatrical work of activism.
Co-written by James Clements and directed by Michael Cotey, “Guac” has been sharing the story of Joaquín’s short but vividly lived life with audiences around the country. Oliver didn’t just love his son. He liked him. Guac was his best friend. He was also his trusted guide to American culture.
Immigrants from Venezuela, the family had made a new start in a country that Guac helped them feel was their home. To convey the meaning of Guac’s life, Oliver introduces his family members through a series of photo images he has crafted into artworks.
The last picture, and the one that remains staring at us throughout the performance, is of Guac. Oliver continues to enhance the portrait. While adding flourishes to the background and making adjustments to what his son is wearing, he tells us about the life they shared before it was tragically stolen.
Manuel Oliver works on a portrait of his late son in “Guac.”
(Donna F. Aceto)
The tragedy is overwhelmingly real. Oliver bears the weight of it by transforming his grief into fuel for activism. The performance makes the case for stricter gun law in America with the heartbreaking eloquence of a father whose life changed permanently after dropping his son off at school on a Valentine’s Day that started so promisingly.
What happened to Joaquín could happen to any of us, anytime, anywhere, in a country that has allowed its elected officials to deflect responsibility for their repeated failure to pass common sense gun legislation. While taking money from the NRA, these cynical politicians offer empty “thoughts and prayers” in place of meaningful reform. The result is that no one can go anywhere in public without eyeing the emergency exits and scanning the crowd for trouble.
Oliver isn’t a polished theatrical professional. He’s a dad, first and foremost. But it’s his comfortable ordinariness that allows him to make such a powerful connection with the audience. He’s onstage but could very well be exchanging a few neighborly words with us on our street.
Oliver summons his son by joyfully remembering his virtuosity on air guitar. Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Free Bird” resounds throughout the Douglas while he enlivens the portrait with impassioned strokes. The words “I wish I was here” are added to Guac’s T-shirt, and it’s a sentiment we all devoutly, agonizingly share as Oliver brings his wife, Patricia, onto a stage that has urgently become an extension of our national reality.
In honor of Joaquín, the couple formed Change the Ref, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about mass shootings and empowering the next generation of activists through “creativity, activism, disruption and education.” “Guac” is a potent example of what can be done in the wake of a tragedy that can no longer be described as unthinkable.
‘Guac’
Where: Kirk Douglas Theatre, 9820 Washington Blvd., Culver City
When: 7:30 p.m. Tuesdays-Thursdays, 8 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, 1 p.m. Sundays. No show on Halloween, Friday, Oct. 31. An additional show for closing night, 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is facing challenges in implementing key policies on pensions and military service, raising concerns about political instability in Germany. Merz’s conservative party and the center-left Social Democrats formed a coalition five months ago to ensure stability after a previous coalition’s collapse. However, this new coalition has a slim parliamentary majority and has experienced internal tensions since its formation, particularly after Merz became the first chancellor to fail re-election in the first voting round.
While coalition leaders maintain a good working relationship, they struggle to manage their lawmakers. Many conservatives are dissatisfied with the compromises made, which conflict with their campaign promises. Merz, lacking prior government experience, has adopted a hands-off approach to internal conflicts. Political experts caution that the coalition may not implement significant changes if it continues along its current path, driven by distrust among parties, differing ideologies, and the challenges Germany faces.
The coalition must act quickly as Germany’s economy is facing its third year of decline and security issues with Russia complicate matters, especially given uncertainties with the United States as a security partner. Proponents argue that the bill for voluntary military service, which may lead to reintroducing the draft, is crucial for strengthening Germany’s armed forces. However, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius’s timeline for implementation by 2026 now appears uncertain.
Political turmoil in Germany follows a string of French government collapses, raising concerns about political paralysis and increased support for far-right parties. The Alternative for Germany (AfD) is gaining popularity as support for the conservatives and Social Democrats wanes. Conservative youth lawmakers threatened to withhold support for a pension bill that freezes pensions until 2031, arguing it fails to address financing issues amidst an aging population.
Meanwhile, disagreements about military service proposals between the coalition parties created additional tensions. A proposed compromise was rejected by Pistorius, which prompted some cancellations in joint events. Analysts believe that while the coalition is likely to reach new agreements, they may be fraught with complications and eroded trust. Merz is criticized for not intervening in coalition disputes and for focusing on foreign policies, which has contributed to a significant drop in his approval ratings, making him one of the least popular chancellors recently.
Oct. 19 (UPI) — Former Rep. George Santos, R-N.Y., a convicted fraudster and identity thief, has said he will work to reform U.S. prisons, having been released from a penitentiary Friday by President Donald Trump.
Santos was expelled from the U.S. House in 2023 after refusing to resign following a scathing ethics investigation uncovered his criminal activity. In an interview with the Washington Post, Santos called his time in federal prison “dehumanizing” and “humbling.”
The former representative admitted to stealing the identities of 11 people, including his own family members. He served 84 days in prison before being exonerated by Trump and released from prison Friday night. He also admitted that he embellished and fabricated his biography during his run for Congress in 2020.
Santos called the prison system, and the facility where he was housed, FCI Fairton in N.J., as “broken” with “rotting facilities, and administrators who seem incapable or unwilling to correct it.” He said a large hole in the ceiling exposed “thick, black mold,” and claimed broken air-conditioning systems forced inmates to endure sweltering heat.
“The building itself is hardly fit for long-term habitation: sheet metal walls, shoddy construction, the look and feel of a temporary warehouse rather than a permanent facility,” Santos wrote on The South Shore Press website while he was incarcerated.
As part of his plea deal, Santos agreed to pay $600,000 in restitution and forfeiture costs.
Santos pushed back on critics who claim the former congressman is not being held accountable for his crimes, and said that, beyond repentance, he has “dealt a second chance.”
“I understand people want to make this into “he’s getting away with it. I’m not getting away with it,” Santos said following his release. “I was the first person ever to go to federal prison for a civil violation … I don’t want to focus on trying to rehash the past and want to take the experience and do good and move on with the future.
In announcing Santo’s commutation on social media, Trump claimed that the former congressman had been “horribly mistreated,” and that “at least” the former representative had the “Courage, Conviction, and intelligence to ALWAYS VOTE REPUBLICAN!”
Santos, 37, served fewer than three months of his seven year sentence. He said he has no plans to re-enter politics and would do his best to repay campaign donors based on “whatever the law requires of me.”
Zack Polanski, the Green Party Leader, had called Zia Yusuf, of Reform UK, “a fascist” on Question Time on the BBC last week, and he was asked about this on The Jeremy Vine Show
Zack Polanski took a swipe at Zia Yusuf, who is Chairman of Reform UK
The 42-year-old politician, who became leader of the party last month, said he feels the Greens’ popularity has surged recently because, in part, of his honesty and desire to challenge issues. He had clashed with Mr Yusuf, who is Nigel Farage’s top aide, during last week’s Question Time, during which Mr Polanski called the politician “a fascist”.
And Mr Polanski, from Salford, Greater Manchester, was interrogated about this on by Jeremy Vine on his Channel 5 show this week. The Green Party leader said: “The reason why we are surging in the polls and the reason why we are getting so many members is because if something walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, I’ll call it a duck, and actually Nigel Farage, when he worked in the European Parliament, used to join forces with the Swedish Democrats.”
He later used the term “far right” in his response to Mr Vine, which led to a furious reaction from fellow panelist Carole Malone on Wednesday. The journalist and columnist said: “How dare you throw words like ‘Nazi’ around? Do you even know what that means? You are just going to let Reform get more votes by talking like that.”
But Mr Polanski hit back at Ms Malone, describing her response as “faux outrage” and bringing the discussion onto immigration. He made the point he feels there are no “safe and legal routes” for anyone to reach the UK.
The topic came up on The Jeremy Vine Show after Mr Polanski was praised for his work on Question Time last week. He sat alongside the likes of Mr Yusuf, Tory MP Nigel Huddleston and journalist Annabel Denham in Shrewsbury, Shropshire.
But Mr Yusuf swiftly declined the challenge, and instead insisted immigration is “the number one issue” in the UK at the moment. The 39-year-old businessman argued there has been “far too much mass immigration in this country” for some time.
Yet, Mr Polanski remained defiant – and continued his approach on The Jeremy Vine Show this week. Mr Vine, who has presented the programme since 2018, said Mr Polanski was “very tough” on Question Time, a stance for which the Green Party politician expressed no regrets. Later on the Channel 5 show, Mr Polanski stressed it is this approach which has led to the continued rise in the polls of the Green Party.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu faces two no-confidence motions this week as France’s political crisis deepens.
Published On 14 Oct 202514 Oct 2025
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France’s embattled prime minister says he backs suspending a pension reform until after the 2027 presidential election in a bid to end the political turmoil that has gripped the country for months.
Prime Minister Sebastien Lecornu, 39, announced on Tuesday that he supports pausing an unpopular reform that raised the age of retirement from 62 to 64 in the hopes of securing enough votes to survive two no-confidence votes.
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“I will propose to parliament this autumn that we suspend the 2023 pension reform until the presidential election. There will be no increase in the retirement age from now until January 2028,” he promised lawmakers during his policy speech, responding to a key request from the Socialists, a swing group in parliament crucial to his cabinet’s survival.
President Emmanuel Macron signed into law the bill to raise the retirement age, a signature economic reform that became the biggest domestic challenge of Macron’s second mandate as he faced widespread popular opposition to the changes and also sliding personal popularity.
Lecornu has faced an uphill battle since being appointed prime minister in early September. At the time of his appointment, he was the fifth prime minister in less than two years and faced deep political divides and a high debt load.
He ultimately stepped down from the post in early October, further deepening the country’s long-running political crisis. Macron then reappointed Lecornu as prime minister last week.
Lecornu faces two no-confidence motions by the hard-left France Unbowed and far-right National Rally parties. The two parties do not hold enough seats to topple Lecornu’s government on their own, but the prime minister could be ousted if the Socialist Party were to join forces with them.
The leader of the Socialists in the National Assembly said the decision to suspend the pension reform was a victory for the left.
Boris Vallaud did not explicitly say if his party would vote against the two motions of no confidence this week, but he said he believed in parliamentary debate and he would be ensuring the prime minister’s pledges be turned into actions.
Cyrielle Chatelain confirmed on Tuesday that France’s Greens party will support a no-confidence motion.
Earlier on Tuesday, Macron had warned that any vote to topple Lecornu’s cabinet would force him to dissolve parliament and call elections.
France, the eurozone’s second largest economy, is facing deep economic turmoil as Lecornu fights to keep his cabinet alive long enough to pass an austerity budget by the end of the year. During a speech on Thursday, he warned suspending the pension reform would cost about 400 million euros ($464m) in 2026 and 1.8 billion euros ($2.1bn) the year after and it should be offset by savings.
France’s ratio of debt to its gross domestic product is the European Union’s third highest after Greece and Italy and is close to twice the 60-percent limit fixed by EU rules.
France has been rocked by protests in recent months. In September, the Block Everything campaign spurred a nationwide wave of antigovernment protests that filled streets with burning barricades and tear gas as demonstrators rallied against budget cuts and political instability.
In October, about 195,000 people, including 24,000 in Paris, turned out for another day of nationwide strikes at the urging of French trade unions. The protests were triggered by widespread opposition to an austerity budget that the government has been trying to push through parliament.
Despite uncertainty in the international environment, Róger Madrigal López expects stable growth for the Costa Rican economy.
Global Finance: What is your view about the Costa Rican economy in the next 12 months?
Róger Madrigal López: Costa Rica is a small, open economy, exposed to the global political and economic environment. Despite the geopolitical conflicts and the challenges arising from the slowdown in international economic activity, projections from international organizations and the Central Bank of Costa Rica (BCCR) indicate that the Costa Rican economy is on a path of moderate and stable growth over the next 12 months.
The BCCR anticipates GDP growth of 3.8% in 2025, driven primarily by domestic demand and the robust performance of goods exports, particularly in medical devices and agricultural products such as pineapples. Although a slowdown in economic activity is anticipated for 2026, the projected growth remains above the global average, reflecting the resilience of the national economy in an uncertain international environment marked by trade and geopolitical tensions.
Regarding inflation, prices have remained low and stable, with general inflation averaging 0% and core inflation at 0.8% during the first half of 2025. Inflation expectations are anchored within the target of 3% and its tolerance range of ±1 %. Inflation is expected to return to the tolerance range by mid-2026, reinforcing confidence in the BCCR’s ability to keep down inflationary pressures originating from monetary forces.
Labor market conditions continue to improve, with the unemployment rate dropping to 7.4%. Real incomes have risen, particularly in the private sector and among women, and formal employment has expanded.
The central government will continue to show primary surpluses and a gradual reduction in the debt-to-GDP ratio, contributing to fiscal sustainability and improving the country’s risk perception.
GF: Did you see progress in reforms that support long-term growth, including improving human capital, enhancing infrastructure, and fostering competition? If so, which ones in particular?
Madrigal López: Costa Rica needs additional efforts to improve the educational level of the population in vulnerable areas, further promote tourism, and consolidate infrastructure provision models based on public-private partnerships; however, in recent years, the country has made meaningful strides in implementing reforms that support long-term growth, particularly in areas critical to investors and policymakers. For example, in human capital development, the country’s authorities have focused on reducing informal employment, expanding bilingualism, and improving access to early education and care.
On the infrastructure and competitiveness front, Costa Rica is advancing climate-resilient public investment through partnerships, such as the IMF’s Resilience and Sustainability Facility. This not only supports sustainable development but also opens opportunities for green finance.
The country is also working to institutionalize the autonomy of its central bank, a move that reinforces macroeconomic stability and investor confidence. Meanwhile, regulatory reforms are underway to reduce barriers to formal business creation and enhance competition. These reforms collectively position Costa Rica as a more attractive and stable destination for long-term investment.
GF: A year ago, you explained how an amendment of Article 188 of the Costa Rican Constitution would grant the BCCR administrative and governance autonomy. Any progress on that?
Madrigal López: The reform enjoys broad support from international partners such as the IMF and OECD, which view it as a milestone for safeguarding price stability and strengthening investor confidence. While approval is still pending, the IMF has urged Costa Rican authorities to move forward without delay, recognizing the reform as a cornerstone of the country’s medium-term institutional agenda. This proposed amendment was part of the agenda during extraordinary sessions in May-July of 2025, but made little progress.
GF: What keeps you up at night?
Madrigal López: As a central banker, my main concern is the commitment to maintaining low and stable inflation, as established by our Organic Law. In this way, the entity that I represent can contribute to the country’s macroeconomic stability, facilitate efficient economic decision-making by various stakeholders, and, in turn, preserve the central bank’s institutional credibility.
Business rates are a tax charged on most commercial properties, such as shops, offices, pubs, and warehouses.Credit: Getty
At the time, the Government proposed raising business rates on the biggest retail properties with values over £500,000.
This would allow for a discount on rates for small retail and hospitality premises to be permanent.
The government has not yet set the rates, but changes are due to take effect in April 2026.
But the Co-op is now urging the Government to commit to the maximum levels of relief for smaller stores in the upcoming Autumn Budget on November 24.
Research conducted by the supermarket found one in eight small high street business owners will be at risk of shutting down if reforms are not delivered.
A further 10% of small said they would need to lay off staff.
Shirine Khoury-Haq, Co-op group chief executive, said: “The proposed system would improve the financial situation of 99% of retailers.
“How much they are protected from tax rises depends on decisions made in this Budget. To boost local economies, create jobs and provide community cohesion, we need inclusive growth.”
“That means supporting the businesses on the corners, in the precincts, on the parades and the high streets of every community.
” In order for them to not only survive, but to thrive, the government has to commit to the maximum levels of relief.”
JD Sports Shuts 13 Stores Amid Sales Slump: What’s Next for the High Street?
It comes as many larger retailers have voiced concerns over plans to increase business rates on larger stores, arguing the move could make them unprofitable or lead to price hikes.
In August, a letter signed by Morrisons, Aldi and JD Sports, warned that further tax rises on businesses could result in the Labour government breaking its manifesto pledge to provide “high living standards”.
It reads: “As retailers, we have done everything we can to shield our customers from the worst inflationary pressures but as they persist, it is becoming more and more challenging for us to absorb the cost pressures we face.”
Many businesses have already seen their labour costs rise thanks to the rate of employer national insurance being increased in last year’s Budget.
The Treasury expects the new rates system will only impact the top 1% of properties.
A Treasury spokesperson said: “We are creating a fairer business rates system to protect the high street, support investment, and level the playing field by introducing permanently lower tax rates for retail, hospitality, and leisure properties from April that will be sustainably funded by a new, higher rate on less than 1% of the most valuable business properties.
“Unlike the current relief for these properties, there will be no cash cap on the new lower tax rates, and we have set out our long-term plans to address ‘cliff edges’ in the system to support small businesses to expand.”
RETAIL PAIN IN 2025
The British Retail Consortium has predicted that the Treasury’s hike to employer NICs will cost the retail sector £2.3billion.
Research by the British Chambers of Commerce shows that more than half of companies plan to raise prices by early April.
A survey of more than 4,800 firms found that 55% expect prices to increase in the next three months, up from 39% in a similar poll conducted in the latter half of 2024.
Three-quarters of companies cited the cost of employing people as their primary financial pressure.
The Centre for Retail Research (CRR) has also warned that around 17,350 retail sites are expected to shut down this year.
It comes on the back of a tough 2024 when 13,000 shops closed their doors for good, already a 28% increase on the previous year.
Professor Joshua Bamfield, director of the CRR said: “The results for 2024 show that although the outcomes for store closures overall were not as poor as in either 2020 or 2022, they are still disconcerting, with worse set to come in 2025.”
Professor Bamfield has also warned of a bleak outlook for 2025, predicting that as many as 202,000 jobs could be lost in the sector.
“By increasing both the costs of running stores and the costs on each consumer’s household it is highly likely that we will see retail job losses eclipse the height of the pandemic in 2020.”
Plans for a major reform of the housebuying system, which aim to cut costs, reduce delays and halve failed sales, have been unveiled by the government.
Housing Secretary Steve Reed said the changes would “fix the broken system” and put more money “back into working people’s pockets”.
Under the new proposals, sellers and estate agents will be legally required to provide key information about a property up front.
The overhaul could save first-time buyers an average of £710 and cut up to four weeks off the typical property transaction timeline, according to the government.
It is estimated that hundreds of thousands of families and first-time buyers could benefit from the reforms.
Those in the middle of a chain could also potentially gain a net saving of £400 as a result of the increased costs from selling being outweighed by lower buying expenses.
The consultation draws on other jurisdictions, including the Scottish system where there is more upfront information and earlier binding contracts.
This will include being up front about the condition of the home, any leasehold costs, and details of property chains.
The government says this transparency will reduce the risk of deals collapsing late in the process and improve confidence among buyers, particularly those purchasing a home for the first time.
Binding contracts may also be introduced to prevent parties from walking away late in the deal, a move intended to halve the number of failed transactions, which currently cost the UK economy an estimated £1.5bn a year.
“Buying a home should be a dream, not a nightmare,” said Reed. “Our reforms will fix the broken system so hardworking people can focus on the next chapter of their lives.”
The reforms will also aim to boost professional standards across the housing sector.
A new mandatory Code of Practice for estate agents and conveyancers is being proposed, along with the introduction of side-by-side performance data to help buyers choose trusted professionals based on expertise and track record.
The government said a full roadmap for the changes would be published in the new year, forming part of its broader housing strategy, which includes a pledge to build 1.5 million new homes.
Housing expert Kirstie Allsopp, the presenter of Channel 4’s Location, Location, Location, told the BBC’s Today programme she was “really glad the government has grasped this nettle”.
She said it was important to focus on both the buying and selling sides, “because things fall through because buyers walk away just as much as sellers walk away, and I think that was a worrying element”.
The boss of property website Rightmove, Johan Svanstrom, welcomed the plans to modernise the system.
“The home-moving process involves many fragmented parts, and there’s simply too much uncertainty and costs along the way. Speed, connected data and stakeholder simplicity should be key goals.”
However, Conservative shadow housing minister Paul Holmes said: “Whilst we welcome steps to digitise and speed up the process, this risks reinventing the last Labour Government’s failed Home Information Packs – which reduced the number of homes put on sale, and duplicated costs across buyers and sellers.”
The announcement comes as the Conservatives are set to detail changes to its tax policy for first home buyers at the party’s conference in Manchester.
Shadow chancellor Mel Stride will announce proposals for a “first-job bonus” that would divert national insurance payments into a long-term savings account.
The party say it will be funded by cuts to public spending worth £47bn over five years in areas such as welfare, the civil service and the foreign aid budget.
TORIES will promise to introduce a US-style immigration force to deport up to 150,000 people a year.
Leader Kemi Badenoch will unveil the Conservatives’ toughest border policies yet at her first party conference.
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Kemi Badenoch, with husband Hamish, will unveil the Conservatives’ toughest border policies yet at her first party conferenceCredit: Reuters
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Illegal migrants would be banned from claiming asylum and refugee status will be for only those whose government is trying to kill themCredit: AFP
The plan is part of a policy blitz as the Tories try to stop haemorrhaging support to Reform UK.
Ms Badenoch will pledge to create a £1.6billion removals force like the hardline US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency.
Since President Donald Trump’s second term started in January, it has seen more than two million illegal immigrants either leave the US voluntarily or be removed.
As the party faithful gathered in Manchester, Ms Badenoch — who turned up hand-in-hand with husband Hamish — said: “We must tackle the scourge of illegal immigration to Britain and secure our borders.
“That is why the Conservatives are setting out a serious and comprehensive new plan to end this crisis.
“Labour offer failed gimmicks like ‘one thousand in, one out’.
“Reform have nothing but announcements that fall apart on arrival.”
The plan — if the Conservatives win the next election — would see all new illegal migrants deported within a week of arrival.
The “Removals Force” would be handed sweeping powers like facial recognition to spot them.
But she has been accused of mimicking Nigel Farage’s Reform policies with tougher stances on borders and net zero.
Insiders claim Tory MPs are holding on to letters calling for Ms Badenoch to quit so they can use them when she can be challenged after a year in office — on November 3.
But others expect a move would be more likely after May’s local elections.
Asked if they will topple Ms Badenoch after another bad performance at the ballot box, Shadow Energy Secretary Claire Coutinho told The Sun on Sunday: “Kemi’s had one of the toughest jobs in politics.
“If you’re someone who takes over a party after it’s lost an election, it’s a pretty rough ride.
“We’re now taking on energy and you’ll see even more from us on immigration.
“Those are the things that I think the public care about.”
But on the eve of the Conference, London Assembly member Keith Prince became the latest Tory to jump ship to Reform.
A Labour Party spokesperson insisted: “The Conservatives’ message on immigration is; we got everything wrong, we won’t apologise, now trust us.
“It won’t wash.”
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Ms Badenoch will pledge to create a £1.6billion removals force like the hardline US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agencyCredit: Reuters
The Home Secretary has vowed to do whatever it takes to secure the UK’s borders as she unveils a Farage-style crackdown on migrants.
The government will slap tough new conditions on migrants requiring them to prove they are valuable to society or face the boot, Shabana Mahmood MP said during a speech at Labour conference on Monday.
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Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood vowed to bring in much tougher requirements on migrantsCredit: PA
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Migrants will need to jump through more hoops in order to gain permanent citizenshipCredit: Reuters
The plans are Labour’s latest attempt to wrestle ownership of the immigration issue off Reform, which has led the debate and gained huge popularity.
In order to earn indefinite leave to remain (ILR), migrants will have to learn to speak a “high standard” of English, Mahmood said on Monday.
Most migrants can currently apply for ILR after five years of living in Britain – handing them the right to live here forever.
But that may soon double to ten years and be limited to those who pay National Insurance, Mahmood revealed in her first Labour Party conference speech.
Migrants will also be required to have a clean criminal record, not claimed benefits and prove a record of volunteering in local communities.
The Home Secretary promised to “do whatever it takes to secure our borders”.
She said: “Time spent in this country alone is not enough. You must earn the right to live in this country.”
Meanwhile, Mahmood slammed Mr Farage as “worse than racist… it’s immoral”.
Officials say the new “earn it” system will allow migrants to “earn down” the ten-year wait through positive contributions – or “earn up” if they fail to pull their weight.
But the crackdown does not apply retrospectively, meaning the so-called “Boriswave” of approximately 1.3million who arrived between 2021 and 2024 can still qualify for ILR after just five years.
The Sun’s Politics Editor Jack Elsom on Starmer saying Labour got it wrong on migration
It is understood Ms Mahmood is weighing a separate emergency fix just for them, though it may not be the same model.
One source close to the Home Secretary said: “For anybody who is in the country now, the new conditions don’t apply.
“But she is looking closely at what to do about the Boris wave, because she is concerned about what happens when that group passes beyond the five-year mark and automatically receives ILR.”
Lawyers have warned any retrospective move would spark fierce legal challenges.
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Mahmood unveiled a doubling of the time for migrants to receive indefinite leave to remain
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A Border Force vessel arrives at the Marina in Dover carrying migrants picked up at seaCredit: AFP
Ashley Stothard, Immigration Lawyer at Freeths, said on applying the ten-year rule retrospectively: “I think that change would be challenged by judicial review on the basis that it’s unfair.
“We saw a similar situation back in 2008 when the Government attempted to retrospectively change the criteria for the Highly Skilled Migrant Programme.
“That challenge was successful, and the new criteria were not applied to those already in the UK.
“The case upheld the principle that immigration policy should be fair and transparent. Migrants in the UK have a legitimate expectation that they can qualify for Indefinite Leave to Remain under the rules in place when they entered.”
Ms Mahmood yesterday warned Labour members they might not like her migrant crackdown.
She said: “In solving this crisis, you may not always like what I do. We will have to question some of the assumptions and legal constraints that have lasted for a generation and more.
“But unless we have control of our borders and until we can decide who comes in and who must leave, we will never be the open, tolerant and generous country that I know we all believe in.”
Nigel Farage’s anti-immigration Reform UK, which is leading in opinion polls, said last week it was considering scrapping “indefinite leave to remain”, and replacing it with a five-year renewable work visa.
Starmer accused Reform on Sunday of planning a “racist policy” of mass deportations, although he clarified he did not think Reform supporters were racist.
The prime minister has warned Reform UK “will tear this country apart” ahead of the Labour party conference.
Arriving in Liverpool on Saturday, Sir Keir Starmer said Reform’s plans to abolish indefinite leave to remain (ILR) for legal migrants was one of “the most shocking things” Nigel Farage’s party had said.
Sir Keir said the conference would be an opportunity to show Labour’s alternative to the “toxic divide and decline” offered by Reform.
He is under pressure after opinion polls show Labour trailing Reform UK, alongside speculation Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham could mount a leadership challenge.
But in an interview with the Sunday Times, Sir Keir insisted Labour could still “pull this round”, and said it was time for Labour to put in the “hard yards, roll up our sleeves and get on with it”.
Farage told the Telegraph, Sir Keir’s language “smacks, frankly, of total desperation” after the prime minister referred to Reform as an “enemy” in an interview with the Guardian.
“To call somebody in politics an enemy is language that is bordering on the inciteful,” he added.
Arriving at the conference centre in Liverpool, Sir Keir said it would be a “big opportunity to make our case to the country, and make it absolutely clear that patriotic national renewal is the way forwards – not the toxic divide and decline that we get with Reform”.
He continued the attacks as the conference got under way, telling the Sunday Mirror Farage was “grubby“, and that the Reform leader was “unpatriotic” for pretending he would fix problems that mattered to voters.
“Add to that that he spends more time grubbing around in America, trying to make money for himself than he does representing his constituents,” he said.
“He goes there not just to make money, but to talk our country down. The leader of a political party going to another country to talk his own country down. Grubby.”
Comparisons with Reform could be a theme of this conference, as Sir Keir tries to portray his party as a patriotic alternative to Reform, who continue to lead opinion polls.
Last week, Reform announced it will replace ILR with visas and force migrants to reapply every five years, if the party wins the next election. That includes hundreds of thousands of migrants currently in the UK.
Applicants would also have to meet certain criteria, including a higher salary threshold and standard of English. ILR is a key route to gaining British citizenship and allows people to claim benefits.
According to a YouGov poll published on Saturday, abolishing indefinite leave to remain divides the public, with 58% of Britons opposed to removing it from those who already hold it.
But more than 44% say they support ending ILR as a policy, while 43% are opposed to the idea.
During a visit to the office of newspaper Liverpool Echo, Sir Keir said: “These are people who have been in our country a long time, are contributing to our society, maybe working in, I don’t know, hospitals, schools, running businesses – our neighbours, and Reform says it wants to deport them in certain circumstances.
“I think it is a real sign of just how divisive they are and that their politics and their policies will tear this country apart.”
In an interview with the Sun on Sunday, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood said legal migration was a “good thing” and the UK had “always welcomed people who want to come and work here”.
However, she said migrants should make a “contribution to their wider community”.
“So I am looking at how to make sure that settlement in our country – long term settlement, Indefinite Leave to Remain – is linked not just to the job you are doing, the salary you get, the taxes you pay, [but] also the wider contribution you are making to our communities,” she added.
Speaking to teenagers at the Liverpool Echo visit, Sir Keir also insisted the government would not legalise cannabis, and defended his plans to lower the voting age to 16 in general elections.
“It already happens in Scotland, already happens in Wales, and the sky didn’t fall in,” he said.
Ahead of the Labour conference, backbench MPs and unions renewed calls to end the two-child benefit cap.
Several MPs from Liverpool were among those who wrote to Sir Keir ahead of the conference insisting the cap “is one of the most significant drivers of child poverty in Britain today”.
Two MPs – former shadow chancellor John McDonnell and Apsana Begum – have had the whip restored, after a year-long ban for voting against the government on the cap.
McDonnell told the BBC: “If this is a signal the government is going to scrap the two-child limit I’m really pleased.”
The prime minister’s plans for a new digital ID system, revealed on Friday, will also likely face scrutiny at the conference.
Senior Labour figures are meanwhile expected to set out the details of a fresh tranche of “New Towns” at the event.
Policy chief Zia Yusuf has led Reform’s drive to find savings at councils
A tech start-up investor is taking a leading role in Reform UK’s efforts to access sensitive data in a bid to identify savings in one council controlled by the party, the BBC has learned.
Harriet Green, the founder of Basis Capital, is helping Reform UK’s Department of Government Efficiency (Doge) find ways to cut costs at West Northamptonshire Council.
She is an entrepreneur whose firm invests in businesses that provide services and work with, or compete against, local government.
Local councillors have raised concerns about whether it is appropriate for Green to access council data and questioned whether businesses backed by Basis would gain an unfair advantage over competitors.
Green declined to comment. Reform UK did not respond to requests for comment.
The BBC has been told Green is the only person Doge has put forward to access data at the council in Northamptonshire so far.
Senior council officers are vetting Green as they consider a proposal to allow her to analyse records of spending on items such as IT systems and hotels housing asylum seekers.
When Doge was launched after May’s local elections, Reform UK said a team of software engineers, data analysts and forensic auditors would “visit and analyse” spending at all of the councils controlled by the party to find “waste and inefficiencies”.
But the unit has been hampered by legal constraints and has not been able to access any council data so far.
Doge has only visited three of the councils controlled by Reform so far. It’s planning to visit a fourth, Lancashire County Council, in October.
Reform UK sources say they see the proposed data-sharing exercise and Green’s role in it in Northamptonshire as a potential model for gaining access to sensitive information at other councils.
Green’s company, Basis, launched last year and describes itself as an “early stage investor reimagining what governments can no longer deliver”.
Basis invests in companies such as Civic Marketplace, which is a public procurement platform designed to connect government agencies with service contractors.
In an interview with the Spectator this year, Green said Basis was a private fund set up to “invest in companies that are building where the state is failing”.
“A loftier way of putting that is we’re trying to outcompete the state,” said Green, a former intern at the Adam Smith Institute, a pro-free market think tank.
LinkedIn
Harriet Green is a founding partner of Basis, as shown here on her LinkedIn profile
Councillor Daniel Lister, who leads Conservative opposition at the council, said Green’s role raised questions about potential conflict of interest given Basis’s stated mission and investments.
Lister said: “When a party unit opens the door to council data, it creates an inside track where firms built to outcompete the state will thrive.”
Jonathan Harris, the Liberal Democrat group leader, questioned what experience Green had in data handling and identifying savings at local authorities.
“There are questions not only about skill-sets but also about whether being involved in a Doge-type activity could provide some form of competitive advantage and access to information which others would not have,” Harris said.
“This would not be allowed under procurement rules for public bodies.”
The councillor said Doge and Green must be vetted by the council’s scrutiny committee if approval was granted.
Legal barriers
Doge is led by Zia Yusuf, Reform UK’s head of policy and its former chairman, and was inspired by billionaire Elon Musk’s efforts to cut government costs in the US.
It was set up in June this year after Reform UK took control of 10 local authorities in May’s local elections.
“Our team will use cutting-edge technology and deliver real value for voters,” Yusuf said.
But progress has stalled over data access and instead, Reform UK councillors are trying to find savings without Doge.
In Kent, a cabinet member for local government efficiency has been created, and the county council’s Reform leader has claimed potential savings worth millions have been identified.
Councils across England face significant financial pressures after years of tight funding.
Yusuf’s Doge has come closest to accessing data in West Northamptonshire, where in July the cabinet “approved a mechanism to review information sharing arrangements that could lead to potential future opportunities for identifying savings and efficiencies at the authority”.
In a report, the council said its executive leadership team had met “Reform UK visitors” twice to discuss “potential opportunities to share data with third parties for the purpose of identifying efficiencies and potential savings”.
The report said by law, local authorities must not “promote or publish any material to affect public support for a political party”.
“As the Doge offer is from and associated with Reform UK, a political party, this prohibition and the public law principles alongside it are of particular impact,” the report said.
The council said it understood members of Yusuf’s Doge team were “not employed by Reform UK” and had offered their services at no charge.
Council sources say they are still working through the vetting process.
In the meantime, the party insists the unit’s work is ongoing, pointing to deputy leader Richard Tice’s recent announcement about local government pension schemes.
Yusuf has frequently complained about “waste” in local government and the way in which contracts for services are procured, alleging a lack of competition and corruption.
In her interview with the Spectator, Green was asked whether the political appetite for US President Donald Trump and Doge filled her with confidence.
Green said: “I think there’s a UK-way of doing things that we haven’t felt out yet.
“I don’t think it needs to be brash or kooky or partisan. Those things give you a litmus for something maybe being timely and it’s a good opportunity.”
She added: “I’m not convinced that anyone in the public sector is incentivised in a way that gets good outcomes for the work that they’re doing.”
The County Championship is to remain a two-division structure of 14 matches per team after a vote rejected proposed changes.
Eighteen first-class counties were asked to choose between the status quo and a new system of a 12-team top flight, six in the bottom tier, with each team playing 13 matches.
The ballot returned a result on Tuesday, one day before the final round of this season’s County Championship matches begin.
A majority of 12 counties were required to vote for change in order to push through the reform, a figure that was not met.
The result of the vote means the County Championship retains its current structure of 10 teams in Division One and eight in Division Two, with two teams promoted and relegated between each.
It brings to an end a lengthy examination of the domestic schedule, conducted by the counties.
A revamp of the Twenty20 Blast, cutting the number of group games from 14 to 12 and bringing finals day earlier in the season, was agreed in August.
However, differing opinions among the counties about the way forward for the Championship have resulted in retaining the current set-up.
A number of proposals were put forward, including reducing the number of first-class matches to 12, a number favoured by the Professional Cricketers’ Association (PCA).
When it became clear the shift from 14 to 12 was dead in the water, the 12-team top flight with a 13-match structure was proposed.
The idea involved the 12 teams being split into two groups of six, playing each other twice for an initial 10 games. At that point, the two groups would be split in half to create two further groups of six that would play for the Championship and relegation places.
When I wrote last week about how immigration raids are targeting far more laborers than criminals, and whacking the California economy at a cost to all of us, I was surprised by the number of readers who wrote to say it’s high time for immigration reform.
The cynic in me had an immediate response, which essentially was, yeah, sure.
Bipartisan attempts failed in 2006 and 2014, so there’s a fat chance of getting anywhere in this political climate.
But the more I thought about it, nobody has done more to make clear how badly we need to rewrite federal immigration law than guess who.
President Trump.
Raids, the threat of more raids, and the promise to deport 3,000 people a day, are sabotaging Trump’s economic agenda and eroding his support among Latinos. Restaurants have suffered, construction has slowed and fruit has rotted on vines as the promised crackdown on violent offenders — which would have had much more public support — instead turned into a heartless, destructive and costly eradication.
I wouldn’t bet a nickel on Trump or his congressional lackeys to publicly admit to any of that. But there have been signs that the emperor is beginning to soften hard-line positions on deportations of working immigrants and student visas, sending his MAGA posse into convulsions.
“His heart isn’t in the nativist purge the way the rest of his administration’s heart is into it,” the Cato Institute’s director of immigration studies, David J. Bier, told the New York Times. Despite the tough talk, Bier said, Trump has “always had a soft spot for the economic needs from a business perspective.”
So too, apparently, do some California GOP legislators.
In June, six Republican lawmakers led by state Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares (R-Santa Clarita) sent Trump a letter urging him to ease up on the raids and get to work on immigration reform.
“Focus deportations on criminals,” Martinez Valladares wrote, “and support legal immigration and visa policies that will build a strong economy, secure our borders and protect our communities.”
Then in July, a bipartisan group of California lawmakers led by State Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa), followed suit.
Ochoa Bogh urged “immediate federal action … to issue expedited work permits to the millions of undocumented immigrants who are considered essential workers, such as farmworkers who provide critical services. These workers support many industries that keep our country afloat and, regardless of immigration status, we must not overlook the value of their economic, academic, and cultural contributions to the United States.”
State Sen. Suzette Martinez Valladares (R-Santa Clarita) sent President Trump a letter urging him to ease up on raids and focus on immigration reform.
(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)
Ochoa Bogh told me she heard from constituents in agriculture and hospitality who complained about the impact of raids. She said her aunt, a citizen, “is afraid to go out and carries a passport with her now because she’s afraid they might stop her.”
The senator said she blames both Democrats and Republicans for the failure to deliver sensible immigration reform over the years, and she told me her own family experience guides her thinking on what could be a way forward.
Her grandfather was a Mexican guest worker in the Bracero Program of the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s, ended up being sponsored for legal status, and eventually moved his entire family north. Since then, children and grandchildren have gone to school, worked, prospered and contributed.
If Trump were to respond to her letter and visit her district, Ochoa Bogh said, “I would absolutely have him visit my family.”
Her relatives include restaurateurs, the owners of a tailoring business, a county employee and a priest.
“We don’t want undocumented people in our country. … But we need a work permit process” that serves the needs of employers and workers, Ochoa Bogh said.
Public opinion polls reflect similar attitudes. Views are mixed, largely along party lines, but a Pew study in June found 42% approval and 47% disapproval of Trump’s overall approach on immigration.
A July Gallup poll found increasing support for immigration in general, with 85% in favor of a pathway to citizenship for immigrants brought to the U.S. as minors, and 60% support among Republicans for legal status of all undocumented people if certain requirements are met.
State Sen. Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, shown with Senate Republican Leader Scott Wilk in 2022, says constituents in agriculture and hospitality have complained about the impact of raids.
(Rich Pedroncelli / Associated Press)
So it’s not entirely surprising that a bipartisan congressional immigration reform bill, the Dignity Act of 2025, was introduced in July by a Florida Republican and a Texas Democrat. It would allow legal status for those who have lived in the U.S. for five years, are working and paying taxes, and have no criminal record.
Victor Narro, project director at the UCLA Labor Center, isn’t optimistic, given political realities. But he’s been advocating for immigration reform for decades and said “we need to continue the fight because there will be a time of reckoning” in which the U.S. will “have to rely on immigrant workers to assure economic survival.”
“Germany had to resort to guest worker programs when birth rates declined,” said Kevin Johnson, a former UC Davis law school dean. “We may be begging for workers from other nations in the not too distant future.”
“No side wants to give the other a victory, but there have got to be ways to close that gap,” said Hiroshi Motomura, a UCLA immigration scholar whose new book, “Borders and Belonging: Toward A Fair Immigration Policy,” examines the history and causes of immigration, as well as the complexities of arguments for and against.
“Practically and politically, there’s potential” for reform, Motomura said, and he sees a better chance for rational conversations at the local level than in the heat of national debate. “You’re more likely to hear stories of mixed families … and that kind of thing humanizes the situation instead of turning it into a lot of abstract statistics.”
Ochoa Bogh told me that when she wrote her letter to Trump, the feedback from constituents included both support and criticism. She said she met with her critics, who told her she should be focused on jobs for citizens rather than for undocumented immigrants.
She said she told them she is all for “American people doing American jobs.” But “we have a workforce shortage in the state in various industries,” and a U.S.-born population that is not stepping up to do certain kinds of work.
“I said to them, ‘You can’t keep your eyes closed and say this is what it should be, when there are certain realities we have to navigate.”
So what are the chances of progress on immigration reform?
Not great at the moment.
But as readers suggested, a better question is this:
Conservative MP Danny Kruger has become the first sitting Conservative MP to defect to Reform UK.
Kruger has been an MP since 2019, and sat on Tory leader Kemi Badenoch’s team as a shadow work and pensions minister.
“The Conservatives are over,” he told a press conference, sitting alongside Reform party leader Nigel Farage.
Kruger said he had been “honoured” to be asked to help Reform prepare for government, and said he hoped that Farage would be the next prime minister.
The East Wiltshire MP – who has said he would not be triggering a by-election – said the Conservatives were no longer the main party of opposition.
He said: “There have been moments when I have been very proud to belong to the Tory party”, but added: “The rule of our time in office was failure.
“Bigger government, social decline, lower wages, higher taxes and less of what ordinary people actually wanted.”
He added: “This is my tragic conclusion, the Conservative Party is over, over as a national party, over as the principal opposition to the left.”
Although he said he had “great regard” for Badenoch, he said the Tory party had a “toxic brand”, adding: “We have had a year of stasis and drift and the sham unity that comes from not doing anything bold or difficult or controversial.”
Describing his move leaving a party he has been a member of for 20 years as “personally painful”, he said his “mission” with Reform would be to “not just to overthrow the current system, it is to restore the system we need”.
Responding to the news of the defection, Badenoch said: “Danny has made his case very clear, that this is not about me.
“I can’t be distracted by that, and I’m not going to get blown off course by these sort of incidents.
“I know this is the sort of thing that is going to happen while a party is changing. I’m making sure people understand what Conservative values are.”
Kruger’s defection is damaging for Badenoch, not only as a Tory thinker and veteran, but also as the most significant among several from the party moving to Reform.
Speaking after the press conference, Kruger told the BBC he had come to the conclusion the Conservative Party remains “the same party that failed the people in the last government” and doesn’t have “any chance” of winning the next election.
A few weeks ago, Kruger said he agreed with Reform on many issues except public spending, telling MPs in July: “There is a problem: they would spend money like drunken sailors.”
Asked about his comment, Kruger said: “I think we’re all sober sailors now, I’m glad to say, because since I said that Reform have corrected their position on welfare spending.
“I was very concerned that we need to really reduce overall benefit spending… Nigel made clear he also wants to bring down overall benefit spending but he does want to support families with children.”
Kruger is the second sitting MP to join Reform UK. Lee Anderson, who was previously a Tory MP, sat as an independent before joining Reform in 2024.
Reform now have five MPs in the Commons, having seen two of their MPs elected in the 2024 general election, Rupert Lowe and James McMurdock, leave the party.
His previous jobs include serving as former Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron’s speechwriter, penning the “hug a hoodie” speech, and as former political secretary to Boris Johnson when he was prime minister.
Kruger spoke in a 2022 Parliamentary debate about the US’s abortion ban and told MPs he disagreed that pregnant women had an “absolute right to bodily autonomy” and that he didn’t understand why the UK was “lecturing” the US.
In 2023, Kruger was one of the speakers at a National Conservatism Conference, an event organised by a right-wing think tank from the United States, and made comments about the role of conventional family values in society.
The evangelical Christian told delegates that marriages between men and women were “the only possible basis for a safe and successful society” and one that “wider society should recognise and reward”.
Rishi Sunak, the Conservative prime minister at the time, distanced himself from the remarks.
Kruger is the son of TV chef Prue Leith and an Old Etonian, who studied at Edinburgh and Oxford Universities before becoming a director at the Centre for Policy Studies.
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “Nigel Farage can recruit as many failed Tories as he likes – it won’t change the fact that he has no plan for Britain.
“Britain deserves better than Reform’s Tory tribute act that would leave working people paying a very high price.”
Liberal Democrat deputy leader Daisy Cooper labelled the Conservative Party “a shell of its former self” and said Badenoch had pushed lifelong Tories towards her party “in their droves”.
“Nigel Farage’s party is shapeshifting into the Conservatives in front of our very eyes,” she said.
“It is getting to the point where the only difference between them is just a slightly lighter shade of blue.”
South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun (R) met with U.S. Sen Todd Young (L) to discuss the ‘urgent need’ for visa reform in the wake of the mass detention of South Korean workers at a battery plant in Georgia, Seoul’s foreign ministry said Friday. Cho also met with Sens. Bill Hagerty and Andy Kim this week. Photo courtesy of South Korea Foreign Ministry
SEOUL, Sept. 12 (UPI) — South Korean Foreign Minister Cho Hyun called on Washington on Friday to reform its visa policies to avoid a repeat of last week’s immigration raid and detention of South Korean workers at a Hyundai electric battery plant in Georgia.
Cho met U.S. Sens. Todd Young, Bill Hagerty and Andy Kim in Washington on Wednesday and Thursday to express the South Korean public’s “deep concern” over the arrests of its professionals, the ministry said in a statement.
Multiple agencies led by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested 475 people, most of whom are South Korean nationals, at a Hyundai-LG Energy Solutions battery plant near Savannah, Ga., on Sep. 4.
After being held for a week, 316 South Koreans and 14 other employees were released and departed from Atlanta on a charter jet late Thursday morning local time.
In his meeting with the senators, Cho “emphasized the urgent need for fundamental measures to prevent recurrence of such incidents and to protect our workforce from unfair treatment so that Korean companies can fulfill their investment commitments in the United States,” the ministry said.
He urged Congress to support visa reform, including the introduction of a new visa category for South Korean professionals on investment projects.
The senators “agreed that this incident should not negatively impact economic cooperation between South Korea and the United States,” according to the ministry.
“They welcomed the agreement between the two countries to explore long-term solutions, including the establishment of a South Korea-U.S. working group, to prevent similar incidents,” the ministry said. “They also pledged to explore necessary institutional support, including legislative action.”
On Thursday, South Korean President Lee Jae Myung called the immigration raid “perplexing” and said it could deter firms from making future investments in the United States. Lee touched on the subject during a press conference marking his 100th day in office, noting that South Korean firms regularly send skilled workers for short stays to help establish overseas factories.
The roundup came less than two weeks after Lee met with Trump in the White House, and has sparked widespread public shock and anger in South Korea. Seoul and Washington are looking to finalize a trade deal struck in July that includes a $350 billion investment pledge by South Korea.
Without visa reform, companies “will have to worry about whether establishing a local factory in the United States will be subject to all sorts of disadvantages or difficulties,” Lee said.
“Under the current circumstances, Korean companies will be very hesitant to make direct investments in the United States,” he said.
SIR Keir Starmer tried and failed to boot Ed Miliband from his Net Zero brief, it was claimed today.
The PM is understood to have asked the Energy Secretary to swap jobs and take over disgraced Angela Rayner’s housing department during Friday’s cabinet reshuffle.
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Ed Miliband was supposed to be moved to Housing Secretary in Friday’s cabinet reshuffleCredit: Getty
But the former Labour leader dug in, insisting he wanted to keep control over the green agenda.
Sir Keir has vowed to put growth centre stage as he battles to steady Labour amid grim polling.
His reshaped top team points to a shift rightwards, as he braces for a looming challenge from Nigel Farage and Reform.
Mr Farage and his Deputy Richard Tice have made scrapping Net Zero a central pledge of the party.
Reform has vowed to repurpose billions in green funding to tackling illegal migration and restoring law and order.
No10 this morning insisted the PM is “delighted” Mr Miliband will stay on at the Department of Energy and Net Zero, but did not deny Sir Keir initially tried to move him.
The PM’s spokesman said: “The PM has set out his new Cabinet and ministerial team — a team that is going to be focused on delivery, with growth as a relentless focus.
“The Energy Secretary has been central to that growth agenda. Investing in clean energy goes hand in hand with cutting peoples’ bills and boosting growth across the country.
“You can see that with the investments being made into CCUS all across the country, into solar, into wind farms.
“The PM is delighted he’ll continue to do that.”
Labour sources admit the Net Zero push has been stalling activity, while firms quietly hope workers’ rights reforms could be softened or delayed.
New Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden is preparing a fresh assault on the ballooning benefits bill, after Labour MPs scuppered the last attempt.
But Mr Miliband is seen as the head cheerleader for the “soft left” in Sir Keir’s cabinet.
His popularity with party members gives him the power make demands of the PM to ensure he cannot make trouble from the sidelines.
Sept. 5 (UPI) — Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s government has introduced a new tax reform bill in Congress to cover the $6.3 billion shortfall in the 2026 budget. It is the third tax reform of his administration and is intended to secure the $139 billion the state says it needs next year.
In 2022, Petro introduced his first tax reform, which was approved and raised $2.7 billion. In 2024, however, Congress rejected a similar proposal seeking $3 billion, leaving the 2025 budget unfunded and forcing the executive branch to issue it by decree.
The initiative, presented Sept. 1 by Finance Minister Germán Ávila, faces strong opposition in Congress and has become the center of a political battle over fiscal sustainability, public security and the finances of millions of Colombians.
The bill calls for higher taxes on high-income individuals and wealth, along with new levies on fuel, liquor and gambling. It would also tax foreign companies that provide digital services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and HBO.
Petro contends the bill seeks greater equity and will not affect the middle class or the poor, but will instead target the “mega rich.”
However, opposition leaders have rejected the measure, calling it poorly timed and harmful to the economy.
They argue that higher fuel taxes would raise food prices, directly affecting household budgets. They also criticize the government for imposing new burdens on citizens instead of cutting public spending.
On one of the most criticized points of the reform, Óscar Darío Pérez, a representative of the Democratic Center Party, said raising the income tax surcharge already paid by financial institutions — including banks, insurers and brokerage firms — 50% from 40% — would lead to more expensive loans or less access to the formal credit market.
Bruce Mac Master, president of the National Business Association of Colombia (Andi), has warned of a domino effect from the reform. He said it could raise production and transportation costs, hurting the country’s competitiveness.
“This reform will probably be the one that most affects Colombian families of all the projects presented in recent years,” Mac Master told local media.
Opposition lawmakers in Congress have vowed to block the bill, underscoring the governing challenges facing Petro, who needs support from the economic committees for the reform to advance.
“The government presents this only to follow the same strategy as last year. It puts forward impossible proposals and then blames Congress because this has no chance of passing,” Darío Pérez said.
“Colombia has a long history of tax reforms, with more than 21 attempts since 1990 and at least 14 significant reforms since 2000,” political analyst Mauricio Morris noted.
He added that each administration has pursued changes with different aims, from broadening the tax base to encouraging investment or confronting fiscal crises.
A Tannoy announcement was one of the first signs Reform UK’s conference agenda had been upended by events in Westminster.
The resignation of Angela Rayner had already threatened to distract from Nigel Farage’s keynote speech in Birmingham.
But when the Reform leader’s aides realised Keir Starmer was using that departure to start a full-blown cabinet reshuffle, they decided Farage should head to the stage almost immediately.
As the news blared out across the cafes and bars of the National Exhibition Centre, party members rushed to take their seats.
Reform conferences have become slick, big-budget affairs so few seemed surprised when pyrotechnics marked the leader’s arrival on stage.
“This government is deep in crisis,” Farage said, attempting to take advantage of Labour’s woes.
He argued that the cabinet were “wholly unqualified people to run our country.”
“They’re not fit to govern”, he said. “We are the party that stands up for decent working people, and we are the party on the rise.”
In an off-the-cuff speech, Farage claimed that instability on the left of politics meant that a general election could take place as early as 2027 – although Starmer is more likely to call one in 2029.
This seemed part of a wider argument that Reform should ramp up its campaigning activities and be prepared for all eventualities.
After the party’s success at May’s local and mayoral elections, he argued the 2026 races for the Scottish Parliament and Welsh Senedd would be “an essential building block” ahead of a UK general election.
PA Media
A fellow I’m A Celebrity alumnus Nadine Dorries made a brief cameo – the ex-Conservative cabinet minister repeated her claim that her former political party was “dead”.
Another Tory defector, Mayor of Greater Lincolnshire Andrea Jenkyns, told me she believed three more former Conservative MPs were in talks to join Reform.
The party’s annual conference is an increasingly professional affair and Reform’s sustained lead in the opinion polls has clearly been noted by public affairs professionals.
The most obvious addition to attendees this year was a coterie of lobbyists touring the venue trying to understand how they might work with a Reform-led government.
Yet the influx of corporate interests does not seem to have overshadowed the colourful – and occasionally camp – feel of the party. Where else would you spot former Tory MP and Strictly star Ann Widdecombe accompanied by a stern bodyguard, or former daytime TV star Jeremy Kyle wandering around the exhibition hall?
After dominating the domestic news agenda for much of the summer with pronouncements on illegal immigration, Reform’s 2025 conference has undoubtedly been overshadowed by the Rayner reshuffle drama.
The party and its members remain bullish about their chances in the years ahead.
Yet time can be a dangerous commodity in politics. Whether the next general election is in two years as Farage predicts or in four years’ time as is more likely, a lot can shift fast – including opinion polls.
Maintaining that lead is Farage’s biggest challenge.
“We will take that seriously”, he said, before adding that Reform would need 5,000 vetted candidates by next year.
Farage announced a new department to help Reform get ready for the possibility of government, and said the party’s former chairman Zia Yusuf had been appointed its head of policy.
He pledged “serious” cuts to the benefits bill and made the bold claim that he could “stop the boats within two weeks”. Farage gave no details as to how either might be achieved.
REFORM UK would win a 400 seat landslide if an election were held today, according to a new poll.
Nigel Farage is 15 points ahead of Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Government, as reported by The i Paper.
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Reform UK would win a landslide general election if one were held today, a poll has suggestedCredit: Getty
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Figures show 60 per cent are unhappy with Sir Keir Starmer’s performanceCredit: Getty
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Only 20 per cent of voters now say they would vote for Labour – whereas 35 per cent would cast their ballot for Reform.
The poll results mean Farage would win a general election with 400 seats if one was held today.
These figures have been dubbed as “catastrophic” for the PM’s party, as they continue to face backlash over the migrant crisis.
This issue was also reflected in the poll, with 41 per cent of applicants confessing they believe Farage could solve the problem – as opposed to 14 per cent who trust Starmer.
Meanwhile the Tories also trailed behind in the poll, with Kemi Badenoch only gaining 17 per cent of votes.
And, her party ranked last when it came to faith in battling the small boat crisis – with just 8 per cent admitting they believe she could put an end to it.
The party boss said the public mood over Channel crossings was “a mix between total despair and rising anger”, warning of a “genuine threat to public order” unless Britain acts fast.
Moment cop floors protester holding beer as clash breaks out in nearby Cheshunt after ruling that migrants can STAY in Epping hotel
Reform’s plan centres on a new Illegal Migration (Mass Deportation) Bill, which would make it the Home Secretary’s legal duty to remove anyone who arrives unlawfully, and strip courts and judges of the power to block flights.
Britain would quit the European Convention on Human Rights, scrap the Human Rights Act and suspend the Refugee Convention for five years.
Reform would also make re-entry after deportation a crime carrying up to five years in jail, enforce a lifetime ban on returning, and make tearing up ID papers punishable by the same penalty.
The scheme would also see prefab detention camps built on surplus RAF and MoD land, holding up to 24,000 people within 18 months.
Inmates would be housed in two-man blocks with food halls and medical suites – and would not be allowed out.
Five deportation flights would take off every day, with RAF planes on standby if charter jets were blocked.
The poll this week echos those conducted by YouGov, in which Reform was still 8 points ahead of Labour.
And, 37 per cent of voters say they are satisfied with how Farage is leading the party.
However, 60 per cent are unhappy with Sir Keir Starmer’s performance.
Robert Struthers, head of polling at BMG, said: “Nigel Farage’s net rating of +5 may not appear remarkable on its own, but it contrasts sharply with Keir Starmer’s figures which have dropped to a new low at -41. He’s now as unpopular as Sunak was before the election last year.
“The next election may still be some way off, but there’s no doubt these numbers are catastrophic for Labour. Unless things change, pressure for a shift in strategy and even Prime Minister will only intensify.”
Jack Curry, pollster at BMG added: “There is a striking consensus among the British public when it comes to the issue of small boats. The public sees no real difference between the current Labour Government and the previous Conservative government. Both are viewed as equally ineffective.
“That frustration is clearly fuelling support for Reform. When it comes to what people actually want done, the mood music is for a tougher approach. There’s strong support for protectionist measures like more border enforcement, stricter penalties and offshore processing. That’s especially true among Reform and Conservative voters.”
Sir Keir Starmer may well take a sip on a cold drink at the end of his summer holiday today after winning the Court of Appeal hearing.
But any delight from the Prime Minister’s will be extremely short-lived as he works through the practical ramifications of the controversial asylum hotel staying open.
Sir Keir and his Home Secretary Yvette Cooper have got through this legal battle but the knock-on effects are now huge.
The crux of the problems for the government are that they wanted to keep the Bell Hotel in Epping OPEN when so much noise has been created about CLOSING them.
Political opponents such as senior Tory Robert Jenrick hit out at Ms Cooper saying taxpayer money was used for this appeal.
He says this Labour government are on the side of illegal migrants who have broken into the country. Ex-Reform MP Rupert Lowe simply says Ministers must deport the illegal migrants.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch was also quickly out to react against the ruling saying it pits the rights of illegal migrants against the people who are seeing their communities ruined.
She also urges Tory councils up and down the country to “keep going” if they seek similar injunctions to close asylum hotels.
She pointedly adds in her response to the ruling: “The public can see exactly who is fighting to keep these hotels open. It’s Labour.”
The legal action will appear bizarrely to many to be in sheer contrast to the long-term plan to actually close these hotels, which are costing around £5 million per day.
Ms Cooper as part of the government appeal even used the European Convention of Human Rights to say she has an obligation not to kick migrants on the streets.
It’s all so messy when we’ve had a string of Labour MPs followed by party grandees including Lord Blunkett and Jack Straw questioning why we abide by Strasbourg rules.
The ruling, by three Court of Appeal judges, will only raise tensions with local communities who want to see hotels that are blighting communities closed.
Despite the pledge to close them, the public have yet to see alternative accommodation that will be provided to house thousands of migrants.
One person who will immediately take advantage of the ruling is Reform UK Nigel Farage. Look at the difference between his positioning and that of the PM.
On Tuesday this week, Mr Farage spelled out his plans to detain and deport thousands of migrants sending them on their way of deportation flight after deportation flight.
He will simply point at the PM and tell his growing legion of supporters that the PM wants the opposite of them.
The government wants to close these hotels step by step in a measured, practical way.
For the public, time and patience with the PM to deal with illegal immigration and the Channel small boats problem is running out. And running out quick.
Perhaps the PM will want to pour another drink before he heads back to Britain.
It also caused a ripple effect across the UK as more councils launched their own bids to boot migrants out of hotels in their towns.
But the Court of Appeal on Friday overturned the injunction following an appeal by the Home Office and hotel owners Somani – meaning the migrants can stay where they are for now.
It also gave permission for the Home Office to appeal against Mr Justice Eyre’s ruling not to let it intervene in the case as their involvement was “not necessary”.
It came after Home Secretary Yvette Cooper made a last-ditch bid to join the battle.
These include at least four Labour-run authorities, such as Wirral, Stevenage, Tamworth and Rushmoor councils.
A full hearing is scheduled for October to conclude whether the council’s claim that the use of the Bell Hotel to house asylum seekers breached planning rules.
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The poll revealed 40 per cent of Brits thought Farage’s mass deportation plans were possibleCredit: Getty
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Crowds gathered at the Bell Hotel again on FridayCredit: Alamy
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Protesters pushed past a barrier outside The Delta Marriott Hotel in Chestnut after the Court of Appeal rulingCredit: LNP
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Demonstrations outside The Roundhouse in Bournemouth, DorsetCredit: BNPS
