Rhun ap Iorwerth: Plaid Cymru is ready to ‘lead the charge’ in Wales

The leader of Plaid Cymru has described the prospect of leading the next government in Wales as “a heck of a task” but that he senses voters are increasingly driven by their Welsh identity and may be ready for Britain to be “redesigned”.Speaking to the Guardian as he published a glossy 60-page “roadmap” for his party’s first 100 days in government, if it takes power in May, Rhun ap Iorwerth said he was ready to lead the devolved administration in Cardiff but would work with other parties if he did not win a majority.Ap Iorwerth said publishing the document at his party’s spring conference in Newport, south-east Wales, did not show he was complacent about this spring’s Senedd (Welsh parliament) elections, but that he was ready for power.“We want to persuade people of the seriousness with which we’re approaching the business of preparing for government,” he said. “It most certainly isn’t complacency

RAF jets flying defensive missions after US-Israeli attack on Iran, Starmer says

Keir Starmer has said RAF fighter jets are flying “in the sky today” to defend allies in the Middle East against Iranian retaliation after the US and Israel launched a bombing campaign aimed at regime change in Tehran.The UK did not participate in the first waves of strikes against Iran on Saturday morning and has no immediate intention of doing so, but fighter jets were running defensive operations from Qatar and Cyprus to shoot down any incoming drones and missiles.Iran launched an immediate counterattack, including strikes on Israel and Jordan as well as on US bases in Bahrain, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and Kuwait. British forces are located at the bases in small numbers.Details of the operations were scant, and the Ministry of Defence would not specify which countries and bases were being defended, though the UK recently boosted deployments in case there was an escalation of hostilities

Decision to allow UK exports to Armenian firm under review over Russian links

Ministers are reviewing a decision to allow a British company to export hi-tech equipment to Armenia after the Guardian uncovered links to the Russian military supply chain.Cygnet Texkimp, based in Cheshire, was weeks away from exporting two machines that produce carbon fibre “prepreg”, a lightweight material that can be used in a range of civil and military applications.Whitehall officials told Cygnet last year that it did not require a special licence for the shipment, signalling that the government’s routine vetting process for exports had raised no concerns about how the equipment could be used and by whom.But the trade minister, Chris Bryant, said he was putting the deal on ice, pending a review, over concerns that the machines could be deployed for military purposes. The material they produce can be used in the production of missiles and drones, crucial weapons in the war in Ukraine

Labour anxiety and accusations after big shift in Muslim vote to Greens

The Green party’s success at winning Muslim votes in Gorton and Denton has sent tremors through Westminster, prompting recriminations and accusations from opposition parties, who sense another major realignment in British politics.Experts say Hannah Spencer’s unexpectedly wide margin of victory was delivered in part by a significant shift of Muslim voters from Labour to the Greens.Labour and Reform UK have accused the Greens of playing sectarian politics, highlighting the party’s use of the Indian prime minister, Narendra Modi, in campaign materials, its endorsement by George Galloway and accusations of voter manipulation.Keir Starmer wrote to Labour MPs on Friday telling them: “[Their] divisive, sectarian politics is a sign that the Greens are not the harmless environmentalists they pretend to be.”But senior figures within Labour admit that the Greens’ ability to turn out the Muslim vote shows the leftwing party is starting to build the kind of finely tuned political machine on which they themselves have relied for years

‘Our own people hate us’: reality check for Labour as 13,000 majority vanishes

From the outset of the Gorton and Denton byelection, Labour strategists were desperate to say the party was on course to win, but the trouncing at the hands of the Greens has made this look laughable in hindsight.Hollie Ridley, Labour’s general secretary, sent a note to No 10 at the end of January saying it was “clearly a two-horse race” with Reform UK, and only 3% of voters were saying they would stick with the Greens.Later in the contest, cabinet ministers were dispatched to tell journalists things were “looking good” with the data and it was Labour’s biggest ever “get out the vote” operation to ensure victory.This misplaced optimism was mostly designed to make the voters of Gorton and Denton think that voting Labour was the best chance of defeating Reform UK’s divisive candidate, Matt Goodwin. It was a strategy built after Labour felt burned by Plaid Cymru winning a Welsh parliament byelection in Caerphilly and it began to position itself as the pre-eminent stop-Reform party

PM vows to ‘keep fighting’ after Greens sweep past Labour and Reform to win byelection – as it happened

Keir Starmer has vowed to “keep on fighting” despite Labour’s humiliating defeat in the Gorton and Denton by-election. Speaking to reporters, he acknowledged it was a “disappointing” result and that voters were “frustrated”, but insisted he would carry on. Asked if he had considered resigning, Starmer said: “I came into politics late in life to fight for change for those people who need it. I will keep on fighting for those people for as long as I’ve got breath in my body.”Starmer doubled down on the anti-Green party language he was using during the byelection campaign