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Home of Lords proceedings disrupted by protesters
Proceedings within the Home of Lords have been disrupted by protesters, this morning. ITV Information has the clip. Campaigners within the gallery began shouting “Lords out, individuals in”, and dropping leaflets into the chamber.
Home of Lords interrupted by protestors shouting ‘Lords out, individuals in’
Enterprise needed to be paused as protesters calling for the abolition of the unelected chamber began chanting and throwing leaflets pic.twitter.com/44uDPrLs71
— ITVPolitics (@ITVNewsPolitics) March 20, 2025
Key occasions
Protesters name for Lords to get replaced by Home of the Individuals, with members chosen by lot
There are limitless proposals for Home of Lords reform floating round Westminster (which is one purpose why nothing a lot ever appears to occur). At the moment Assemble, the grassroots democracy group which organised the six-person demonstration that disrupted proceedings within the Lords at the moment, has put ahead a easy thought for a alternative chamber. It says the Lords must be changed with a Home of the Individuals, with members chosen by lot.
In an announcement on at the moment’s protest, it says:
At the moment’s motion has been taken in assist of the abolition of the Home of Lords in favour of a Home of the Individuals – a brand new establishment the place any grownup within the UK could also be chosen to serve, like a jury, to set the political agenda and steadiness the Home of Commons. This motion mirrors one undertaken by Suffragettes on October twenty eighth 1908, the place they took direct motion by raining handbills onto the Home of Commons, demanding suffrage for girls within the UK …
A public-led establishment like a Home of the Individuals will produce fairer, simpler, and extra democratic outcomes than the prevailing parliamentary system, which isn’t match for goal. The latest election noticed the bottom turnout and vote rely for 20 years, but produced a first-rate minister with the strongest majority. Polls present that almost all British persons are in favour of changing the Home of Lords, with a everlasting rolling residents’ meeting because the favorite different.
Assemble is one in every of numerous organistions inviting individuals to volunteer to be chosen by lottery to take part in a Home of the Individuals this summer season that might work up plans for constitutional change.
Christina Jenkins, 31, a care employee from Cwmbran and one of many individuals who took half in at the moment’s protest, stated in an announcement on Assemble’s web site:
We want a Individuals’s Home, not a home of rich elites. Lords: surrender your seat! How can we an actual democracy after we’re solely given the possibility to vote as soon as each 5 years? Even then, so many individuals don’t vote as a result of their voices nonetheless go unheard.”
Whether or not it’s the spiralling value of dwelling disaster, insecure housing, wars or the local weather disaster, you don’t need to look far to see the signs of a damaged political system. We have to hand the ability again to the individuals with participatory politics like residents’ assemblies if we stand any likelihood of addressing the actual points going through Britain.
PA Media has filed extra on the protesters who disrupted continuing within the Home of Lords earlier. PA says:
The protesters stated they have been appearing on behalf of Assemble, an organisation that campaigns for the Home of Lords to be abolished and changed by a residents’ meeting.
Residents’ assemblies are chosen by sortition, which implies members of the general public are picked at random by way of a lottery.
Supporters of this mechanism argue it means a extra consultant pattern of the inhabitants are in a position to come collectively and debate necessary points.
As they have been escorted out, the protesters sang a track encouraging individuals to “take again the Commons” and “elevate a glass to Thomas Paine”.
Thomas Paine is an English-born American founding father who was a powerful advocate for democracy, rejecting monarchy and aristocracy.
One girl shouted within the chamber that they have been protesting just like the Suffragettes, who have been identified to display within the Homes of Parliament for the reason for votes for girls.
The QR code on their leaflets results in an invitation to enter the lottery for a so-called Home of the Individuals, which says it would “debut as a parallel Parliament” in July 2025.
Pete Lowe introduced yesterday that he was resigning as chief of the Labour group on Dudley council over the incapacity cuts. In an announcement, he stated that he was leaving the occasion after 41 years as a result of “I can’t be true to my rules and condemn the Tory cuts to probably the most susceptible and never condemn the federal government.”
Labour to scrutinise faculty smartphone bans as strain grows over impression on youngsters
Bridget Phillipson is to start an in-depth scrutiny of smartphone bans in faculties in England as strain grows from MPs to behave on the impact of social media on youngsters, Jessica Elgot and Rachel Keenan report.
Reform UK defends asking department officers to signal non-disclosure agreements
Reform UK asks it department officers, like chairs, secretaries and treasurers, to signal non-disclosure agreements (NDAs), Genevieve Holl-Allen reveals in a narrative for the Each day Telegraph.
She says on the final election parliamentary candidates have been additionally requested to signal NDAs. And he or she says some council candidates have been requested to signal NDAs forward of the Might elections, though the occasion has indicated that occurred by mistake and it says council candidates will not be topic to gagging orders.
In her story, Holl-Allen experiences:
The apply is uncommon – neither the Conservatives, Labour nor the Liberal Democrats use NDAs for department officers or candidates …
In a duplicate of the NDA, seen by The Telegraph, department members are prohibited from divulging non-public details about the “actions, communication and electoral features” of the occasion.
The doc phrases are drawn up so broadly that they might depart people open to authorized assault for divulging data equivalent to what goes on at non-public conferences or particulars of the occasion management.
The NDA stated it lined all confidential data regarding “all actions, communication, and electoral features with the intention of utilizing it primarily for the broad goal of our political, campaigning and fundraising actions”.
In an announcement to the occasion, Reform UK defended the coverage. A spokesperson stated:
Reform UK are dedicated to the very best requirements of information safety. Like all skilled organisation, we count on these answerable for managing giant quantities of member and candidate private data to maintain it safe.
Lammy tells MPs it is ‘troublesome to see’ how Israel’s denial of support to Gaza suitable with worldwide regulation
David Lammy, the international secretary, has advised MPs that it’s “troublesome to see” how Israel’s denial of humanitarian help to civilians in Gaza “may be suitable with worldwide humanitarian regulation”.
However he was by some opposition MPs as he stopped wanting repeating his earlier remarks that there had been a “breach of worldwide regulation” by Israel.
Talking within the Commons, Lammy stated the resumption of Israeli army motion in Gaza had resulted in an “appalling lack of life”. He stated:
On the night time of March 18, Israel launched air strikes throughout Gaza. Plenty of Hamas figures have been reportedly killed, however it’s been reported that over 400 Palestinians have been killed in missile strikes and artillery barrages. Nearly all of them have been girls and kids.
This seems to have been the deadliest single day for Palestinians because the battle started. That is an appalling lack of life, and we mourn the lack of each civilian.
Lammy confirmed a British nationwide was amongst these wounded after a UN compound was hit on Wednesday. He stated the UK was urgently calling for return to a ceasefire.
Hamas has been resisting requires the discharge of additional hostages in return for an extended truce.
Israeli forces didn’t start to withdraw from the Philadelphi Hall as agreed and on March 2 the Israeli authorities introduced it was blocking all additional support deliveries till Hamas agreed to its phrases.
For weeks now, provides of primary items and electrical energy have been blocked, leaving over half 1,000,000 civilians as soon as once more reduce off from clear consuming water and sparking a 200% surge within the worth of some primary foodstuffs; a boon to these criminals who use violence to regulate provides.
As I advised the home on Monday, that is appalling and unacceptable. Finally, in fact, these are issues for the courts, not governments, to find out, however it’s troublesome to see how denying humanitarian help to a civilian inhabitants may be suitable with worldwide humanitarian regulation.
Although it’s necessary to say I might have been a bit clearer within the Home on Monday, our place stays that Israel’s actions in Gaza are a transparent threat of breaching worldwide humanitarian regulation.
Lords protesters defend disrupting proceedings, saying friends are undemocratic and ‘image of all the pieces that is outdated’
Girl Twycross, a tradition minister, was making an announcement in regards to the celebrations to commemorate the eightieth anniversary of the tip of the second world battle when a small group of protesters beginning shouting from the gallery. The proceedings have been suspended for about 5 minutes whereas the gallery was cleared.
As PA Media experiences, one of many protesters, Lucy Porter, 50, a major faculty trainer from Leeds, stated was “campaigning for a home of the individuals”. On the Lords, she stated:
It’s an emblem of all the pieces that’s outdated. We don’t have a functioning democracy on this nation.
The leaflets thrown by the group had written on them: “By no means thoughts the Lords right here’s the Home of Individuals.” On the opposite facet it acknowledged: “Aristocrats and oligarchs: Out. Posties, mums, nurses and neighbours: In. Substitute the Home of Lords to avoid wasting the UK.”
One protester, who wished to be identified solely as Christina, stated:
We did this motion on behalf of Assemble and the ask is that, as a substitute of a Home of Lords, which is a home of unelected rich elites, now we have a home of the individuals.
So, now we have residents’ assemblies the place individuals can take part in actual democracy, as a substitute of getting all the pieces handed to them from up excessive.
One other girl, who additionally referred to herself as Christina, stated:
If individuals enter into assemblies and a home of the individuals by way of sortition, that’s actual illustration the place individuals get a say on actual points that matter to them, which aren’t getting processed by the federal government or parliament.
The associated fee-of-living disaster, the housing disaster, the local weather disaster, it’s a large number, and we want individuals with actual illustration to begin making a distinction and having a say.
Home of Lords proceedings disrupted by protesters
Proceedings within the Home of Lords have been disrupted by protesters, this morning. ITV Information has the clip. Campaigners within the gallery began shouting “Lords out, individuals in”, and dropping leaflets into the chamber.
Home of Lords interrupted by protestors shouting ‘Lords out, individuals in’
Enterprise needed to be paused as protesters calling for the abolition of the unelected chamber began chanting and throwing leaflets pic.twitter.com/44uDPrLs71
— ITVPolitics (@ITVNewsPolitics) March 20, 2025
Badenoch says native elections might be ‘extraordinarily troublesome’ for Tories
On the Conservative occasion’s native elections marketing campaign launch in Beaconsfield, Kemi Badenoch echoed her occasion co-chair Nigel Huddleston in stressing it was more likely to be onerous for her occasion to keep away from huge losses. (See 9.45am). Listed below are a few of the key strains.
This yr might be … the primary time because the common election – the best defeat in our occasion’s historical past – that we combat these seats. When you map that common election results of 2024 on to this coming Might, then we don’t win the councils we gained in 2021, we lose virtually each single one.
She stated that thought the occasion would most likely “do a bit higher than that”, the elections would however be “extraordinarily troublesome”.
We’re the one credible alternative: Lib Dems will wreck your public companies, Reform has no expertise operating something, Greens will run councils into the bottom and Labour will spend, tax and waste your cash, identical to they all the time do.
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She restated her assault on “showbusiness” politicians. Echoing the argument she made in a Telegraph interview earlier this week (see 11.49am), she stated:
This isn’t showbusiness. This isn’t a recreation. That is about individuals’s lives. This isn’t for us. It’s for all these individuals on the market who want credible politicians. That’s what we’re providing.
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Kevin Hollinrake, the shadow housing secretary, advised the occasion that the Tories have been doing comparatively effectively in native council byelections. He stated:
Because the common election, we’ve gained twice as many seats by way of internet good points in comparison with some other occasion. We all know we are able to do that.
Hollinrake could have been referring to those figures from the Lib Dem activist and elections professional Mark Pack, exhibiting the Tories on a internet achieve of twenty-two seats, double the web achieve of 12 seats achieved by Reform UK.
Farage responds to Badenoch in spat over whether or not or not it is good for politicians to be on actuality TV
Nigel Farage, the Reform UK chief, has defended politicians who get entangled in leisure TV.
In an article for the Each day Telegraph, he hit again at Kemi Badenoch, who used an interview with the paper earlier this week to dismiss Farage as only a actuality TV phenomenon.
Badenoch, whose occasion has been overtaken by Farage’s in most up-to-date opinion polls, stated:
Having attraction doesn’t imply that folks need you operating their lives. That’s one of many issues that we have to ensure that we remind individuals.
This isn’t I’m A Movie star or Strictly Come Dancing. You don’t vote for the person who you’re having fun with watching after which swap off when the present’s over.
You’ve received to stay with that particular person in your life, in your loved ones’s life, at work and so forth. That’s what elections are about. It’s not nearly watching a present and switching it off. We’ve received to maneuver away from politics as showbusiness.
In response, Farage admitted participating in actuality TV exhibits like I’m a Movie star however argued that being well-known was a optimistic factor for a politician, not a destructive factor. He went on:
Anyway, it’s not as if I’m the primary politician to have been outstanding within the media. Ronald Reagan mixed his early political actions with a movie and TV profession for 20 years, till the Sixties. When he introduced within the Nineteen Seventies that he wished to grow to be the US President, everyone stated he was a B-Film actor who stood no likelihood. Nowadays, American conservatives look again on this two-term chief with a slight sense of awe by way of his achievements.
And what about Donald Trump? He was a well known New York property developer from the Nineteen Seventies onwards however it was his huge success with the truth to indicate The Apprentice from 2004 that put him ready the place he might win the nomination for the Republican Social gathering.
He ended his article with recommendation for the Tory chief:
Kemi Badenoch has an issue. Most members of the general public haven’t any opinion of her. Even fewer know what she stands for. I’ve an thought for her. She might seem on a actuality TV present herself. A spell within the I’m a Movie star… jungle can be excellent. I’ll gladly give her some suggestions if she desires to enroll in the subsequent sequence.
Disabled individuals’s entry to move in UK a ‘nationwide embarrassment’, MPs say
Disabled individuals’s entry to move has been referred to as a “nationwide embarrassment” by MPs on a parliamentary committee, who stated a brand new enforcement regime was wanted to uphold their proper to journey. Gwyn Topham has the story.
Jesse Norman, the shadow chief of the Commons, paid tribute to his father, Sir Torquil Norman, who has simply died, throughout enterprise questions within the chamber this morning. Torquil Norman’s toy firm created the Polly Pocket model.
His son advised MPs:
Virtually precisely 24 hours in the past, my father Torquil Norman died on the age of 91. He was a rare man who flew Seafires and Sea Furies throughout his nationwide service within the Fleet Air Arm.
He created Polly Pocket, a toy which introduced unbelievable pleasure to tens of millions of younger individuals across the Home and around the globe.
And he rebuilt the Roundhouse in Chalk Farm in London, not simply as an unbelievable performing arts centre however as a inventive centre for younger individuals and for them to search out their manner from no matter backgrounds into jobs.
One particular person has died attempting to cross the Channel in an overloaded boat, after one other particular person died earlier making an attempt the identical journey, in keeping with the French authorities, Diane Taylor experiences.
Tories verify their coverage evaluation to have a look at council tax as figures present common payments in England up £109
The common Band D council tax invoice in England will rise by £109, or 5%, in 2025-26 in keeping with authorities figures launched this morning. The common Band D whole invoice might be £2,280, up from £2,171.
In an interview on the At the moment programme this morning, Nigel Huddleston, the Tory co-chair, stated his occasion’s coverage evaluation would take into account different approaches. He stated:
We’re going to be utilizing our time in opposition very properly and Kemi [Badenoch] laid out earlier this week the coverage renewal work and coverage renewal programme that we’ll be doing, which can take a look at each single space of presidency – and clearly council tax is an space of main concern as a result of it is a vital a part of individuals’s annual expenditure.
Barrow-in-Furness is a “blueprint” for the way rising defence spending can increase prosperity throughout the UK, Keir Starmer has stated forward of a go to to the city on the coronary heart of Britain’s submarine-building trade. PA Media says:
Keir Starmer will lay the keel for the subsequent era of Britain’s nuclear deterrent submarines when he visits the Cumbrian city at the moment, as he argues his plans to spice up defence spending will assist fulfil his mission to develop the financial system.
Simply days in the past, Starmer secretly joined a crew of submariners as they returned residence to their households for the primary time in months, making him the primary prime minister to hitch a so-called “day zero” since 2013.
King Charles is in the meantime resulting from confer the Port of Barrow with the title “Royal”, to recognise the city’s contribution in the direction of nationwide safety as a hub of submarine constructing.
In February, the prime minister introduced the federal government will improve defence spending to 2.5% of the UK’s financial output by 2027, one thing which ministers assume will assist drive financial development and create jobs throughout the UK.
The prime minister stated: “After I say that our Plan for Change is delivering safety for working individuals and renewal for our nation, there isn’t a higher blueprint than Barrow.
“Defence spending right here is supporting extremely expert jobs, driving alternatives for younger individuals and delivering world class capabilities to maintain us all protected, however it’s additionally crucially placing cash within the pockets of hardworking individuals.”
SNP claims cuts deliberate by Rachel Reeves in spring assertion means Labour lied to Scots about no return to austerity
In at the moment’s Guardian splash Kiran Stacey, Pippa Crerar and Jessica Elgot reveal that Rachel Reeves will announce the most important spending cuts since austerity at subsequent week’s spring assertion.
That is significantly troublesome for Labour in Scotland, the place their essential opponents, the SNP, are fiercely anti-austerity and Labour MSPs are cut up over whether or not to defend the financial insurance policies of the UK authorities or criticise them.
Commenting on the Guardian’s story, Dave Doogan, the SNP’s financial system spokersperson at Westminster, stated:
Individuals in Scotland won’t ever forgive the Labour occasion for imposing a brand new period of devastating austerity cuts on public companies and family incomes.
It’s clear the Labour occasion lied to voters in the course of the election. They promised no return to austerity cuts however they’re slicing billions of kilos from very important companies.
UK knowledge recording of organic intercourse inflicting potential dangers, report finds
Official UK knowledge recording individuals’s organic intercourse and their gender identification is commonly unclear or conflated, a government-commissioned report has discovered, inflicting confusion and potential dangers, for instance in healthcare and safeguarding. Peter Walker has the story.
Tory co-chair braces occasion for large losses as Kemi Badenoch launches native elections marketing campaign
Good morning. For Keir Starmer, it’s a army day. This morning Downing Avenue has launched video footage and footage of Starmer assembly the crew of a nuclear-armed submarine earlier this week because it returned to Faslane in Scotland. Later this morning he’s in Barrow, the place he’s going to “lay the keel to the primary boat of the subsequent era nuclear armed submarines, knowns because the Dreadnought class”, No 10 says. He’s additionally asserting that “the king has agreed to confer the ‘Royal’ title to the Port of Barrow in recognition of the city’s distinctive and important contribution to nationwide safety as residence of nuclear submarine constructing within the UK”. And this afternoon, within the south of England, he’s going to attend a gathering of army chiefs and planners from the 30-odd nations which can be a part of the “coalition of the keen” providing to assist defend Ukraine within the occasion of a ceasefire.
I’ll cowl a few of that right here, however Jakub Krupa will lead the Ukraine-focused protection on his Europe stay weblog.
For Kemi Badenoch, a unique kind of battle planning is on the agenda. She is launching the Conservative occasion’s native election marketing campaign at an occasion in Buckinghamshire.
It’s going to be a low-key launch, we’re advised. Yesterday CCHQ officers have been doing their greatest to steer foyer journalists that it will not be well worth the effort attending. And the in a single day phrases launched from Badenoch are story-free. Badenoch says:
The Conservatives are the one occasion that stands up for households, for rural communities, and for native companies. Labour pander to the unions, the Lib Dems waste your taxes, and Reform haven’t any expertise operating something.
The Conservatives might be your voice in your area people, delivering worth for cash, decrease taxes and higher companies – so vote Conservative on 1 Might.
However Nigel Huddleston, the Conservative occasion co-chair, gave a clue as to what’s actually occurring in an interview on Sky Information this morning. It’s not uncommon for events to downplay expectations forward of native elections, however Huddlestone went overboard, implying that the occasion is anticipating severe losses. He stated:
That is us having an election after shedding the final election final yr, [defending the] high-water mark of the 2021 native elections, the place we received an unbelievable 65% of all seats. That’s about 30% larger than we usually get in native elections. That is following on from the vaccines roll-out. We gained the Hartlepool byelection on the identical day. So 2021 was a extremely high-water mark, and that’s what we’re going through in opposition to now.
Now, we’re preventing for each single vote in each single seat, however it will likely be troublesome.
Are the Tories proper to be apprehensive? In all probability. Earlier this month Electoral Calculus printed some MRP polling for the native elections and the outcomes recommend the Conservatives are on target to lose lots of of seats.
Electoral Calculus says:
Our prediction is that the Conservatives will lose a considerable amount of assist and councillors to the Reform UK occasion. The Liberal Democrats are additionally anticipated to make some good points, whereas Labour would possibly lose floor a bit. The Inexperienced occasion and impartial candidates are tougher to foretell precisely, so their predictions are topic to a better quantity of uncertainty.
What would possibly assist the Conservatives is the truth that in a few of the council areas the place elections must be going down, voting is being delayed for no less than a yr due to the native authorities reorganisations. The anticipated election leads to the desk above are projected figures together with locations the place voting is occurring in Might, and locations the place voting is delayed. As this desk exhibits, once they separated the outcomes, Electoral Calculus discovered that Reform UK have been on target to do even higher within the locations the place polling is just not taking place this yr.
In fact, that is solely a ballot. They aren’t all the time correct. However politicians examine them very carefully, and CCHQ can have seen figures like this. They clarify why Badenoch is not any making a fuss of her native elections marketing campaign launch, and why Huddleston is getting ready his occasion for large losses.
Right here is the agenda for the day.
9.30am: Steve Reed, setting secretary, takes questions within the Commons.
9.30am: The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Native Authorities publishes council tax figures for England for 2025-26.
10.30am: Lucy Powell, the chief of the Commons, makes an announcement to MPs on subsequent week’s enterprise.
10.40am: Kemi Badenoch launches the Conservatives’ native election marketing campaign at an occasion in Buckinghamshire.
Morning: Keir Starmer is in Barrow to put the keel for the primary of the next-generation Dreadnought nuclear-armed submarines which can be being constructed.
11.30am: Downing Avenue holds a foyer briefing.
About 11.30am: David Lammy, the international secretary, makes an announcement to MPs about Gaza.
Midday: John Swinney, Scotland’s first minister, takes questions at Holyrood.
12.30pm: Darren Jones, chief secretary to the Treasury, provides a speech on the Institute for Authorities.
2.30pm: Lammy provides at speech on the British Chambers of Commerce convention.
Afternoon: Starmer attends a army planning assembly for nations from the “coalition of the keen” providing to assist defend Ukraine within the occasion of a ceasefire.
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