Farage was speaking ahead of a rally in Doncaster
22m agoFarage claims he's 'back' after being 'relatively absent' from politics
32m agoLabour says it is 'insulting' for Badenoch to claim Tories on side of young people as her latest benefit crackdown plan unveiled
43m agoFarage suggests Reform UK's internal inquiry will clear two aides suspended after undercover C4 probe
51m agoPoland would welcome UK applying to rejoin EU 'with open arms', foreign minister says
1h agoFarage speaks at Doncaster rally
1h ago'Release from prison doesn't mean freedom,' says justice secretary
2h agoLib Dem row erupts over Ed Davey’s defence of pension triple lock
2h agoVictim Support launches new offender release helpline
3h agoCharities warn Tory ‘tough love’ benefits plan could push young people deeper into poverty
4h ago'Thank you Andy Burnham,' say prisoners released early from jail
4h agoBurnham rejects Tory/Reform UK claims his call for debate on all options for closer EU relations betrays byelection pledge
4h agoFarage claims Labour will lose votes in 'red wall' after Burnham's call for new relationship with EU
5h agoForeign Office announces fresh sanctions against Russian 'propagandists and torturers'
5h agoAnnual homelessness deaths in England and Wales have almost doubled over past decade, ONS says
6h agoPrisoners freed early in England and Wales risk living on the streets, say probation officers
6h agoTories suggest they would cut benefits for young people if they're living at home and parents can support them
6h agoWhat Tories say about conditions that would apply to people getting their proposed Get to Work Allowance
6h agoBadenoch proposes welfare reform that would stop many jobless under-25s getting universal credit
Ben Quinn is a Guardian political correspondent.
Nigel Farage has indicated that Reform’s internal probe into a donations controversy will absolve two key aides and that legal actions will be launched against journalists involved.
Hinting that he had already seen the report and knew its conclusions, Farage said its release was “imminent”.
“It’s been done. It’ll be out in public very soon and I think some of your co-conspirators might find themselves with one or two legal challenges,” he told a Channel 4 journalist among reporters who questioned the Reform leader today.
Farage was speaking ahead of the rally in Doncaster – taking place now – which is one of the number which the party has scheduled over coming weeks.
Reform was rocked on the eve of the Reform UK party conference after some of his team were filmed appearing to plot to avoid electoral laws on foreign donations in an undercover investigation broadcast by Channel 4 News. Soon after it was shown, the two aides most directly implicated – James Orr and Dan Jukes – were suspended by the party. A group of investigative journalists called Verbatim, founded by the Centre for Climate Reporting, posed as a potential Reform supporter and his wealthy American father, an impermissible donor, who paid for £30,000 of polling commissioned by Reform and which benefited the party.
In Channel 4 News’ investigation, footage shows that the fake UK-based supporter also had conversations with Orr, Reform UK’s head of policy, who talked about commissioning polling that would be paid for by the US-based father.
In footage of another meeting, Jukes, a senior adviser to Farage, appeared to suggest to the fake UK-based supporter that his US-based father could make a substantial donation by channelling it through the son.
Jukes has denied “any wrongdoing” while Orr has said he would cooperate with the party’s internal investigation “fully”.
The Metropolitan police is carrying out a criminal investigation into Reform UK over allegations it broke foreign funding laws.
Farage says that, apart from the Clacton byelection, he has been “relatively absent from the political scene over the course of the last few months”. But that’s over, he claims.
Today I’m back. I’m back on the road. And today is when our general election campaign starts.
Today I’m back. I’m back on the road.
And today is when our general election campaign starts.
At the Reform UK rally, Nigel Farage has just started speaking. He was proceeded by Richard Tice, his deputy, who used his speech to attack net zero policies and restate his pledge to resign if he cannot cut energy bills by £250 within 100 days of Reform forming a government.
They are in Doncaster. Farage says the party came to Doncaster because it used to be a centre for manufacturing.
I’m Andrew Sparrow, picking up from Taz Ali.
Earlier I said it might be hard for Labour to respond to the Conservative party’s plan to stop many jobless under-25s claiming universal credit because the government is about to publish its own Neet proposals which are likely to include some “tough love” elements. (See 9.04am.)
Labour has issued a response now. It’s from Bridget Phillipson, the party chair. She does not comment on the detail of the plans at all, but just says it is “insulting” for Kemi Badenoch to claim she is on the side of young people.
All young people deserve the chance to get on in life, through good jobs, proper training and the support they need to succeed. That’s what Labour is delivering. Kemi Badenoch’s Tories held young people back and caused the welfare bill to spiral. To pretend she’s suddenly on the side of young people is frankly insulting.
All young people deserve the chance to get on in life, through good jobs, proper training and the support they need to succeed. That’s what Labour is delivering.
Kemi Badenoch’s Tories held young people back and caused the welfare bill to spiral. To pretend she’s suddenly on the side of young people is frankly insulting.
While we wait for Farage to speak in Doncaster, where he will undoubtedly comment on Andy Burnham’s plans to launch a major review of the UK’s relationship with the EU, our Europe live correspondent, Jakub Krupa, has the following report:
After France’s Emmanuel Macron and Spain’s Pedro Sánchez yesterday, Poland’s foreign minister Radosław Sikorski is the latest EU leader to offer his take on Britain’s renewed push to reset its relationship with the European Union, a decade on from Brexit. In a post on X aimed partially at his domestic opponents ahead of Poland’s 2027 parliamentary election, he said: “If [Britain] were to apply for a return to [the EU], which Poland would welcome with open arms, it would mean that after a decade of analyses, London has concluded that membership is the optimal form of participation in the single market. Let us not be swayed by the Europhobes into believing that a better alternative exists.”
For more Europe-related news, you can follow our dedicated live blog here:
Introducing Farage on stage is GB news presenter Matt Goodwin. He told the crowds that if a general election were held tomorrow “we emerge as the largest party in this country”. He didn’t say winner, though.
Goodwin stood as Reform UK’s candidate in the Gorton and Denton byelection in Greater Manchester earlier this year, and lost to the Green party’s Hannah Spencer.
We are about to hear from Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, who is in Doncaster in South Yorkshire today for the party’s ‘first 100 days’ rally. You can watch live here:
The justice secretary, Alex Norris, has sought to reassure the public with a video on social media explaining prisoners could be sent back to jail if they break the conditions of their early release.
In a video posted on X, he said: “Release from prison doesn’t mean freedom.
“We’ve got the widest range of tools ever to manage and punish those who leave prison.”
They include exclusion zones, restriction zones, GPS monitoring, probation services, curfews and alcohol monitoring, Norris said.
He added: “Breaking these conditions will have consequences. You could be sent back to jail.
“These changes will protect the public, they’ll make sure the system doesn’t collapse and they’ll put victims at the heart of everything we do.”
In other news today, Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey’s comments on the pension triple lock has sparked an intense debate within the party.
Davey was on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme this morning talking about the government’s plans to end the existing state pension guarantee in order to help pay for a new national care service.
Davey argued that it could harm younger workers in the future.
“We already have nearly two million pensioners in poverty,” he said.
“This would mean that people who are working hard now, the millennials, when they retire they’d have a very poor pension.”
Tom Gordon, the Lib Dem MP for Harrogate and Knaresborough, was not convinced by this argument.
“The idea that we’re keeping the triple lock to help millennials is at best for the birds, and at worst downright insulting. I say that as a millennial,” he wrote on X.
He added that Davey’s suggestion that the scrapping of the triple lock could hurt younger voters “gaslights an entire generation into believing it’s for our benefit”.
He said: “Telling millennials we’re keeping the triple lock to help us in 30 years’ time is nonsense.”
Vikki Slade, the Lib Dem MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, took a similar view, writing on the Bluesky app: “Most millennials don’t think there will be a state pension when they retire so this isn’t being done with them in mind.”
Hundreds of prisoners are due to be released early from jail on Thursday amid warnings that many will have nowhere to live and the probation system will struggle to monitor them.
About 2,000 criminals including domestic abusers and violent offenders are to be freed over the next month, with another 3,000 in stages over the next year to ease overcrowding. The number was reduced from 6,000 after an intervention by the prime minister, Andy Burnham.
Prisoners are supposed to be found appropriate accommodation before their release, significantly reducing reoffending rates.
But a probation source told the Guardian that their colleagues in some towns and cities were struggling to find hostel places.
“We have a handful of places for ex-offenders and they are full. We are now looking at releasing some people straight on to the street,” the source said.
Enver Solomon, the chief executive of the social justice charity Nacro, said: “We know that leaving prison homeless can put people on a path back into custody. It is vital that the whole system from prisons and probation to councils and community providers work together to give people a roof over their heads.”
Victim Support has launched a new helpline for anyone with concerns about the early release of prisoners.
The charity’s CEO Katie Kempen said: “Images of prisoners being released today will be extremely distressing for the many victims who are already feeling incredibly scared and anxious about the early release of offenders. “Supporting people through the impact of crime is why Victim Support exists. While it’s wholly unacceptable that victims continue to bear the brunt of a justice system in crisis, we are glad to be able to provide free, independent, specialist support at this critical time through the dedicated helpline launching today.
“Our specially trained advisers will give callers the space to be heard, provide practical guidance to protect their safety and wellbeing, and help them to understand next steps. “We urge anyone who is affected by, or worried about, changes to an offender’s release date to call our new Offender Release Helpline on freephone 0808 168 9280.”
Back to the Conservative party’s ‘“tough love” plan to get young benefit claimants into work (we had more on that in an earlier post), we have comments from charities concerned about the impact on people living in poverty and with disabilities.
Child Poverty Action Group’s director of policy, Sara Ogilvie, said:
If we learnt anything from the austerity era it’s that cutting social security support drives up child poverty and cuts young people off from opportunity. Much better training and employment support is needed but blocking access to universal credit would not remove young people from jeopardy, it would dig the most disadvantaged deeper into hardship.”
Jon Sparkes, chief executive of Mencap, which supports people with learning disabilities, said:
Many young people with a learning disability want to work. It’s help and opportunity that are lacking, not ambition. “Cutting off support through the benefits system won’t create jobs. It will push young disabled people into poverty, creating hardship and suffering for individuals and greater pressure on the public purse as other services pick up the pieces. We know sanctions-based approaches hit people with a learning disability hard because they are likely to struggle with complex requirements, daily attendance rules and inaccessible information. “Getting more young disabled people into work means investing in opportunity, not cutting support: expanding supported internships, providing specialist employment support and helping employers recruit disabled people.”
Many young people with a learning disability want to work. It’s help and opportunity that are lacking, not ambition.
“Cutting off support through the benefits system won’t create jobs. It will push young disabled people into poverty, creating hardship and suffering for individuals and greater pressure on the public purse as other services pick up the pieces. We know sanctions-based approaches hit people with a learning disability hard because they are likely to struggle with complex requirements, daily attendance rules and inaccessible information.
“Getting more young disabled people into work means investing in opportunity, not cutting support: expanding supported internships, providing specialist employment support and helping employers recruit disabled people.”
Of course, opponents of the early release scheme have come out to criticise it.
Laila Cunningham, Reform UK’s candidate for mayor of London, was outside HMP Wandsworth speaking to reporters.
She said if she was Andy Burnham, she would “hang my head in shame”.
“He should go speak to every domestic abuse victim who is fleeing her home and look them in the eye and say how’s he going to help them, what’s he going to do for them,” she added.
Nick Timothy, the Conservative MP for West Suffolk and shadow justice secretary, said the public would “pay the price”.
He said: “Today’s releases are an insult to victims, a danger to the public, and will only encourage more lawbreaking from criminals who know they have a ticket out of prison.”
Some more comments from prisoners who have been released today, courtesy of the Press Association:
Michael Bogle, 38, from Brent, north-west London, told reporters outside HMP Wandsworth that he served 78 days in prison after breaching a 32-week suspended sentence for shoplifting.
He said he had been jailed five separate times for 100 convictions.
In a message to Andy Burnham, he said: “Keep the early release going. It’s good.”
He said there is a risk he would shoplift again “but hopefully not”, telling reporters he had an approved premises to live and plans to go to the job centre.
Matthew Johnson, 35, from Wakefield in West Yorkshire, said he was “buzzing” to be out of HMP Leeds, where he served six months of an 18 month-sentence for actual bodily harm.
Of the early release scheme, he said: “It’s a good idea, to be fair. They need to free up some places anyway. It’s a bit cramped.
“The staff are overwhelmed anyway with what they’ve got to cope with at the minute.”
The father-of-five said he was going to “go home and see my kids”.
Jordan Laverack, 26, said outside HMP Leeds: “The plan for today its to go to KFC and after that I’m not sure.”
He said: “I think early release is good for myself. I can see why there’s a lot of attention behind it, because there might be people doing heinous crime who are getting released early. But for the average person, who’s missed probation like myself, I think it suits somebody like me.”
Mr Laverack said he served just under four weeks for missing probation appointments, but would not say why he was on probation, adding: “nothing too bad”.
He said: “I just want to get myself some work, some employment, make my family proud, maybe get a girlfriend, get married, you never know.
“They’ve actually released me with nowhere to stay but I’ve got a few friends I can stay at. The people who don’t will be back doing what they’re doing.”
Politics live with Andrew Sparrow
