Pension fund snaps up cut-price government bonds amid Starmer sell-off Markets One of the UK’s largest pension funds has jumped on the turmoil that speculation over Keir Starmer’s future has unleashed on the gilt market, scooping up government bonds at multi-decade low valuations. Standard Life has added to its holding of UK government debt, City AM understands, seizing on a sharp dip in the of the [...]
UK borrowing costs storm past five per cent after Starmer warns of ‘chaos’ if ousted Politics UK government borrowing costs have stormed higher following an attempt from Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer to shore up support after a disastrous local election result. The yield on 10-year gilts rose nearly 10 basis points to over five per cent for the second time in mere weeks. It comes after Starmer sought to defy [...]
Local elections 2026: who will win in Hounslow Council? London Labour is favourite to hold Hounslow Council in May 2026 – but only just. Reform UK is contesting all 62 seats, the Greens are targeting Chiswick, and independents are standing across the borough, as Band D council tax hits £2,185. With turnout typically low, even small shifts in vote share could reshape individual wards. Hounslow [...]
London local elections 2026: Who will win in Brent? May 6, 2026 From conflict overseas to transport on the home front, several issues will test Labour’s hold on Brent in the upcoming local elections. Brent will be a place where Labour will be fighting several opponents. The home of Wembley Stadium, Brent is an apt council to showcase whether Labour suffers a heavy defeat or enjoys triumphant [...]
London local elections 2026: Who will win in Barnet? May 6, 2026 Labour faces a battle in defending Barnet in the local elections after recent surges in council tax and a flurry of defections since 2022. Barnet stands as a real test for both the Conservative and Labour party. What was traditionally a safe seat for the Tories flipped red in 2022 as Labour won the borough [...]
London needs a real opposition, not a Labour/Green merry-go-round May 5, 2026 Voting tactically in the local elections just rewards the same old left wing cycle, says Sylbourne Sydial Alys Denby’s City AM article captures something we hear every day on the doorstep: many people in south-east London are tired of Labour and worried about the Greens. In Lewisham, that feeling is not abstract. Labour has dominated [...]
The Greens are no tree-hugging hippies, their policies would destroy Britain March 10, 2026 Zack Polanski’s Greens stand a realistic chance of winning dozens of seats, so it’s worth taking their policy platform seriously. From wealth taxes to yet more punitive building regulations to open borders, they would be a disaster for British prosperity, says Emma Revell For years now the Green Party has been a bit of a [...]
How sectarian is London’s politics? March 5, 2026 If the by-election in Gorton and Denton is a seismic event, then the aftershocks will be felt by Londoners in borough elections across the capital in May, writes James Ford By-elections are often exceptional, aberrant outliers from normal politics. The full attention of party campaign strategists and the national press are ruthlessly trained on a [...]
Two party politics is over in Britain March 4, 2026 Meaningful support is now spread across multiple different parties, but Westminster still acts like there’s a government and an opposition, says Louise Thompson The Green Party’s victory in the Gorton and Denton by-election is a watershed moment. Hannah Spencer secured the party’s first-ever parliamentary by-election win in what had been Labour’s sixth most secure seat. [...]
Gorton and Denton proves messy, multi-party politics is here to stay March 3, 2026 A resounding win for the Greens in the Gorton and Denton by-election reveals just how fractured and angry voters are becoming, writes Scarlett Maguire In what we may now distantly remember as ‘ordinary times’ Labour should never have lost Gorton and Denton, even on a bad day, let alone finished third on less than 10,000 [...]