Readers react to warnings that renters, students and other groups appear to be shunning the ballot box

It is hardly surprising that there has been a huge reduction in voting by people in rented accommodation, excluded and vulnerable groups, and students ( Turnout inequality in UK elections close to tipping point, report warns, 1 January ). The Tories introduced voter ID in the face of evidence that voter fraud in the UK is rare. This was a blatant attempt to undermine the basic human right in a democracy: that everyone has the opportunity to vote even if it is just once in every five years.

Our politics always fails to deliver for the people who have the least stake in our society and our electoral system continues to deliver disproportionate outcomes, never more so than in 2024. The Tories and Labour are financed by big money and corporate interests that have no interest in the voices of marginalised people.

Continue reading...

No 10 has previously said little about inflammatory claims from Elon Musk but issue likely to dominate questions today after major speech on NHS

Good morning. Prime ministers like to focus on what they think is important and there are few issues more important in the UK than the state of the NHS. On his first proper day back at work after the Christmas holidays, Keir Starmer is giving a speech on this, and Andrew Gregory has previewed it here.

I’ll be covering the speech, and reaction to it, in detail as the day goes on.

The prime minister is expected to respond to [Musk’s claim that he was “complict in the rape of Britain”] on Monday as he holds a major press conference about his plans to cut NHS waiting lists. He is expected to say that he gave the “green light” to prosecuting paedophile gangs in Rochdale in 2013 and highlight the fact he introduced reforms to the way the Crown Prosecution Service handles child abuse cases. He also introduced a national network of specialist prosecutors to look into child abuse and sexual exploitation.

The prime minister is also likely to issue a forthright defence of Phillips and the work she has done in tackling violence against women and girls. Both Labour and the Tories have said that Musk’s comments about Phillips are inaccurate.

Continue reading...

Dame Louise Casey must not allow the review she is leading to become another means of deferring change

The lack of action, or even a clear direction, on social care reform in England was a disappointment of Labour’s first six months in office. With the recruitment of Dame Louise Casey to lead a review, the government has now made up its mind on how to approach one of the stickiest policy questions. But the proposed timeline is far too extended. By ordering further investigation of the issues, rather than setting out proposals, the health secretary, Wes Streeting, and his colleagues have opted to preside over dysfunction for several more years.

The upshot is that the problems it causes will continue to mount up, both for the unlucky people who need the most expensive forms of care and for overstretched parts of the health service. Mr Streeting says that changes will begin to be set in train next year, when Dame Louise delivers interim findings. Failure to follow through on this commitment would be a shocking dereliction of duty by a government that was elected on the back of promises to strengthen public services, particularly in light of the impact on hospitals of social care shortages.

Continue reading...

Redundancies follow Labour abandonment of previous government’s plan to send asylum seekers to east Africa

Hundreds of guards employed to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda have been told their jobs are being cut, the Guardian has learned.

About 280 Home Office contractors were informed on Friday that their roles were being made redundant because Labour has ditched the previous government’s controversial scheme to send asylum seekers to Rwanda.

Continue reading...

Previous government spent almost £1m trying to prevent release of documents in 56 legal cases

More than £50,000 of taxpayers’ money was spent on lawyers to try to prevent the release of a safeguarding review ordered after a disabled man starved to death in his own home.

The costs were part of a bill of nearly £1m spent under the last government to prevent the release of various documents under the Freedom of Information (FoI) Act.

Continue reading...

Exclusive: Sarah Owen warns Reform MPs are making task of strengthening UK communities more urgent

The Conservative government’s relentless focus on small boat crossings and delays processing asylum claims played a role in stoking August’s UK riots, the chair of the Commons equalities committee has said.

The Labour MP Sarah Owen, whose committee has launched an inquiry into improving community cohesion after the unrest, warned that Reform UK MPs were also making the task of strengthening communities more urgent.

Continue reading...

Venetia Caine and Philip Wood suggest ways to reorganise the upper house, while Michael Meadowcroft points to a report that offered practical solutions back in 2007. Plus a letter from Chris Rennard

I’m sure that your editorial ( 25 December ) is right that one of the reasons reforming the House of Lords is taking so long under this government is that there is no clear path ahead, after abolition of the hereditary peers. A fundamental principle is to retain the revising role of the upper chamber. To that end, it needs great expertise. It should, of course, be largely elected, but that would not necessarily ensure that expertise. It should also not be too large and should have continuity.

So here is what I suggest should happen: each parliamentary constituency should be joined with an adjacent one, and those 300-plus each elect one member. These would constitute three-quarters of the upper house. They would have their places for 15 years, with elections of one-third every five years, the initial and second thirds to be decided by lot.

Continue reading...

Researchers find the Lib Dem leader, Ed Davey, is further to the political left than the UK prime minister

• UK politics live – latest updates

Keir Starmer is one of Labour’s most rightwing members of parliament, according to a study of the political positions of the MPs from every major party.

The prime minister is less leftwing than almost all of his 401 Labour colleagues, according to the research by Chris Hanretty, a professor of politics at Royal Holloway, University of London.

Continue reading...

The pair are caught up in a row after the Tory leader accused Reform of faking its membership numbers

Allies of Kemi Badenoch have dismissed as “nonsense” claims that she asked GB News to cut airtime for Reform leader Nigel Farage.

The claims that Badenoch raised the issue of Farage’s prominence on GB News follows a row in which the Tory leader accused Reform of faking its membership numbers.

Continue reading...