Don’t let Farage and Reform divide us, Labour’s Sarwar urges Holyrood leaders

The Scottish Labour leader, Anas Sarwar, has warned other Scottish political leaders not to spend the next Holyrood parliament “shouting about Nigel Farage”, saying his job is to ensure there is a credible opposition at Holyrood “that holds the SNP’s feet to the fire”.While the Scottish National party won a fifth successive Holyrood victory and ended up with 58 MSPs, Labour had its worst result since devolution in 1999, tying for second place with Reform UK as both parties secured 17 MSPs.Speaking for the first time since he conceded defeat on Friday, Sarwar said he did not believe it was Reform’s intention to do anything more than create division, and he said he would work with other political parties in the Scottish parliament that shared his views.Interviewed on BBC Scotland’s Sunday Show, Sarwar refused to be drawn on speculation about Keir Starmer’s future as Labour leader and batted away questions about his own position, saying: “I’ve got a job to do and I intend to do it.”He said: “If we think the next parliament is all about shouting about Nigel Farage, that only serves the purpose of those who want to use politics to divide us

Farage trying to avoid scrutiny over £5m gift from crypto billionaire, Labour says

Labour has accused Nigel Farage of attempting to dodge scrutiny as the Reform leader continued to face questions over the £5m gift he received from a crypto billionaire shortly before the last general election.Asked about the gift from Christopher Harborne on Sunday, the party’s deputy leader, Richard Tice, sought to present it as an irrelevance to voters and said it had complied with all the rules.When questioned about the Guardian’s revelation of the gift, which Farage had not disclosed, Tice insisted it had been a personal gift that did not need to be declared.“Nigel was not involved in politics at the time. He’s complied with all the laws,” Tice told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme

Plaid Cymru leader says he hopes to be made first minister as early as Tuesday

The leader of Plaid Cymru is hoping to become Welsh first minister as early as Tuesday after his party won a historic victory in the Senedd elections, soundly beating Labour and holding off Reform UK.Plaid fell short of winning a majority in the Welsh parliament but Rhun ap Iorwerth said on Sunday he hoped other parties would work with him and told UK Labour not to punish Wales over the result.Asked on BBC Radio Wales when he hoped he would be elected as first minister, ap Iorwerth said: “We’re ready to go as quickly as we can. We hope for it to be Tuesday. If there’s a delay it won’t be much

How could Labour remove Keir Starmer? Four possible routes

Many Labour MPs believe Keir Starmer will not survive as Labour leader for long enough to fight the next election. What they cannot agree on, however – even after a disastrous set of results in this week’s elections – is how his departure might come about.The Labour rulebook makes it notoriously difficult to unseat a party leader: none has been formally ejected in the postwar period, though some, including Tony Blair, have resigned under pressure from their own MPs.A curveball was thrown into the mix on Saturday when the backbencher Catherine West launched a leadership challenge.West, the MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet and a junior Foreign Office minister until she was sacked in the reshuffle last year, announced that unless a cabinet minister came forward to challenge Starmer for the leadership by Monday morning, she would do it herself

Phillipson: challenge to Starmer would be wrong despite election ‘kicking’

Labour MPs would be wrong to remove Keir Starmer, even though voters have given the party a “real kicking” at the ballot box and people feel “bitterly let down”, the education secretary, Bridget Phillipson, has said.Phillipson said Labour had been “too gloomy” and had made a mistake in trying to withdraw the winter fuel allowance, after the party lost control of about 40 councils and 1,500 seats at the local elections on Thursday.However, she said a leadership challenge from the Labour backbencher Catherine West would be “completely wrong”.West, a former minister, said she would begin collecting the 80 necessary names for a challenge on Monday. She is not widely considered a viable candidate but if she triggers a contest then other contenders such as Wes Streeting, Angela Rayner or Ed Miliband could come forward

‘Better the devil you know’: former Labour voters in Birmingham unsure about replacing Starmer

As Keir Starmer faces the prospect of a leadership challenge, former Labour voters in a Birmingham constituency were last week feeling nervous about what could come next.A month ago, the group from Birmingham Yardley had very little good to say about the prime minister, comparing him to a rat or a donkey. They said they felt he had let them down.But the same constituents sounded distinctly worried about the idea of Labour MPs getting rid of Starmer when they gathered for a second focus group convened by More in Common in the week of the local elections.Bob, an engineering manager, summed up what several members felt

Labour MP says she will trigger leadership contest by Monday if cabinet does not launch challenge – as it happened

Labour MP Catherine West said she will seek to trigger a leadership contest if a cabinet minister does not launch a challenge to the prime minister by Monday.West, previously a junior Foreign Office minister, said that if no leadership hopeful makes it known that the cabinet will seek to remove Keir Starmer, she will try to get the necessary signatures herself to trigger a leadership contest.The MP for or Hornsey and Friern Barnet told the BBC’s PM programme: “I’m putting people on notice – if I don’t hear by Monday morning of some leadership hopefuls, I will be asking everybody in the Parliamentary Labour Party to put a name against my name, because we need to get this ball rolling.“But my preferred option is for the Cabinet to do a reshuffle within itself, where there’s plenty of talent and for Keir to be given a different role, which he might enjoy, perhaps an international role, and then for others to come to the fore, who can communicate the message, who are very able, so we can have minimum fuss.”The Greens have toppled a huge Labour majority in Lewisham to take control of their third London council

MPs from Labour’s left to urge Ed Miliband to consider leadership bid

MPs from Labour’s left are expected to urge Ed Miliband to consider a leadership bid in the coming days, as Keir Starmer faced the prospect of a definite challenge from his MPs next week.Following grim results for Labour in elections on Thursday, the former minister Catherine West said that if no cabinet ministers went public by Monday, she would launch a bid to end the impasse.A series of Labour backbenchers called on Saturday for Starmer to set a timetable for his departure from Downing Street. The prime minister has reiterated his determination to stay on, saying on Saturday that a change of leadership would “plunge the country into chaos”.A number of Labour MPs from across the party support Andy Burnham replacing Starmer

‘I’ll talk to work on Monday’: what happens when a ‘paper candidate’ actually wins?

You would expect most political candidates who pull off a shock win to celebrate their victory, maybe with a glass of bubbly and excitement for the challenges of elected office ahead. But on Friday, as thousands of new councillors celebrated their triumphs, some surprise victors were less than pleased.Green party handlers apologised to one newly elected councillor in Finsbury Park, north London, put down as a “paper candidate”, who pulled off an unexpected win. “You’re going to be great, we’ll support you,” they said, according to the Islington Tribune.A paper candidate is someone who is fielded on the understanding that they are highly unlikely to win, to enable a party to appear on the ballot paper in as many places as possible