Birleşik Krallık başbakanı (2024–görevde)
Burnham has a clear vision for Britain – but not for how it fits into a troubled world | Rafael Behr
The Labour leader has set out his plans with passion and ambition, but the story he tells lacks a vital chapter on managing global chaos Andy Burnham is at home at Labour conference, and not only because it is in Liverpool and he has Merseyside roots. The prime minister is native to his political tribe wherever it gathers. He is fluent in its sentimental vocabulary and indigenous to its folk traditions. Keir Starmer had solid Labour bona fides. He joined the party as a teenager. His parents named him after Keir Hardie. But he didn’t have Burnham’s knack for turning those red-team credentials into an emotional connection. Rafael Behr is a Guardian columnist Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here. Continue reading...
- Ekonomik25 Eyl
Healey appoints Labour manifesto writer, fuelling election speculation
Exclusive: Economist Ravinder Athwal who worked in Keir Starmer’s team is poached from Flint Global Business live – latest updates Ravinder Athwal, the economist who wrote Labour’s 2024 manifesto, is taking on a senior role as an adviser to John Healey, in a move likely to fuel speculation about an early general election. The chancellor is keen to beef up his team before the critical budget on 28 October, as the economy is buffeted by high oil prices and rising government borrowing costs. Continue reading...
UK shares damning climate crisis national security report suppressed under Starmer
El Niño poses critical threat to nations’ defences, says Ed Miliband in presentation to global foreign ministers The UK has warned countries around the world that the climate and nature crises and the coming El Niño threaten their national security and defence, presenting foreign ministries with the findings of an explosive report suppressed under Keir Starmer. Ed Miliband, foreign secretary, made a presentation to the foreign ministers of the EU as well as Kenya and other countries on Wednesday night at a private meeting during the UN general assembly in New York, based on the report by the UK’s spy chiefs that found the collapse of natural systems around the world would lead to conflict, migration and food shortages. Continue reading...
UK shares damning climate crisis national security report suppressed under StarmerUK not ‘on the slide’, Burnham to tell UN as he gears up for first meeting with Trump – UK politics live
Burnham is heading to New York for the United Nations general assembly Andy Burnham has opened the door to fighting the next election on the UK rejoining the EU, but said his immediate priority was continuing to rebuild bridges with European allies. Pippa Crerar has the story, which is based on what Burnham told journalists as he spoke to them in what reporters call a “huddle” on his flight to New York. Good morning. Andy Burnham is at the United Nations general assembly today and in a speech to the world (or, technically, to people in the hall and anyone watching on TV at around 2am UK time), he will say that Britain is not “on the slide”. The plan for Britain is about ‘what is our direction over the next 10 years and how do we make life more affordable for people’. That is my main priority, that’s what people are looking for. I hear people saying the country is on the slide – we’re the fastest growing in the G7, there’s lots to be proud of, there’s a lot right with the country and I’m going to give a really upbeat message when I speak. Government sources told the Guardian that Burnham would try to pursue a “third way” in his relationship with the US president, neither as adversarial as the Canadian prime minister, Mark Carney, nor as publicly fawning as [Keir] Starmer’s early approach, and relying on the strength of his personality. Continue reading...
EU unveils proposal to ban social media for children under 13
PARIS: The European Union unveiled proposals on Wednesday to ban social media for children under 13, as a growing number of countries look to restrict children’s access to the platforms following a global backlash. More than 20 countries around the world have now taken steps to block or restrict children going online on social media, according to a tally. Seven have measures already in place or set to be implemented, with their policies targeting children under the age of 15 or 16. Australia was the first country to introduce a blanket ban on social media for under-16s, at the end of 2025. The US state of California has also recently moved to tighten restrictions on minors’ access to social media. Under plans unveiled Wednesday by EU chief Ursula von der Leyen in the European Parliament, the bloc will also only allow limited, supervised access until the age of 15, after months of considering ways to protect minors from features designed to keep users hooked. Restrictions in place Social media has been banned for under-16s in Australia since December 2025. However the ban so far appears to have been widely circumvented by teenagers, according to data released in August. Brazil began implementing measures in March requiring platforms to link the accounts of users aged under 16 to those of their parents, while also requiring platforms to verify users’ ages. In China, where the internet is tightly regulated by the state, minors’ access to social media has been restricted progressively since 2019. Initial measures imposed time limits and curfews on online gaming, before similar restrictions were extended in 2023 to social media and streaming platforms. Indonesia has banned social media for under-16s since March. Malaysia has taken a similar approach, with legislation coming into force in June excluding under-16s from major platforms. Turkiye is set to join the list after passing legislation to bar under-15s from social media in April. The law is expected to take effect in late 2026. The United Arab Emirates announced a ban on social media for under-15s last month, with implementation set for around in a year’s time. The governor of the US state of California, Gavin Newsom, signed around a dozen laws on Sept 10 aimed at protecting children online, including one banning platforms from offering addictive features to under-16s. The law will take effect in early 2027. Restrictions announced Across the 27-nation EU, the Greek government announced in early April that it intends to ban social media access for under-15s from January 2027. In Germany, where Chancellor Friedrich Merz supports restricting or even banning social media for children, an expert commission has proposed two options: gradual restrictions by age, or platform-specific restrictions. Austria and Slovenia are also preparing legislation to prohibit access for under-14s and under-15s, respectively. A similar debate is under way in Sweden, where a government commission has proposed banning social media for under-15s by early 2028. In Denmark, the government announced in October 2025 that it would propose banning “several social media platforms” for under-15s. The Irish government has warned that it is considering legislating in the absence of an EU decision. Outside the EU, the Norwegian government will present a bill by the end of the year to ban access for those under 16. Britain is looking to ban social media for under-16s by early 2027 under a measure planned by its former prime minister, Keir Starmer. Published in Dawn, September 17th, 2026
Polling turns politics into one big game. There are too many of them – and that does us no good | Jonathan Liew
Surely that’s the lesson the Reform polling furore should teach us. Politics should be about actually helping people, not mastering the line on a graph Solemn faces all round. We will listen. We will learn. We will hone and improve. Yes, it’s time for the latest bout of profound soul-searching in the UK polling industry following the allegations raised by the recent Channel 4 investigation that a polling firm reportedly failed to declare that three polls it published before the local elections in May were commissioned by Reform. By now these reckonings are becoming a regular occurrence in the wake of big elections: pollsters gather in a room, nibble biscuits, ritually self-flagellate, and pledge to learn all the right lessons from the electorate they’ve just catastrophically misread. Yet for all its very public ignominies, political polling is one of those rare and precious industries that somehow manages to keep failing upwards. You might think that after botching the 2015 and 2017 general elections, the 2016 Brexit vote and the 2021 London mayoral poll, we might have learned better than to trust in the mystical magic graph. In this parallel universe Keir Starmer is now sitting on a colossal 318-seat majority, as forecast by Survation in its final MRP poll on the eve of the 2024 general election, overstating the actual result by a mere 144 parliamentary seats. Jonathan Liew is a Guardian columnist Continue reading...
Tuesday briefing: How to understand Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland’s joint call for change
In today’s newsletter: Plaid Cymru, the SNP and Sinn Féin have signed an agreement for greater powers, as pressure grows on Westminster over the UK’s future Good morning. Back in May, the shape of British politics shifted dramatically. I’ll forgive you if you were too preoccupied refreshing Andrew Sparrow’s live blog for the latest speculation about Keir Starmer to notice, but since 7 May, centre-left nationalist parties that ultimately aspire to leave the UK have been in government for the first time simultaneously in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. This week sees the initial codification of that shift. In Cardiff yesterday, Plaid Cymru leader Rhun ap Iorwerth, Scottish National party leader John Swinney and Sinn Féin vice-president Michelle O’Neill (who shares power with the Democratic Unionist party) affirmed their countries’ right to seek independence from the UK. Along with the leader of the opposition in Ireland, Mary Lou McDonald, they signed a memorandum of understanding that called on Westminster “to prepare, plan and facilitate constitutional change in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland”. And they posed for a fair number of group photos too. Reform UK | Andy Burnham’s government could thwart Reform’s unprecedented £72m donations with retrospective restrictions on political donors that will include tough new residency requirements, ministers have announced. AI | Donald Trump has dismissed calls to increase controls on AI as a “sick conspiracy”, as stocks linked to the technology slumped after appeals from Anthropic, OpenAI and SpaceX leaders on the weekend for the industry to slow down. Nato | Nato fighter jets shot down a drone over Lithuania after an alert was issued in the capital and surrounding region, while Poland scrambled fighter jets less than a day after retrieving a suspected Russian drone adrift in its waters. Middle East | Yemen’s Houthi rebels have seized two strategic islands in the Red Sea, reinforcing the Iran-backed group’s ability to control a key shipping route, as concerns mount that the world is facing a new oil supply crisis. Lucy Letby | Two leading experts have quit Lucy Letby’s defence team over concerns about the “scientific credibility” of some of its evidence. Continue reading...
Second crypto billionaire claims donating record £36m to Reform UK
LONDON: A second cryptocurrency billionaire revealed on Saturday he had matched a £36 million ($49 million) donation, the largest gift in UK political history, to Nigel Farage’s hard-right Reform party announced the previous day. The twin donations come despite anti-immigration Reform being mired in several funding scandals, including one involving the Thai-based British businessman, Christopher Harborne, who made the latest mega-contribution. News of the gifts follow police earlier this week confirming they had widened a criminal investigation into allegations the party accepted illegal donations, shortly after fresh claims emerged in an undercover sting. The police announcement ratcheted up the pressure on Farage, who has endured months of intense scrutiny over his party’s financial arrangements as well as a separate £5-million personal gift to him from Harborne. The Reform leader, who has denied any personal or party wrongdoing, has insisted that the money was for his security. Parliament’s corruption watchdog is investigating the payment. Reform had topped national opinion polls since early last year but has seen its lead slip to centre-left Labour in recent months amid multiple funding controversies. Prime Minister Andy Burnham replacing Keir Starmer in Downing Street in July is also seen as having rejuvenated the ruling Labour’s prospects. ‘Philanthropic’ Writing in Saturday’s Daily Telegraph, Harborne said the new £36-million donation was “a philanthropic gift to our country” aimed at helping the party prepare for government and create the kind of infrastructure that older, more established parties have. The announcement came within 24 hours of another crypto-magnate, Ben Delo, revealing his record donation in the same newspaper, insisting he wanted Reform to face “a fair fight”. Delo, co-founder of the BitMEX cryptocurrency exchange, said he wanted to give the party 1 million a month until the next general election — due by mid-2029 — and so had “front-loaded these donations” into a single £36-million payment. The 42-year-old entrepreneur, who has been based in Hong Kong in recent years, pleaded guilty in the United States in 2022 to violating the Bank Secrecy Act but President Donald Trump pardoned him in 2025. He had already given Reform £4 million this year, according to election watchdog filings. The new twin gifts each smash the previous reported record for a single donation from a living person to a UK political party, which Harborne himself had set last year when he gave Reform £9 million. The record for a bequest remains the £10 million left to the centre-right Conservatives by the late British businessman and politician John Sainsbury in 2022. Farage, a leading figure in the Brexit movement before founding Reform in 2021, welcomed the donations. “Thanks to the generosity of Christopher Harborne and Ben Delo, Reform will now be able to fight and win the next general election on a level playing field,” he said on X. It means the party has now raised at least £85 million since the start of the year, compared with £10.2 million raised by the Conservatives and £7.7 million by Labour, according to the Telegraph. The donations represent a boost after months dominated by scrutiny of its finances, and attracted immediate criticism from rival parties and calls for a cap on political donations. Duncan Hames, of Transparency International UK, said they made “an irrefutable case” for such a measure. “At this rate just two people could end up buying our democracy before the next election,” he added. Government legislation currently working its way through parliament would make various changes to political donations, including imposing a 100,000 limit on gifts from Britons living overseas. But it has so far opted against introducing a broader cap, instead pledging a taskforce to tackle the issue of “mega-donors”. Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2026
Labour picks former child refugee to stand in byelection for Starmer’s seat
Sagal Abdi-Wali, who came from Somalia in the 1990s, likely to face Zack Polanski in Holborn and St Pancras contest A former child refugee who became the leader of Camden council has been selected to be the Labour candidate for the byelection in Holborn and St Pancras. Sagal Abdi-Wali, who came to the UK from Somalia as a child in the 1990s and was elected leader of Camden council in May, was chosen by Labour members to contest the north London seat vacated by Keir Starmer. Continue reading...
İngiltere'den İsrail'in Batı Şeria'daki yerleşimlerine ticaret yaptırımı
İngiltere, işgal altındaki Batı Şeria'daki yasa dışı İsrail yerleşimlerinde üretilen mallara yönelik ticaret yasağı getireceğini duyurdu. İngiltere, işgal altındaki Batı Şeria'da yer alan yasa dışı İsrail yerleşimlerinde üretilen mallara yönelik ticaret yasağını yürürlüğe koymaya hazırlanıyor. Londra yönetimi adımı iki devletli çözüme destek gerekçesiyle atarken, İsrail ve ABD karara tepki gösterdi. Temmuz ayında göreve gelen İngiltere Dışişleri Bakanı Ed Miliband, İsrail politikasını sıfırlamak istediğini belirtmişti. Miliband, ticaret yaptırımlarını gün içinde resmen açıklayacak. Reuters ajansının aktardığına göre İngiltere Çalışma ve Emeklilik Bakanı Pat McFadden, yerleşim faaliyetlerindeki hızlanmanın yaptırımları acil hale getirdiğini, ancak İsrail'in İngiltere için önemli bir ticaret ortağı kalmayı sürdüreceğini dile getirdi. Karar, uluslararası alanda giderek yalnızlaşan İsrail'de öfkeye yol açtı. İsrail Cumhurbaşkanı İzhak Herzog, İngiltere'yi Ekim ayı sonunda yapılacak seçimlere müdahale etmekle suçladı. Herzog, yaptırımların "tarihin yanlış tarafında yer alan vahim bir hesap hatası" olacağını savundu. Aşırı sağcı Maliye Bakanı Bezalel Smotrich ise İngiltere'nin Tel Aviv Büyükelçisi'nin sınır dışı edilmesi çağrısında bulundu. ABD'nin İsrail Büyükelçisi Mike Huckabee, BBC'ye yaptığı açıklamada, söz konusu adımı "Yahudi halkına yönelik ayrımcılık" olarak nitelendirdi. Huckabee, kararın İngiltere'nin bazı ABD eyaletleriyle ticaretini sınırlayabileceği uyarısını yaptı. Bazı ABD eyaletleri, İsrail'i boykot eden şirketlerin kamu ihalelerine, tedarik süreçlerine veya kamu yatırımlarına katılmasını yasaklıyor. Başbakan Andy Burnham liderliğindeki İngiltere hükümeti, önceki İşçi Partisi Başbakanı Keir Starmer'ın çizgisini sürdürüyor. İngiltere, Starmer döneminde 2025 yılında iki devletli çözümü teşvik etmek amacıyla Filistin devletini tanımış, geçtiğimiz Haziran ayında ise Batı Şeria'daki şiddeti finanse eden ve uygulayan ağlara yaptırım getirmişti. Burnham, ABD Başkanı Donald Trump ile pazartesi günü yaptığı telefon görüşmesinde iki devletli çözümün önemini vurgulamıştı. İşçi Partisi içindeki birçok milletvekili Miliband'in hamlesini memnuniyetle karşıladı. Bir parlamenter ise yasağın bazı kesimler için yetersiz kaldığını, özellikle seçim bölgelerinde yoğun Yahudi nüfus barındıran temsilciler için ise fazla ileri giden bir adım olarak görüldüğünü aktardı. Yıllık 6 milyar sterlinlik (8,12 milyar dolar) ikili ticaret hacmi üzerindeki etkinin asgari düzeyde kalması öngörülüyor. Yerleşimlerden gelen ürünler çoğunlukla taze tarım ürünleri ve şaraptan oluşuyor ve İsrail'in toplam ticaretinin çok küçük bir kısmını teşkil ediyor. Birleşmiş Milletler kurumları ve İngiltere dahil çoğu ülke, Batı Şeria'daki yerleşimleri yasa dışı, bölgeyi ise askeri işgal altındaki topraklar olarak kabul ediyor. İsrail yönetimi bölgenin işgal altında değil "ihtilaflı" olduğunu öne sürüyor. Son dönemdeki kaygıların odağında, Kudüs yakınlarında bağımsız Filistin devletinin toprak bütünlüğünü kesintiye uğratacak E1 yerleşim projesi yer alıyor. İngiltere ve Avrupa ülkeleri projeyi ağustos ayında eleştirmişti. İspanya, İrlanda ve Hollanda yerleşim ürünlerinin ithalatını yasaklama kararı alırken, Fransa, Kanada ve Norveç bu yıl yerleşimleri hedef alan yaptırımlar uygulamıştı. Smotrich ve Ulusal Güvenlik Bakanı Itamar Ben-Gvir de daha önce İngiltere dahil çeşitli ülkelerin yaptırım listesine girmişti.
Batı Şeria'da şiddet, 12 ülkeden İsrail'e yaptırım, Lübnan'da ilhak sinyaliUK-US trade could suffer as a result of sanctions for illegal Israeli settlements, American ambassador warns – UK politics live
UK foreign secretary to reassert support for Palestinian rights and a two-state solution in move drawing criticism from US and Israel Good morning. It is hard to understand Labour/leftwing politics in the UK at the moment without reference to Israel and Gaza. Keir Starmer’s popularity with some progressive voters slumped in part because he was seen as unwilling to do enough to channel the anger they feel about how Israel is treating Palestinians – even though last year he took the historic step of formally recognising the state of Palestine. Quite a lot of what Andy Burnham has done in his early days as PM has had a “continuity Starmer”, but today the new government will take a bold step that will recast the UK/Israel relationship, acting where the Starmer administration just dragged its feet. In a statement to MPs, Ed Miliband, the new foreign secretary, will announce that Britain is banning trade with illegal Israeli settlements on the West Bank. Patrick Wintour has the story here. I don’t know if [the British government is] really aware of the implications and how it’s going to affect Brits. For example, 25% of pharmaceuticals that are used in the UK are made in Israel. Are they willing to give those up? It looks like they are. Continue reading...