Keir Starmer makes late pitch to voters turning to Greens and Reform

Labour is braced for record-breaking losses in Thursday’s local elections in England, which could be decisive for Keir Starmer’s future as prime minister.In a message to voters on Thursday, Starmer said Reform’s Nigel Farage and the Greens’ Zack Polanski were “not fit to meet this moment of great global instability” and that only Labour was putting the national interest first.“Today when you put your vote in the ballot box, you face a clear choice,” he said. “Progress and a better future for the community you call home, with a Labour council working with a Labour government. Versus the anger and division offered up by Reform or empty promises from the Greens

Cameo, speeches, pushing gold bullion: how Farage has made millions since becoming an MP

“There’s no money in politics,” Nigel Farage complained almost a decade ago, describing himself as “53, separated and skint”.He has since proved himself wrong. In less than two years in parliament, Farage has brought in £2m, including hospitality, through speeches, presenting, writing news articles, promoting gold bullion – and even recording modestly priced Cameo clips for his fans. It seems that every £70 video counts when it comes to making cash.This is on top of his annual salary as MP for Clacton of almost £100,000, and forthcoming pension from the European Union of about £73,000 a year, which he will be able to claim next year when he is 63

‘Climate solutions will bring down bills and restore nature’: green issues and May elections

The defining issue of Thursday’s local elections, feedback from doorsteps suggests, will be the UK’s soaring cost of living. But voters should be told about the links between inflation and the effects of fossil fuels and the climate crisis – or the remedies they choose – may make the situation worse, green campaigners have warned.Ami McCarthy, the head of politics at Greenpeace UK, said: “With people’s bills and prices soaring from yet another fossil fuel crisis, these local elections have a global context – driven by the Iran war.“Getting the UK out of the fossil fuel doom loop and on to renewables would secure a stable and affordable supply of energy. Voters face a choice between parties that want to keep us hooked on expensive, imported oil and gas, and those that offer a way out of this cycle of insecurity

Scottish mum stuck abroad after baby falls foul of UK dual nationality rules

A British woman from Aberdeen has been stranded abroad after her 11-month-old baby was prevented from boarding a flight because of new rules regarding dual nationals.Sarah Schloegl was unable to board a Ryanair flight from Alicante last week after she went to Spain for a short break with her Austrian husband, Philipp, their three-year-old daughter and 11-month-old baby.Since February, British dual nationals have had to show a British passport or a certificate of entitlement of abode, costing £589, when they board flights, trains or ferries to the UK.Schloegl said she followed the news but was unaware of this change and argued it should have been displayed on posters in airports and on airline websites months before it happened so that passengers did not fall foul of the rule on return journeys.The first she knew of the rule change was when she got to the departure gate in Alicante

Green party threat to Labour in London laid bare in Starmer’s own back yard

In Highgate New Town, a north London housing estate whose brutalist architecture has been a fixture of film shoots, the enormous scale of the challenge Labour faces in the capital from the Greens was starkly evident.“I’ve always voted Labour. My entire family has, but it feels like a time for a change,” said Cynthia Boampong after opening her door to Lorna Jane Russell, for now the only Green member on the local Camden council but who could be returned after 7 May at the head of a much larger group. With support for Zack Polanski’s party expected to surge across the capital, nearby Hackney council is tipped to be the centre of a realignment of progressive voters, with polling suggesting the Greens could take the mayoralty and end up the largest party. The Labour bastions of Lambeth and Lewisham are also under siege

Affordable fresh food is the recipe for a healthy Britain | Letter

Your article on UK food prices being on track to be 50% higher by November 2026 (4 May), read alongside your editorial on unhealthy Britain (3 May) describes a single story from two ends. Food has become unaffordable and the households absorbing those price rises are getting sicker.By the time poor health shows up in the data, families have been cutting food quality, quantity and variety for years. The Bread and Butter Thing runs affordable food clubs from Maidstone to Northumberland, supporting more than 10,000 households each week. Last week alone, 439 new members joined our network