Labour group tells MPs they must be on YouTube and TikTok
Confidence in the government will not improve unless they get their faces and ideas on online media platforms including YouTube, a group of Labour MPs has warned colleagues.The Labour Growth Group of about 110 MPs is working with leading podcasters and popular figures to help Labour backbenchers become influencers in their own right, amid concerns that toxic narratives about the party’s agenda, its politicians and its policies are going unchallenged.The LGG is understood to be seeking to develop the new intake of MPs to ensure the future parliamentary Labour party contains politicians confident enough to express a variety of views to engage an array of audiences, and to prepare them for ministerial roles.Those involved are working with a popular British YouTuber with more than a million followers who has already provided a trial media clinic.The MPs were told they could only challenge internet creators – who are largely rightwing and male – by neglecting the Whitehall obsession with traditional “establishment media”.
A Labour figure with knowledge of the plans said: “We’ve got to face up to the fact that today’s media landscape is not the same as 1997’s.We have to be where people are – and especially for young men and those considering populist alternatives, that’s on new media.“Low trust in politics, low turnout, lack of sense of delivery – those aren’t things we are going to change with a nice Times headline.We have to be in people’s faces constantly on YouTube and on TikTok.That is a skill we need to be nurturing within Labour and the PLP.
“If we continue to leave a vacuum in these spaces, that’s where we get toxic narratives emerging and going unchallenged, it’s where people’s real concerns get jumped on and twisted.This is not something we can afford to ignore.”The LGG approached the economist and YouTuber Gary Stevenson, who runs the multi-platform channel Gary’s Economics, in hope of engaging in a debate with the former financial trader about the government’s plans to raise living standards and end economic decline.The approach prompted Stevenson, whose channels push content out to millions of subscribers, to publish a 15-minute video titled Labour want to come on Gary’s Economics, should I let them?, which within a week was collectively viewed by about a million people.Labour figures have long acknowledged the appeal young MPs such as Zarah Sultana have with a specific portion of the electorate, given some of Sultana’s posts are viewed hundreds of thousands of times on TikTok and Instagram, but insist it is time for the centre left to fill a vacuum on new media.
The YouTube star who advised Labour MPs said they could better their chances at the next election if they focused on creating viral moments on typically anti-establishment new media platforms that people could refer back to in years to come.Sign up to Headlines UKGet the day’s headlines and highlights emailed direct to you every morningafter newsletter promotionA further Labour insider said the group believed they would have more success with external help than relying on the machinery of government, which relies on advisers and senior politicians needing to give content signoff, creating delays.The LGG is expected to have a project in place in time for the autumn budget, when the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is rumoured to be implementing tax rises.“We need Blue Labour people, left people, people who want to discuss plans to build, build, build so we have a project that is creative, filled with people who have a different risk appetite and a lot less rigidity in their message,” the party insider said.Chris Curtis, the Labour MP for Milton Keynes and a co-chair of the LGG, said: “The centre left of politics has up to now failed to effectively establish a foothold in the online media ecosystem and we know we’ve got to change that.
Right now we’re simply ceding the ground while algorithms mainline misogynistic and far-right content.We’ve got to get on the pitch to have a chance at taking that on.”
Patrick Harvie to stand down as co-leader of Scottish Greens
Patrick Harvie, the UK’s longest serving parliamentary leader, has announced he is standing down as co-convener of the Scottish Greens after nearly 17 years in the role.An MSP since 2003, Harvie, 52, had recently taken leave of absence from Holyrood for an operation and recuperation. He announced on Wednesday he would not contest this summer’s party leadership election.The MSP said it had been “an extraordinary privilege” to have led the party. He became the first Green politician in the UK to serve in government, along with his co-convener, Lorna Slater, in a power-sharing deal he brokered with Nicola Sturgeon in 2021
UK prepared for all eventualities, says Starmer as new Trump tariffs loom
The UK has “prepared for all eventualities” when it comes to looming US tariffs, with no response ruled out, Keir Starmer has told MPs before Donald Trump’s so-called liberation day, which could spark a global trade war.Challenged by Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, at prime minister’s questions on Wednesday, Starmer said while all options were being considered, he would avoid any kneejerk reactions.Starmer told the Commons in his opening remarks: “Let me be clear with the house, a trade war is in nobody’s interest, and the country deserves, and we will take, a calm, pragmatic approach.“That is why constructive talks are progressing to agree a wider economic prosperity deal with the US. That is why we are working with all industries and sectors likely to be impacted
UK won’t engage in ‘kneejerk’ response to Trump tariffs, says minister
The UK government will not engage in a “kneejerk” response to any tariffs imposed by Donald Trump, as it warned there would be a “difficult period” ahead in trade relations with the US and called for calm.The US president is to announce his latest round of tariffs on Wednesday – which he has called “liberation day” – sparking concerns over a global trade war.The prime minister, Keir Starmer, and the chancellor, Rachel Reeves, will face questions from MPs in parliament before the anticipated new tariffs that could derail their economic plans.Speaking before the announcement, Bridget Phillipson, the education secretary, said the government had been “working through every eventuality”.“We do recognise this is likely to be a very challenging period,” she told BBC Breakfast
Disabled MPs speak of difficulties they face working in UK parliament
MPs with disabilities have spoken about the challenges they face working in parliament, criticising the “insane” lack of provisions and arcane, time-consuming procedures.Lucy Powell, the Commons leader, who also chairs its modernisation committee, said she would be “very in favour of” bringing in call lists for when MPs will speak, one of the adjustments called for by MPs in the committee. Such lists are used for ministerial questions but not for debates, beyond a period during Covid.Powell was speaking after the committee heard evidence from a series of current and former MPs with disabilities about the difficulties of working in the parliamentary estate. Marie Tidball, a Labour MP elected in 2024, said she had been given an accessible office and that staff and party whips had been very helpful but said the method of speaking in Commons debates was very hard for her
Kemi Badenoch gives credence to race-swap conspiracy theory about Adolescence but admits she hasn’t watched it – as it happened
Kemi Badenoch has given credence to a conspiracy theory about the Netflix hit Adolescence being based on a real story, but involving a black boy not a white boy.This has been described as wholly untrue by Jack Thorne, the writer and co-creator of the series, which has been praised by Keir Starmer for the way it has opened up a debate about the radicalisation of young men.Starmer met Thorne, and some of the shows other creators, in Downing Street this week, along with charities engaged in child protection, and the PM said he would like as many pupils as possible to watch the series.The four-part drama is about a 13-year-old boy arrested for the murder of a girl at his school. The Guardian’s reviewer described it as “the most devastating and immaculately scripted and played series I have ever seen – as close to televisual perfection as you can get”
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