Nigel Farage told to ‘come out of hiding’ over alleged election overspending

Nigel Farage is facing a possible second investigation into allegations he overspent on his Clacton election battle by £9,000 after the official watchdog said it was assessing the claims.The Electoral Commission was asked by Labour to look into Reform UK’s election expenses after a whistleblower told the Daily Telegraph that the party failed to declare spending on leaflets, banners, utility bills and refurbishment of a bar in its Clacton campaign office.Anna Turley, the Labour party chair, called on Farage to “urgently come out of hiding” and explain whether his party spent more than the £20,660 limit for campaigning.In a reply, the commission said it was “considering your letter and assessing other information in accordance with our enforcement policy to determine if there are any potential failures to comply with the Political Parties, Elections and Referendums Act 2000”. Essex police is also currently assessing the allegations

£570m cost of Erasmus is ‘money coming back to UK’, says minister – as it happened

Rejoining Erasmus will cost the UK £570m. In an interview this morning, Nick Thomas-Symonds, the Cabinet Office minister who is in charge of post-Brexit relations with the EU, defended this on the grounds that the money would be “coming back” to the UK.He said:We’ve agreed that there will be a 30% discount for the UK’s participation. And that is, of course, money that is then, as it were, coming back.It’s making sure that there are students and young people, indeed people of other ages across the UK, who are benefiting from it

A black swan event: Keir actually cracked a good joke at PMQs | John Crace

Whisper it softly, but Keir Starmer made a joke. A good one at that. MPs from most corners of the Commons even laughed. Genuine laughter. Not the contrived partisan guffaws you usually get at prime minister’s questions that makes the public howl in despair

BMA accused of hypocrisy as its own staff threaten to strike over pay

The British Medical Association is facing a strike over pay by its own clerical staff, prompting calls of hypocrisy as NHS resident doctors in England launch five days of strike action with the union’s backing.Talks between the BMA and the GMB union failed to come to a resolution on Tuesday, raising the prospect of a strike by clerical and administrative staff at the health union in the new year, sources said.It is understood that GMB, which represents 75% of the internal staff at the BMA, are “getting ballot ready”, in reference to the prospect of getting backing for a strike.The BMA said it was facing “extremely challenging financial constraints” but offering above market rates of pay.As it sought to talk down the demands of its own staff on Tuesday, a second team of negotiators also failed to reach terms with the health secretary, Wes Streeting, over the demands of resident doctor members

Ex-Labour metro mayor and Your Party organiser Jamie Driscoll joins Greens

Jamie Driscoll, the former Labour metro mayor for North of Tyne who later played a role setting up Your Party, has joined the Greens, the party has announced.It comes two days after five Labour councillors in the north London borough of Brent defected to the Greens, saying they were disillusioned about the party’s direction under Keir Starmer.Driscoll, a former Newcastle councillor who served as mayor from 2019 to 2024, left Labour in 2023 after the party blocked him from running again. He stood as an independent, coming second to Labour’s Kim McGuinness.Driscoll was later involved in efforts to set up a new leftwing party in association with the former Labour MPs Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana, which eventually became Your Party

Nigel Farage told to apologise by 26 of his school contemporaries

Nigel Farage has been told to apologise for his alleged teenage racism by 26 school contemporaries who have written an open letter telling of their “dismay and anger” at his response in recent weeks.In a united challenge to the Reform UK leader, the alleged victims and witnesses condemn him for what they describe as his refusal to acknowledge his behaviour at Dulwich college.They also criticise him for saying their allegations about his past behaviour are politically motivated.“The accusation … is false,” the letter states.They call for Farage, who has denied “directly” targeting anyone with racist or antisemitic abuse or having “intent” to hurt anyone, to publicly recognise the events described