#uk-politics

#uk-politics

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has backed calls for a debate on banning under 16-year-olds from social media. Speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said the government had to "get the balance right" and "protect young people from the harm". In December, Australia introduced a law requiring social media platforms to block under-16s from having accounts with their sites and privately, many Labour MPs and officials have said they expect that the UK government to follow their example.

Wes Streeting has asked Jonathan Haidt, a bestselling author and high-profile advocate of banning social media for under-16s, to speak to his officials in his push for the UK to consider following a landmark ban in Australia. The health secretary has invited Haidt to address an event with staff, charities and MPs after the prime minister, Keir Starmer, said he was open to stricter limits for young people.

The interim first minister of the Chagossian government in exile has said he is hopeful that Sir Keir Starmer's controversial deal to hand over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius will be stopped on Monday. Louis Misley Mandarin spoke to The Independent ahead of two crucial decisions on the deal, which would see the UK pay Mauritious at least 120 million annually during a 99-year agreement to lease back the military base on Diego Garcia.

In an interview with the Guardian, Richard Hermer, the government's most senior law officer and a close ally of Keir Starmer, said that in a complicated and dangerous world, leaders should be able to use statecraft to consider other factors when establishing whether to hold allies to account. In his first public comments since Britain's reaction to the US attack on Venezuela and threats toward Greenland, Hermer refrained from singling out the Trump administration,

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

Yesterday, I stood side by side with our European and American allies and President Zelenskyy at the coalition of the willing meeting in Paris, Starmer said in introductory remarks. We made real progress on security guarantees, which are vital for securing a just and lasting peace. Along with President Macron and President Zelenskyy, we agreed a declaration of intent on the deployment of forces in the event of a peace deal. We will set out the details in a statement at the earliest opportunity.

This growing idea that Trump thinks, and so does [Russian President] Putin and so does [Chinese President] Xi, that they should all have their spheres of influence and that other countries should not get involved and they should be able to essentially do what they think is the right thing to do, what they want to do in the interests of their country, in the countries in the surrounding area...

Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

You can listen to the full episode with Angela Rayner here You can listen to the full episode with Nicola Sturgeon here You can listen to the full episode with Catherine Ashton here You can listen to the full episode with Andy Burnham here

When the billionaire chief executive of AI chipmaker Nvidia threw a party in central London for Donald Trump's state visit in September, the power imbalance between Silicon Valley and British politicians was vividly exposed. Jensen Huang hastened to the stage after meetings at Chequers and rallied his hundreds of guests to cheer on the power of AI. In front of a huge Nvidia logo, he urged the venture capitalists before him to herald a new industrial revolution,

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

"If you take a look at London, you have a mayor named Khan. He's a horrible mayor, Trump said in the interview at the White House. He's an incompetent mayor, but he's a horrible, vicious, disgusting mayor.' I think he's done a terrible job. London's a different place. I love London, the US President said, adding: And I hate to see it happen. My roots are in Europe, as you know."

As David Lammy prepares to attend a Council of Europe meeting in Strasbourg that will discuss legal changes to stop bogus asylum claims, the novelist Julian Barnes, the actor Adrian Lester and the comedian Aisling Bea have also signed a letter telling the prime minister: Any attempt at undermining universal protections is an affront to us all and a threat to the security of each and every one of us.

Nick Thomas Symonds, the minister in charge of EU negotiations, was promoted to full cabinet rank. The Welshman, a close ally of Starmer, will be an advocate of a closer relationship with the EU when ministers meet. But, a source close to the prime minister said, he isn't going to bang the cabinet table and say it's customs union or bust. If that happens, it has to come from Keir himself.

This is a scandalous attempt to subvert democracy by a Labour government whose credibility and popularity are already in tatters. The Conservatives firmly oppose this decision to delay the mayoral elections, especially when candidates have been selected and campaigning is well underway. Democracy is being denied yet again after the council elections cancelled by Labour this year. There is no credible justification for this move. The Labour Government must reverse it immediately.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls.

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.