We need a voting system that serves citizens first and foremost | Letter

Your editorial (The Guardian view on Britain’s multiparty politics: the Westminster voting system needs to catch up, 6 May) summarises the position perfectly. But what about a solution?Fortunately, this has been thought of by the all-party parliamentary group for fair elections. This has been Westminster’s largest APPG since its formation a few months after the 2024 general election. More than half of its 159 members are Labour MPs, but it also includes Liberal Democrats, Greens, the SNP, Plaid Cymru, an independent and a Conservative vice-chair.The APPG is calling for the government to urgently set up a national commission on electoral reform, with a ready-made terms of reference setting out how to go about it

Investment is key to the renationalisation debate | Letters

If Julian Coman is old enough to remember the privatisation of British Gas (Reversing Thatcher’s failed legacy of privatisation can be a Labour vote-winner. If you see Keir, tell him, 5 May), he’ll surely also remember the running national joke that was British Rail, or the six-month wait to have a landline installed by the publicly owned British Telecom.His “private ownership bad, public ownership good” analysis overlooks the key point that, under either ownership model, what matters is the level of investment in the service.Pressure on regulators by successive governments to suppress investment allowances in the interests of keeping down utility bills has dwarfed the behaviours of some owners as factors in determining service levels.To argue that renationalisation will deliver substantial improvements requires one also to identify where in its over-stretched budgets the government will find the billions of pounds of extra investment on top of those currently being provided by private investors

Letter: Sir Hayden Phillips obituary

Sir Hayden Phillips took delight in nurturing and encouraging younger, junior staff – a rare quality in any walk of life.In establishing in 1992 the Department of National Heritage, where I worked for him setting up the national lottery, he created a flatter structure by removing a senior layer, so giving us all more responsibility. It was a thrilling and joyous place to work, attracting people from across Whitehall.Without the freedom that Hayden gave, and the ambition that he stimulated, I and many others would not have had the careers we had. The civil service has never consistently shone at inspirational leadership, but Hayden truly loved his staff, supported and helped them

Desperate to please but pleasing no one, Starmer’s latest reset could be his last | John Crace

Was that it? Reset number … I forget where we’re up to now. Much the same as the last reset. And probably much the same as the next reset. That’s if there is one. The signs are that most Labour MPs think they’ve seen enough

Seven people barred from coming to UK for far-right rally

Seven people hoping to attend a far-right rally in central London on Saturday have been blocked from entering the country by the home secretary, Shabana Mahmood.Keir Starmer, the prime minister, promised on Monday to block “far-right agitators” hoping to attend the Unite the Kingdom event on 16 May organised by Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon.Joey Mannarino, a US-based commentator, and Valentina Gomez, a Maga influencer, had their authorisation to enter the UK withdrawn on the grounds that their presence “would not be conducive to the public good”. The identities of the other five banned people are not known.In a speech aimed at resetting his premiership, Starmer said he would ban extremists from coming to Britain to speak at the nationalist march on Saturday

Catherine West backs down from Starmer challenge but urges him to go by September

Catherine West, the Labour MP who announced a challenge to Keir Starmer’s leadership, has changed course to say she instead wants the prime minister to set a timetable of September for his departure.West, the MP for Hornsey and Friern Barnet and a former Foreign Office minister, announced on Saturday that she would seek to gather the 81 Labour MPs’ names needed to formally challenge Starmer, saying this was just a device to tempt others to stand and that she did not wish to take over.In a statement released after Starmer’s speech on Monday morning in which he said he would fight on despite terrible results for Labour in elections last week, West called for an orderly process for Starmer to depart. She said: “I have listened to the prime minister’s speech this morning. I welcome the renewed energy and ideas

What did Keir Starmer say in ‘last chance’ speech to save his premiership?

Keir Starmer’s speech and press conference on Monday morning was almost universally billed as his final chance to save his premiership. Was it enough? And what – if anything – did he actually offer?This is a line that could have appeared in any Starmer speech of the last 12 months, but this time a lot of Labour MPs would have wanted something new and substantial in policy terms to back it. And there was not.Yes, there was a lot of passion, and a lot of talk about fighting on. But the only policy offerings were either not new – a youth experience scheme as part of a reset with the EU – or already effectively the case, as with the announcement that British Steel will be nationalised

Starmer vows to prove doubters wrong as he tries to ward off leadership challenge

Keir Starmer has said he will prove his doubters wrong as he warned Labour was facing “very dangerous opponents” in a make-or-break speech, with leadership rivals on the brink of a challenge.Starmer said he would fight any leadership challenge and would not walk away from his responsibilities as prime minister.He promised he would seek a new deal with the EU including a sweeping youth mobility scheme, as well as nationalising British steel and promising a beefed-up youth guarantee of jobs and apprenticeships.But he warned his critics in the party they risked opening the door to Nigel Farage’s Reform UK party and said it was time to take a more robust approach to the right.“We are not just facing dangerous times, but dangerous opponents, very dangerous opponents,” he said, saying Labour was the last defence against the country heading down a “very dark path”

Starmer faces fight to survive as Streeting and Rayner eye leadership bids

Keir Starmer faces a fight for his political life in the next 24 hours as potential Labour leadership rivals, from Wes Streeting to Angela Rayner, begin positioning themselves for a contest.Starmer is hoping to save his job on Monday with a speech promising to “face up to the big challenges” for the country on growth, energy, defence and Europe.However, his prospects of staying in No 10 appeared to be fading on Sunday after about 40 Labour MPs called for him to set a date to step down, including many backers of the Greater Manchester mayor, Andy Burnham, who hope to pressure the prime minister into resigning.Leadership contenders were circling after a disastrous set of local election results in which the party lost support to Reform UK and the Greens. One ally of Streeting said: “Wes isn’t going to challenge Keir but he is preparing in case it all falls apart