Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour has begun the new year with its lowest government approval rating to date, according to YouGov polling.
The pollster’s latest surveys suggest just 16 per cent of the public approve of the government, while 63 per cent disapprove, giving Sir Keir’s administration a net approval rating of minus 47 – just below that of Rishi Sunak’s government in May 2023.
It comes as Elon Musk continues his social media barrage, hours after Sir Keir Starmer condemned the billionaire’s “lies and misinformation” in a growing row over grooming gangs, with the billionaire claiming on Tuesday that his English grandmother might have been abducted in modern Britain.
The Tesla boss has launched a series of baseless attacks on the Labour government over grooming gangs, while also calling for the release of jailed far-right activist Tommy Robinson – a development which also saw him turn on Reform leader Nigel Farage on Sunday, claiming he “does not have what it takes” to lead the party.
Mr Farage said on Tuesday he would speak to the billionaire during a visit to the US this month to try to “mend any broken fences that might exist”.
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Key Points
- Keir Starmer’s Labour opens 2025 with ‘lowest approval ratings to date’
- Elon Musk claims his grandmother might have been abducted in modern Britain
- Errol Musk suggests British public are free to ignore his son’s interventions
- Nigel Farage says he will try to ‘mend any broken fences’ with Musk
- Tories urged to sack Robert Jenrick over ‘alien cultures’ comments
Grooming gang survivors being politically exploited, journalist warns
Journalist Andrew Norfolk, who exposed the Rotherham grooming gang scandal in 2011, has warned that survivors are being “exploited” for political purposes.
He told the News Agents podcast: “As justice secretary, Michael Gove was instrumental in changing the rules on which judges could sit on these complex cases. As director of public prosecutions, Keir Starmer changed the rules to enable more prosecutions.
“I genuinely think those individuals got it eventually and did their best to affect change for the better. And in many cases, we still have a very far from perfect system, and of course abuse is still going on and every single child that falls victim to these men is one child far too many.
“But to suddenly have this explosion of interest and calls for inquiries, it just feels all wrong to me.”
Asked if he feels survivors are now being used for political purposes, he said: “100 per cent. But the far right – that’s been the case since day one.”
He added: “It’s being used for the very wrong reasons. These girls .. are being exploited all over again. And for now politicians to jump on the bandwagon again when they’ve been silent for so many years just strikes me as a bit shameful.”
Andy Gregory7 January 2025 17:09
Minister defends Rachel Reeves’ upcoming visit to China
The UK must “sometimes be involved” with countries whose values “may not completely align with ours”, Foreign Office minister Catherine West has said, in defence of chancellor Rachel Reeves’s upcoming visit to China.
Referring to arrest warrants issued for pro-democracy activists resident in the UK by Hong Kong police, shadow foreign secretary Dame Priti Patel told the Commons: “Doesn’t this once again show this government’s supposed reset with China is just one way?
“Before meeting President Xi, the prime minister had said he wanted a relationship that is consistent, durable and respectful, and stated that the pair agree that there be no more surprises.”
She added: “Can the minister confirm with a simple yes or no whether the Chancellor is going to be raising these bounties at the highest level when she jets off to China next week to beg for a quick investment for the bailout of her failing economic strategy? She cannot ignore the human rights issues on her visit.”
Ms West replied: “We’re in a position where our economy is quite fragile and whilst we have very clear national security concerns – and today’s a really good example of those – we do have to balance those with being an outwardly facing and globally-trading nation, where we need to sometimes be involved with other countries where their values may not completely align with ours.
“So, I make no apologies for trying to support British business abroad, including in Hong Kong, where British businesses have said it is so lovely to see MPs visit us.”
Andy Gregory7 January 2025 16:40
Starmer backs minister caught up in corruption probe as standards watchdog investigates
Sir Keir Starmer is standing by his Treasury minister amid a standards watchdog probe into her links with the deposed former prime minister of Bangladeshi.
The prime minister has “full confidence” in Tulip Siddiq, who on Monday referred herself to ethics advisor Sir Laurie Magnus amid questions over her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who was removed from power after protests against her rule last year.
His spokesman repeated Sir Keir’s insistence that he is backing Ms Siddiq, whose job includes the responsibility for tackling financial crime, insisting that it is “now for the independent advisor to establish the facts” about her case.
Our political correspondent Archie Mitchell reports:
Starmer backs minister over corruption probe as standards watchdog investigates
The prime minister has ‘full confidence’ in Tulip Siddiq, who on Monday referred herself to ethics advisor Sir Laurie Magnus amid questions over her aunt Sheikh Hasina, who was removed from power after protests against her rule last year
Andy Gregory7 January 2025 16:12
Voices | Could this be the breaking point for the Trump-Musk bromance?
In a piece for Independent Voices, Anand Menon and Jonathan Portes write:
Civil war has broken out in the Trump camp. On one side, Elon Musk, unsuccessful presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and other tech entrepreneurs, many of them relatively recent recruits to the Republican Party. On the other, die-hard Maga supporters like Steve Bannon and Laura Loomer.
The casus belli? The “H-1B” visa programme – loosely the equivalent of the UK’s skilled work visa.
For Musk and co, the software engineers and the like who arrive with H-1Bs, they are essential both to the success of their own businesses and the US’s economic future – concepts they seem to view as largely synonymous. For Maga, however, they represent just another element of the plot by elites to flood the US with immigrants, boosting corporate profits, and undercutting American wages, while at the same time “replacing” white Americans of European origin with mostly non-whites.
Read the full analysis here:
Could this be the breaking point for the Trump-Musk bromance?
The president-elect’s die-hard Maga supporters are unconvinced by the first buddy’s insistence that US tech industries require an inexhaustible supply of young, skilled migrants from abroad – and the coming battle over work visas will prompt a mighty schism, say Anand Menon and Jonathan Portes
Andy Gregory7 January 2025 15:44
Government’s approval rating falls to new low
Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour has begun the new year with its lowest government approval rating to date, according to YouGov polling.
According to surveys from 4 to 6 January, 16 per cent of the public approved of the government, down one point from the previous week, while 63 per cent disapproved – giving Sir Keir’s administration a net approval rating of -47, just below that of Rishi Sunak’s government in May 2023.
The pollster also found that four in 10 Labour voters now disapprove of the government’s record to date, compared with 36 per cent who approve.
Andy Gregory7 January 2025 15:20
No 10 briefing room given £80,000 ‘politically neutral’ refurbishment
The government has spent up to £80,000 to make Downing Street’s press briefing room a “politically neutral setting” – after Boris Johnson’s administration spent £2.6m converting the space into a TV briefing room that opened in 2021, a move Labour at the time labelled a “vanity project”.
Mr Johnson had planned to hold White House-style press briefings in the room on camera, but scrapped the idea. The room has since been used to host press conferences as well as the daily lobby briefing for journalists.
The blue panels which had formed the backdrop to the press conference stage have now been replaced with wood panels with inlaid lighting. But in a sign the works are not yet complete, a rough wooden batten remained screwed to the central panel.
Asked about the refurbishment, the PM’s official spokesperson said: “A one-off refresh of the Number 9 media briefing room took place to restore the room to a politically neutral setting.
“The panelling restores the room back to its original state. As you will be aware the cost is obviously a fraction of what the previous administration spent on the room.”
Andy Gregory7 January 2025 15:05
Government considers making ketamine a class A drug after record use recorded
Ketamine could be reclassified as a class A drug as the Government seeks expert advice after illegal use surged to record levels last year.
In the year ending March 2023, an estimated 299,000 people aged 16 to 59 had reported use of the substance, which is currently controlled as class B, according to the Home Office.
Policing minister Dame Diana Johnson will write to the Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs asking whether its classification should be changed and “carefully consider” its findings.
The Home Office cited recent reports suggesting the substance is often found in so-called “pink cocaine”, a synthetic cocktail of drugs, as it announced the move.
The maximum penalty for producing and supplying ketamine is up to 14 years in prison.
In a prevention of future deaths report, she said keeping ketamine as class B would be “likely to encourage others to start to use it or continue to use it under the false impression it is ‘safer’”.
Jabed Ahmed7 January 2025 14:49
Tory ministers opened £1,500 bottle of Cognac in the dying days of the Sunak government
Conservative ministers opened a more than 100-year-old bottle of cognac from the government wine cellar in the dying days of Rishi Sunak’s administration, the Foreign Office has said.
Our Whitehall editor Kate Devlin reports:
Tory ministers opened £1,500 bottle of Cognac in last days of Sunak government
Also drunk was a bottle of port that a report on the government wine cellar said should be for ‘very special occasions only’
Andy Gregory7 January 2025 14:35
Starmer warned NHS overhaul will not work without fixing staff shortage
The country’s largest medical union has issued a stark warning on Labour’s planned NHS overhaul, claiming ongoing staffing pressures could undermine ambitious plans to reduce cut waiting lists.
Latest figures published by NHS England reveal there were 32,000 nurse vacancies last year, while Lord Darzi’s report last month showed there were almost 16 per cent fewer qualified GPs in UK than other comparitive countries.
The British Medical Association (BMA) fears the shortage could be worsened if Labour fails to focus on retaining staff – and has warned that a lack of staff could jeopardise the party’s plan to roll out more surgical hubs and extend the hours of community diagnostic centre hours.
“In terms of medical staff, if you’re taking medical staff from hospitals to work in a surgical hub or community diagnostic centre you’re just shuffling around the same people,” BMA consultant co-lead Dr Helen Neary told The Independent.
Rachel Clun has the full report:
Starmer warned NHS overhaul will not work without fixing staff shortage
Labour has unveiled a plan to overhaul the NHS – but experts say staff retention needs to be a major focus to tackle crippling waiting lists
Andy Gregory7 January 2025 14:16
Israel must act immediately to end man-made humanitarian crisis in Gaza, minister says
In the House of Commons, Foreign Office minister Hamish Falconer has said that the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is “man-made” and Israel “must act immediately to address it”.
During an urgent question on the situation in northern Gaza, he told MPs: “The UK condemns Israel’s restriction on aid in the strongest terms. The scale of human suffering is unimaginable. We have been clear this is a man-made crisis, and Israel must act immediately to address it.”
He added: “Air strikes within the designated humanitarian zone show there are no safe spaces left for civilians. Reports of up to eight children having died from cold weather conditions are unconscionable.
“It is unacceptable that many medical facilities are no longer in use or are inaccessible to humanitarian actors and we remain deeply concerned by reports of medics being killed or injured. I have raised this, and will continue to raise this with both the Israeli deputy foreign minister and Israel’s ambassador to the United Kingdom.”
Following shouts of “they don’t care” from opposition benches, Mr Falconer said: “The foreign secretary, working with his French and German counterparts, wrote to the government of Israel in November to press them to ensure adequate preparations for winter.”
Andy Gregory7 January 2025 13:59Newer1 / 6Older