Section: Opinion

Welfare vote rebellion threatens Starmer’s hold on his party

Next week’s vote on a controversial plan to cut £5bn from disability and sickness benefits is proving to be a moral red line for many Labour MPs

Shehab Khan
MPs are sympathetic to Starmer when it comes to Iran — for now

As speculation grows that the US could become directly involved in Israel’s conflict with Iran, the UK is walking a tightrope

Shehab Khan
An emergency exit toga: why I love the top sheet

The extra bed sheet helps keep you the perfect temperature in the hotter months, and can act as a makeshift gown

Amna Saleem

Reeves’s about-face has emboldened Labour backbenchers

As dust settles on Reeves’s spending review and winter fuel U-turn, some hope climbdowns on child benefit and help for disabled people are next
When you have lived in many places, your chosen family becomes home

Friends have been there for me in ways my blood family wouldn’t even begin to know how
Can Reeves really soften the government’s image with MPs and voters?

The chancellor hopes spending announcements will mitigate perceptions that Labour is running an austerity government
The two-child benefit cap is a timebomb for Labour. Can it be defused?

The party’s MPs are increasingly vocal in their frustration at the policy, but there’s a split in Number 10 — and Reform UK is manoeuvring
We need to build an island of neighbours

Scapegoating immigrants won’t improve anyone’s life or create the affordable housing we desperately need
Britain’s shift on Israel has exposed a three-way split in Labour

Keir Starmer joined French and Canadian leaders in signing a joint letter criticising Israel’s conduct in Gaza. Their leverage is limited — but real