Crypto investor based in Thailand donates further £3m to Reform

Christopher Harborne has donated another £3m to Reform UK on top of his record £9m last summer.Nigel Farage’s party, which has been topping the polls for more than a year, brought in £5.5m in the last quarter of 2025 – outstripping all the other parties. It also included a £200,000 donation from JC Bamford Excavators – traditionally a Conservative donor – which gave the same sum to the Tories that quarter.The Harborne donations will bolster Reform UK’s war chest before the May elections, in which Farage will be hoping to make progress in Wales and across England where council seats are being contested

Wales Senedd elections are a ‘referendum’ on Starmer, claims Farage

Nigel Farage has described May’s Senedd elections as a “referendum” on Keir Starmer, as Reform UK gears up to battle Plaid Cymru for the chance to end a century of Labour dominance in Wales.Launching Reform’s election manifesto in Newport on Thursday alongside the party’s newly appointed Welsh leader, Dan Thomas, Farage said: “It’s a Welsh election, but I’m afraid, whether you like it or not, it doubles up as a referendum on Keir Starmer’s premiership. 7 May will end Labour dominance in Wales and in particular the valleys. And, if we get this right, we will get rid of the worst prime minister any of us have seen in our lifetimes.”Support for Reform in Wales has surged as Welsh Labour struggles with a 26-year-long incumbency and an unpopular leader in Westminster, although Plaid Cymru are ahead of Reform in most polls

Most Reform members believe non-white UK citizens born abroad should be forced or encouraged to leave, poll finds

More than half of Reform UK members believe non-white British citizens born abroad should be deported or encouraged to leave, according to the first publicly available poll of those in Nigel Farage’s party.The findings come as the Reform leader attempts to court centre-ground voters while facing pressure from his right flank, including a hardline new party launched by Rupert Lowe, who left Reform after falling out with Farage.According to the research published by the anti-racism group, Hope Not Hate (HnH), 54% of Reform members thought non-white British citizens born abroad should be forcibly removed or encouraged to leave, while one in five (22%) also supported it for non-white citizens whose parents were born in the UK.Survation, a respected polling company, surveyed 629 Reform members between 29 January and 16 February. Reform said in December that it had about 270,000 paid-up members

Starmer says UK ‘not joining strikes’ on Iran but will continue defensive action – as it happened

In a statement that stressed Britain was not involved in the initial wave of attacks on Iran, Starmer said that the country will not join the US and Israel in offensive strikes. Instead the UK will focus on “defensive actions”.Starmer added that the US will use British bases for similar purposes, with a goal of destroying Iran’s capability to fire more missiles.“We were not involved in the initial strikes on Iran, and we will not join offensive action now, but in the face of Iran’s barrage of missiles and drones, we will protect our people in the region, and support the collective self-defence of our allies, because that is our duty to the British people,” he said.“It is the best way to eliminate the urgent threat, to prevent the situation spiralling further, and support a return to diplomacy

Transparency fears over plan to redact 2,000 staff names on Commons register

MPs are planning to redact the names of 2,000 parliamentary staff from an official register that has been in place for decades, in a move that experts say will reduce transparency around lobbying by passholders.The proposal has been put forward by the House of Commons standards committee after evidence sessions held in private with staff unions, which raised concerns about the safety of those working for MPs.It would put the Commons out of step with the House of Lords and legislatures in the EU and US, which list most staff members in the interests of transparency.Under the present system, in place since 1993, about 2,000 staff members working for MPs put their names and any financial interests on a register.Parliament had decided to widen the register to about 4,000 staff to include those who have access to the parliamentary online network and may be working in constituency offices

‘He’s no Winston Churchill’: why Starmer can shrug off Trump’s insults over Iran

It was perhaps the most attention-grabbing moment of prime minister’s questions. Responding to yet another Conservative salvo about his approach to Iran and how it might affect ties with America, Keir Starmer was direct.“American planes are operating out of British bases – that is the special relationship in action,” he said. “Sharing intelligence every day to keep our people safe – that is the special relationship in action. Hanging on to President Trump’s latest words is not the special relationship in action