Updated at\u00a008.09 EDT<\/p>\n
Key events<\/p>\n
Andy Burnham told reporters that funding for the Duke and Duchess of Sussex\u2019s security arrangements on their return to the UK was a \u201cprivate matter\u201d, the Press Association reports.<\/p>\n
Harry and Meghan are expected to return<\/a> to live in Britain later this month. After six years in the US, they will be moving with their two children, Prince Archie, seven, and Princess Lilibet, five, to a non-royal residence outside of London.<\/p>\n After stepping down as senior royals, the Sussexes are no longer eligible to receive taxpayer-funded protection while in the UK, other than when within royal residences. Prince Harry, 41, has previously stated that he would not feel safe bringing his family back to the UK without police protection.<\/p>\n When questioned about their security arrangements, the prime minister said: \u201cWell, this is a private matter.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a matter for Harry and for Meghan, and we wish them well in the moves that they\u2019re making.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n The Guardian\u2019s Rowena Mason has more on Richard Tice, business spokesperson for Reform UK<\/a>, and his defence of the party\u2019s decision to suspend Tim Montgomerie:<\/p>\n double quotation markReform UK has been stalling in the polls in recent months following questions about Nigel Farage\u2019s financial affairs, with a personal \u00a35m gift from Thailand-based billionaire Christopher Harborne currently under investigation by parliament\u2019s standards watchdog.<\/p>\n The party has also faced splits over the actions of Zia Yusuf, its home affairs spokesperson, who branded a senior Tory a \u201ctraitor\u201d, and the decision to suspend Tim Montgomerie, a high profile activist who had defected from the Conservatives.<\/p>\n Montgomerie had been critical of Farage\u2019s decision not to attend the count when he won the Clacton byelection, and said the leader had show a \u201ctoo dominant aggrieved tone\u201d, arguing that \u201cyou don\u2019t skip your own victory count without a much better explanation\u201d.<\/p>\n The Reform member, who had posed with Farage when he joined the party, was informed earlier this week of his suspension.<\/p>\n Asked at a press conference whether the party had become too thin skinned and unable to take criticism, Tice said it was \u201cfar from\u201d the case and Reform was beginning to climb again in the polls. <\/p>\n He added: \u201cWe\u2019re not afraid of competition, voters have got more choice and none of us have ever claimed we are perfect… we get lots right, we make mistakes, we push on.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.23 EDT<\/p>\n National Crime Agency brought in to tackle organised gangs behind illegal dumps<\/p>\n Andy Burnham has said fly-tippers will be forced to pay for the clean-up when they dump waste illegally.<\/p>\n The prime minister laid out his plans to crackdown on waste crimes as he visited an illegal dump in West Yorkshire.<\/p>\n He told broadcasters:<\/p>\n double quotation markWe\u2019ve begun a much more networked approach to this, where we\u2019re bringing the National Crime Agency in to work with the Environment Agency, increasing the penalties and bearing down now on the organised crime that lies behind some of what you see behind me.<\/p>\n Asked why the National Crime Agency was involved, the prime minister said:<\/p>\n double quotation markIt\u2019s building the intelligence as to who is behind this, the networks that are orchestrating what is a very serious crime, and then using the Proceeds of Crime Act to make them pay for the clean-up.<\/p>\n It cannot be right that we leave the situation to build, the public purse then exposed in relation to the clean-up.<\/p>\n But actually we should be getting in much earlier, apprehending them, using all of the intelligence that comes through that investigation to make sure the polluter pays.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a008.09 EDT<\/p>\n The prime minister has defended new government advice that will tell asylum seekers that rape and domestic abuse are serious crimes.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters on a visit to an illegal waste dump in Bradford, West Yorkshire, Andy Burnham<\/a> said:<\/p>\n double quotation markAs a government, we have a very clear principle: if you break UK law, you will be removed from the country and we have seen that in relation to immigration, where removals are significantly up.<\/p>\n I\u2019m currently working to ensure that foreign national offenders who can be removed from the prison system are removed from that system.<\/p>\n So it follows that if we\u2019re taking this approach, it\u2019s made explicitly clear what the UK law is and what the societal norms of the UK are, and that\u2019s why this approach is being taken.<\/p>\n The guidance, published on Wednesday, forms part of a Home Office document entitled \u2018Understanding Behaviours And Expectations In The UK\u2019, which also provides guidance on gender equality and respect in public.<\/p>\n Britain’s prime minister Andy Burnham is shown an illegal rubbish dump near the Bradford City football ground in Bradford, England, Thursday, Aug. 20, 2026, after he announced a new crackdown on illegal waste dumping and action to clear up communities. Photograph: Scott Heppell\/Pool AP\/APShare<\/a><\/p>\n Richard Tice defended Nigel Farage after the Reform UK<\/a> leader chose not to attend the official count for the Clacton byelection.<\/p>\n The party\u2019s deputy leader said Farage led a \u201cbrilliant campaign\u201d and secured an \u201cincredible result\u201d.<\/p>\n Asked at a press conference whether Reform was coming across as thin-skinned, Tice said: \u201cFar from it \u2026 we get more scrutiny than everybody else.<\/p>\n \u201cBut isn\u2019t it interesting, Nigel\u2019s success in Clacton, getting a thousand more votes than he secured (previously), despite a much, much lower turnout.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was an incredible result through hard work, through a brilliant campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cWe\u2019re going back up in the polls, and we\u2019re back ahead of Labour<\/a>. We\u2019re not afraid of competition. In a sense, democracy demands competition, and voters have got more choice. That\u2019s a good thing. None of us have ever claimed we\u2019re perfect.\u201d<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.43 EDT<\/p>\n Tice defends Montgomerie suspension<\/p>\n Reform\u2019s deputy leader has defended the suspension of party supporter Tim Montgomerie.<\/p>\n Speaking to reporters, Richard Tice said:<\/p>\n double quotation markWith regard to other matters, Tim, and things, we\u2019re a fast-growing political party.<\/p>\n There\u2019ll be a range of views, and sometimes we\u2019ll agree, and sometimes we\u2019ll have a debate and discussion.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what you do in business. That\u2019s what you do in a boardroom. That\u2019s what you do when you\u2019re brainstorming.<\/p>\n But what we\u2019ve always said is that actually, when you are, when you\u2019re having your discussions about those things, in the nicest possible way, as you would in a boardroom or in a brainstorming session in a company, you keep it behind closed doors, and then you go out and sell a great message.<\/p>\n That\u2019s what we\u2019re doing.<\/p>\n Deputy Leader of Reform UK Richard Tice during a Reform UK Press Conference in Enfield, London. Photograph: Victoria Jones\/ShutterstockShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.46 EDT<\/p>\n Value being generated by student loans is \u201cnot what it should be\u201d, Reform UK\u2019s deputy leader said.<\/p>\n Asked by reporters about the funding of the scheme by stopping foreign students accessing loans, Richard Tice said:<\/p>\n double quotation markRegarding the funding of this, cash is cash. Whether you think that it\u2019s cash as a positive in a balance sheet or a bank account, or whether you\u2019re borrowing it, it\u2019s money. It\u2019s cash.<\/p>\n As Suella quite rightly said, the amount of money going into student loans, it\u2019s all government money, and this government is borrowing vast sums.<\/p>\n And the point made was that the value being extracted or being generated by so many student loans is not what it should be.<\/p>\n Suella Braverman and Richard Tice at their press conference on Thursday Photograph: Stefan Rousseau\/PAShare<\/a><\/p>\n Updated at\u00a007.36 EDT<\/p>\n Gender studies and golf course studies are examples of \u201cMickey Mouse\u201d degrees, Suella Braverman has said.<\/p>\n Asked to name a specific degree which falls under Reform UK\u2019s definition of a \u201cMickey Mouse\u201d course that should be avoided, the party\u2019s education spokesperson said:<\/p>\n double quotation markIn terms of Mickey Mouse courses, listen, this has been well-chronicled for many years. Whether it\u2019s gender studies, whether it\u2019s golf course studies, I think I\u2019ve seen there\u2019s not a necessity. There\u2019s not a value in many of these degrees.<\/p>\n Now I know that might be uncomfortable to those people who have those qualifications, but the reality is you\u2019ve got to ask yourself: what are your graduate outcomes looking like?<\/p>\n Have you really spent three years of your life in the best possible way, and was it worth \u00a350,000 worth of debt.<\/p>\n Young people are coming out of university unable to get on to the housing ladder, unable and unwilling to get married, unable to start a family. Why? Because they\u2019re starting off with their hands behind their backs because they\u2019ve been sold a line that university is the pathway to success.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Reform: don’t waste time ‘studying for a pointless degree at a mediocre university’<\/p>\n Suella Braverman has urged young people getting their GCSE results not to \u201cwaste your time studying for a pointless degree at a mediocre university\u201d.<\/p>\n The Reform UK<\/a> education spokesperson made the comment as she set out the party\u2019s plans to create 600,000 more apprenticeship starts a year by the end of the first term of a Reform government.<\/p>\n As she set out the policy, Braverman addressed students receiving their exam results, telling them:<\/p>\n double quotation markMy advice to those young people today getting their results, my advice to those grandparents and those parents looking at the young people in their families who may be getting their results today: Be careful, don\u2019t get ripped off by the great university scam.<\/p>\n Don\u2019t waste your time studying for a pointless degree at a mediocre university. If you want to work hard, if you want to move forward, earn a wage, and have opportunities in your life, take up and look for apprentices.<\/p>\n And a Reform UK government will ensure that those opportunities exist. Your success is our country\u2019s success. We\u2019re on your side, and when I said I wanted a skills revolution, I meant it.<\/p>\n Suella Braverman during a Reform UK Press Conference in Enfield, London. Photograph: Victoria Jones\/ShutterstockShare<\/a>Home secretary targeting ‘fair spread’ of asylum accommodation<\/p>\n Home secretary Shabana Mahmood said she wants a \u201cfair spread\u201d of accommodation to house asylum seekers.<\/p>\n Prime minister Andy Burnham<\/a> said last week the country \u201ccannot have a situation where it\u2019s only the poorest communities in the country\u201d housing asylum seekers.<\/p>\n Mahmood said she is targeting a mixed model of accommodation utilising military sites, former student apartments, bedsits and homes of multiple occupancy.<\/p>\n She told the Times:<\/p>\n double quotation markYou\u2019ve got to get a fair spread and what we are doing with the new model of asylum accommodation and the future of asylum accommodation is think carefully about how you have a fair spread that doesn\u2019t end up being in one community or one type of community.<\/p>\n In a way it doesn\u2019t really matter whether you\u2019re in an affluent part of the country or in a more deprived constituency like mine.<\/p>\n A change in the population, the demographic and in the housing in which asylum seekers are often housed and the transient nature of that population does have an impact on communities.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Foreign secretary Ed Miliband has issued a rebuke to Israel after it published a tender for construction of a settlement in the occupied West Bank, calling it an \u201cunacceptable and destructive act\u201d.<\/p>\n He said the UK would not \u201cstand back and accept the destruction of the two-state solution\u201d, as he pledged to set out measures in response to Israeli policies in the coming weeks.<\/p>\n Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar rejected the statement and its \u201cpatronising tone\u201d.<\/p>\n Miliband said the UK had been clear publicly and privately about its opposition to the E1 settlement project, which he said risks endangering a two-state solution by separating the West Bank from East Jerusalem.<\/p>\n \u201cI made clear to the Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa\u2019ar that the Israeli government must halt E1 plans immediately, retract the tender and stop all settlement expansion,\u201d the foreign secretary said.<\/p>\n Share<\/a> Andy Burnham has floated a number of policies, ideas and ambitions for his government since becoming prime minister, from shifting power out of Westminster, bringing services under public control and addressing the rising cost of living.<\/p>\n But many of his promises are not actually firm commitments, so what has he pledged, how much will it cost and when should the public expect change?<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Farage using Christianity \u2018to stir anti-Muslim feeling\u2019, says Rowan Williams A former archbishop of Canterbury has accused Nigel Farage of misusing the UK\u2019s Christianity \u201cto channel anti-Muslim feeling\u201d and said he also had \u201csome awkward questions\u201d for the far-right activist Tommy Robinson<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dr Rowan Williams<\/a>, who was the archbishop of Canterbury for 10 years until 2012, said there was an \u201cinevitable scepticism these days about some claims to religious conviction\u201d.<\/p>\n Speaking to the New Humanist magazine,<\/a> Williams said: \u201cI suspect really that Farage and others want to channel anti-Muslim feeling, and it helps to have \u2018we\u2019re a Christian society\u2019 to fling back. It gives a sort of ballast.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked what he believed was driving Christian nationalism in the UK, Williams said:<\/p>\n double quotation markThere are lots of possible causes. Anxiety about migration, anti-Islamism. In France, that anxiety has a secular aspect, but the St George\u2019s Cross still means something in the English imagination, which still has a Christian aspect.<\/p>\n The second thing is the globalising of all political discourse. The message given at international Christian conservative gatherings is that self-respecting nationalist movements need a bit of theology injected into them.<\/p>\n Ironically, for someone like Nigel Farage<\/a>, it\u2019s about trying to find a presentational strategy that allows him to be taken seriously outside England. He\u2019s often not here, after all.<\/p>\n Then again, if we\u2019re looking for what animates Christian nationalism, I think it\u2019s in part the very simple search for someone to blame.<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Working in Keir Starmer\u2019s No 10 \u2018unbearable\u2019, says Sue Gray Keir Starmer\u2019s former chief of staff has lifted the lid on how \u201cunbearable\u201d it was working in No 10, revealing she feared her conversations were being recorded by colleagues seeking to leak her remarks to the media.<\/p>\n Sue Gray, who was the most powerful adviser in Downing Street before her resignation in 2024, was highly critical of the working environment under Starmer, saying she was \u201cdisappointed\u201d that he did not act on her concerns about staff briefing journalists against her.<\/p>\n In an interview with the Political Currency<\/a> podcast, shared with the Guardian, she gave her first major analysis of the extreme tensions in the early days of Starmer\u2019s operation, providing an insight into the culture of what has been called a \u201cboys\u2019 club\u201d operating with Downing Street.<\/p>\n In the weeks before Gray quit, Starmer was accused of having lost control of his senior team after a series of acrimonious leaks<\/a> to the media about his chief of staff\u2019s pay being higher than that of the prime minister and her apparently difficult relationships with senior colleagues.<\/p>\n Share<\/a><\/p>\n Almost one in four boys in England received top grades in maths while results in English improved across the board, helping to propel improved GCSE results for this year\u2019s cohort of 16-year-olds.<\/p>\n The stronger performances in maths helped pupils taking GCSEs<\/a> in year 11 reach a record level for higher grades in England outside the Covid pandemic years, when exams were replaced by teacher assessments.<\/p>\n The overall results for 16-year-olds nudged slightly higher compared with last year, with the proportion receiving grades 7, 8 and 9 \u2013 equivalent to grades A and A* \u2013 rising by 0.1 of a percentage point to 23.1%. The proportion of nearly 700,000 16-year-olds in England who got a grade 4 or better \u2013 equivalent to a C or higher \u2013 also rose to 70.7%, compared with 70.5% in 2025.<\/p>\n Some of the strongest performances appeared to come in the compulsory subject of maths, where 22.3% received 7s or better, including 24% of boys and 20.5% of girls. But girls did worse than last year in lower grades, dropping from 71% awarded 4 and above to 70.7%, while boys improved further to 72.8%.<\/p>\n My colleague Taz Ali has all the latest news and reaction on results day in our GCSE results blog here:<\/p>\n Share<\/a>Burnham says days of criminal gangs making money from dumping waste are ‘over’<\/p>\n Hello and welcome to the UK politics live blog.<\/p>\n The days of criminal gangs making easy money from dumping waste are \u201cover\u201d, the prime minister will say on a visit to a waste site in Yorkshire later today.<\/p>\n Illegal dumps in West Yorkshire<\/a>, Surrey and Kent will be cleared up using taxpayer money, Andy Burnham has announced, as he promised a new drive to tackle toxic waste.<\/p>\n Ministers have identified dumps in Bradford, Runnymede and the Isle of Sheppey, which collectively contain about 22,000 tonnes of illegal waste, to be cleared in the next phase of the government\u2019s national clear-up effort.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, fines will be raised for rogue dumpers, and AI-powered drones will be used to detect illegal activity while it happens, as the government looks to prioritise prevention alongside clean-up efforts.<\/p>\n Burnham said in a statement:<\/p>\n double quotation markThese toxic dumps have blighted communities for too long. I said we would clean them up \u2013 and that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re announcing today.<\/p>\n He added:<\/p>\n double quotation markThese mountains of rubbish have been a clear sign to communities that politics hasn\u2019t been working for them or their area.<\/p>\n This government is going to tackle the issues that have been ignored by Westminster for too long and bring back hope.<\/p>\n Hundreds of illegal waste sites have been reported across England, with a BBC investigation recently uncovering<\/a> 11 \u201csupersites\u201d that contain more than 20,000 tonnes of rubbish.<\/p>\n One of the country\u2019s most notorious sites is in Burnham\u2019s own constituency of Makerfield, where a rotting, rat-infested mountain of waste has remained for more than 20 months. The site was identified for clean-up in March alongside two others, but locals say they have seen little improvement in the site since then.<\/p>\n During the byelection campaign, which Burnham won earlier this year, voters in the area told the Guardian<\/a> they would vote for him specifically to get rid of that one site.<\/p>\n Read the full story here:<\/p>\n In other developments:<\/p>\n Andy Burnham has said government money alone may not be enough to get rough sleepers off the streets by Christmas, as he issued a \u201crallying call\u201d for councils, charities and communities to help solve the problem. Speaking on a visit to the north-east of England, he said he felt \u201cvery passionately\u201d about tackling homelessness and wanted the wider society to play a part in wiping it out.<\/p>\n Burnham is \u201ctoo chicken\u201d to approve the controversial Jackdaw and Rosebank oil and gasfields, the Tories have claimed. Production had been approved by the previous Conservative government, but those decisions were quashed after a legal challenge by Greenpeace, leaving Labour ministers to decide whether drilling should go ahead.<\/p>\n Labour could lose dozens of seats to the Green party<\/a> if the government allows new drilling in the North Sea, according to internal research shared with the Guardian. Green party analysis suggests up to 50 Labour<\/a> MPs \u2013 including key Andy Burnham ally Louise Haigh \u2013 could lose their seats at the next election if the government fails to make urgent climate action a priority or allows new drilling for oil and gas in the North Sea.<\/p>\n The Tories believe they can cut energy bills by \u00a3540 a year for the next two decades by prioritising cheap energy over net zero. Speaking in London, the shadow energy secretary Claire Coutinho said, when she was a minister, civil servants had been unable to prove to her that wind and solar energy was cheaper than fossil fuels.<\/p>\n Burnham has warned of the dangers of open-water swimming as he called the deaths of a mother, father and their teenage daughter who got into difficulty in water off Sussex \u201ca terrible family tragedy\u201d. The prime minister expressed his sympathies as a young girl from the same family remained in a critical condition in hospital.<\/p>\n![\"Aletha](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Aletha_Adu,_L.png\")
Aletha Adu<\/p>\n![\"Caroline](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Caroline-Davies,-L.png\")
Caroline Davies<\/p>\n![\"Rowena](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787229860_66_Rowena-Mason,-L.png\")
Rowena Mason<\/p>\n