🚨 NEW: The family of the Belfast attempted beheading victim has called for calm "We have many migrants who make a deeply valuable contribution to our country. We depend on them to make our country work. We do not want this terrible tragedy to be used to divide people"

Dear Andy Burnham, I am writing this with respect. Becaus I like you and I think many Labour people like you. You have done serious work in Greater Manchester. The buses matter. The Bee Network matters. Devolution matters. Regional pride matters. Having strong Labour voices outside Westminster matters. And I understand why people listen to you. You speak with feeling. You sound rooted. You understand that politics is not just about spreadsheets, press conferences and Westminster management. It is also about place. Pride. Belonging. Dignity. The feeling that people have not been forgotten. That matters. So this is not an attack on you. Not at all. But I do worry. Every time Labour starts trying to govern seriously, the media machine starts looking for a Labour soap opera. A split. A rivalry. A leadership question. A whisper. A headline. A “what if?” And suddenly the story is not homes. Not the NHS. Not prisons. Not wages. Not transport. Not energy. Not the damage left behind after fourteen years of Conservative chaos. The story becomes Labour talking about Labour. And that is exactly what Reform wants. It is exactly what the Conservatives want. It is exactly what the outrage machine (media) wants. Because while Labour talks to itself, Farage talks to the country. While Labour gets dragged into personality drama, Reform sells anger as a plan. While Labour debates who should lead, the people who broke Britain get another chance to pretend they are the answer. And we cannot afford that. Keir Starmer has the mandate. You have an important voice. Labour has a job. And Britain has problems that will not be fixed by another Westminster personality contest. I want your voice in the Labour movement. I want your strength in the Labour movement. I want your record in Greater Manchester to be part of Labour’s story. But please do not let them turn you into a weapon against a Labour government that is trying to rebuild Britain. Because the people pushing this drama are not doing it because they care about you. They are not doing it because they care about Labour. They are not doing it because they care about working people in Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, Newcastle, Glasgow, Cardiff, London or anywhere else. They are doing it because division sells. They are doing it because Labour unity frightens them. They are doing it because a serious Labour government, given time to deliver, is dangerous to the whole Reform and Tory grievance machine. So my message is simple. You should be respected. Keir Starmer should be backed. Labour should stay focused. And Andy, please do not let personal ambition derail the Labour delivery machine. That is basically my ask to you. The country has had enough theatre. Boris gave us theatre. Truss gave us madness. Sunak gave us management speak. Farage gives us rage. Reform gives us recycled Tory chaos with a louder microphone. Labour must give Britain something better. Stability. Seriousness. Discipline. Delivery. Dear Andy, Labour needs your voice. But it does not need another soap opera. #LessNoiseMoreDelivery

Fuck me, that sexist plumber that Reform found in a pub DIED ON HIS ARSE. It was the worst performance I’ve ever seen on QT. I almost felt sorry for him at one point then recovered by remembering that he’s a misogynistic arsehole standing for a racist party. #QuestionTime

I’m not going to amplify Reform’s ad by sharing it, but the wilful misrepresentation of Kemi Badenoch - selectively quoting what she said about ‘white lives matter’ - is disgraceful and dangerous. It needs to be challenged, including by those of us who are not Conservatives.

There's not a single person in Britain who doesn't agree that the death of Henry Nowak was a tragedy, and the way the police handled it was absolutely disgraceful. There's only one political party, however, who want to take that family's pain and politicise it for their own benefit.

18,000 reactions. One clear winner! When The London Economic readers were asked who they want as Prime Minister by the end of 2026, Keir Starmer didn't just come first — he absolutely romped home with 11,800 reactions. Burnham trailed far behind on 2,200. Rayner managed just 320. Streeting brought up the rear with 82. The only thing that came remotely close to Starmer? The 3,300 people who clicked "none of the above". For a Prime Minister supposedly in trouble, these may be the most positive numbers Starmer has seen since entering Downing Street.

Reform's big issue with their Makerfield byelection strategy is they've actually chosen a candidate so normal he's naturally uncomfortable with their campaign to drive working conditions into the ground in this country in their drive to generate profit for general foreign capital

The Guardian: “Net migration down by three-quarters, the biggest fall in NHS waiting lists for 17 years, knife crime cut by 10%, the economy growing the fastest in the G7, rising wages, energy bills and petrol prices held down, the biggest sustained rise in defence spending since the cold war, a massive expansion of free childcare … If Keir Starmer did tub-thumping lists of Labour’s achievements in the style of Gordon Brown, he would not actually have a shortage of things to talk about.” During the two years of Labour government, following fourteen years of Tory mismanagement, there have actually been significant improvements in Britain. Why does the Tory media not report them?

Brilliant piece. @NickCohen4 is right. The current madness is just another breathless distraction by a country that simply doesn’t want to face up to its real problems. spectator.com/article/youll-…

Whatever complaints MPs have about Keir Starmer, they are now descending into the kind of headless chickenry that - whatever and whoever the outcome - will make the situation even worse for Labour. If there is a grand plan starring Catherine West and a few PPSs, then it doesn’t feel terribly thought through. A period of calm would do none of them any harm. The general election is a fair way off. The next legislative programme is about to be unveiled. There are better ways to reach such an important decision and better times too. You are MPs not commentators who exist to feed a frenzy.

Just for clarity. List of PM’s that had huge losses in local elections and didn’t resign.. Thatcher 1066 Major 2018 Blair 818 Brown 331 Cameron 405 May 1134 Johnson 485 Sunak 474 #Labour #KeirStarmer #LocalElections

He doesn't even want to be PM. He wants to be Leader of the Opposition while Farage turns the country into a binfire from No. 10, leaving Polanski to tweet endlessly about how awful it is. We can stop all that in its tracks by rejecting the divisive populism of Polanski & Farage.

I’ve never been so shocked and disgusted by a Labour Party election broadcast. No wonder it has been censored. It’s because we didn’t use our own words - just those of Reform UK politicians. It needs to be watched and shared so that people know who and what they’re voting for.

The unions were writing to The Green Party leadership last year because their politicians voted against Labours Employment Rights Bill. To now act as if they are the party of unions 🤔

Ed Miliband gets relentless bile from the right for his ‘ideological’ commitment to clean, cheap renewable energy - just as Nye Bevan once did for creating the NHS. Yet on March 25 97.7 % of our electricity was from renewables. A revolution is unfolding. observer.co.uk/news/columnis…

In April, energy prices will come *down* £117 a year and minimum wage will go *up* £950 a year. Making someone on minimum wage £1067 a year better off. This Labour govt, like all govt’s, has made mistakes but not doing enough to tackle the cost of living isn’t one of them.

Safety, dignity and justice should never depend on status or power. And no one is above accountability. Labour said they were serious about ending violence against women and children - an important message from the government here that no one is above accountability.

Farage has announced his Shadow Cabinet, with no Health Secretary. Presumably because if he becomes Prime Minister, there’ll be no NHS.

Reform want to: - cut the minimum wage that Labour introduced and raised - end the NHS that Labour created - cut back workers rights that Labour have delivered Reform has said the working class have had it too good for too long. Reform will make people poorer.