Cruelty to immigrants is not what my party stands for. It’s time for True Labour, not Blue Labour | Stella Creasy We must get back to the party’s roots before it is too late. That means embracing difference, rejecting division – and fighting for opportunities for all, says MP for Walthamstow, Stella Creasy

Cruelty to immigrants is not what my party stands for. It’s time for True Labour, not Blue Labour. @stellacreasy.bsky.social speaking for I think a majority of Labour members against the "performative cruelty" of the Home Secretary www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

German foreign minister says ‘we will not allow ourselves to be divided’ after Trump-Spain spat – Europe live The US president previously threatened to stop all trade with Spain after it said it didn’t back the US-Israeli military operation against Iran Meanwhile, France has allowed US aircraft on some of its bases in the Middle East during the conflict opposing the United States and Israel with Iran, the French military said. “As part of our relations with the United States, the presence of their aircraft has been temporarily authorised on our bases” in the region, a spokeswoman for the military general staff told AFP. “These aircraft contribute to the protection of our partners in the Gulf.” “The frigate Cristóbal Colón joined the Charles de Gaulle Naval Group on 3 March to carry out escort, protection, and advanced training duties in the Baltic Sea. The group will now head to the Mediterranean, arriving off the coast of Crete around 10 March. The supply ship Cantabria will also briefly put to sea to provide fuel and logistical support during the Naval Group’s transit through the Gulf of Cádiz. Continue reading...

German foreign minister says ‘we will not allow ourselves to be divided’ after Trump-Spain spat – Europe live

This article was amended on 5 March 2026. An earlier version said low-skilled workers would “receive immediate access to welfare and social housing” if Labour did not make them wait longer to apply for settlement. In fact, settlement status only gives people the eligibility to apply for welfare and social housing, it does not give them instant or automatic access to such benefits. This has been clarified. From breaking news to huge investigative proje

Guardian has now [after my complaint] corrected Mahmood's deliberate & incendiary false claim settlement gives immigrants "immediate access to welfare and social housing".

Good for Gdn but embarrassing/shameful that Home Secretary deliberately misled the public for political gain like this.

Shabana Mahmood accused of mimicking Trump as she announces asylum plans Home secretary’s proposals to overhaul immigration system include end to permanent refugee status

The Home Secretary has made claims which are not true regarding migrants to push policies which will devastate lives, while increasing exploitation and people forced into becoming undocumented. These are not policies of "fairness", but instead of discrimination.

www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026...

But:
Protect paedophile Epstein's mates - rapists and torturers - in the Epstein files?
ICE kills people?
Support genocidal regimes e.g.: Putin in Ukraine; Netanyahu issued arrest warrant for war crimes in Gaza by Intl Criminal Court?
Promote a Board of Peace which consists of human rights' abusers?

Brave strategy to face down popularism with unpopularism.

The inhuman deciding who is human.

Goodhart, Goodwin, Glasman and Gray: The Vanguard Spearheading British National Populism Jon Bloomfield and David Edgar challenge the ideas of four widely read thinkers – the 4 Gs – who identify a ‘new elite’ in alliance with global capitalism against the majority

The 4 Gs!!

Secretary Noem acknowledges ICE and CBP can't shoot Americans for peacefully protesting, videotaping ICE officers or lawfully carrying a firearm, and yet her agents are routinely violating the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. There is a total leadership breakdown requiring immediate change.

Jeffries: "Article 1 of the Constitution provides Congress with the sole authority to declare war. Framers made that decision b/c they were concerned about kings plunging their people into unnecessary wars to pillage resources of others for the benefit of a tyrant and his family. Sound familiar?"

I’ve written about this excellent piece before in my own take on Labour’s “midlife crisis“ but this really was the warning sign from almost six months ago that the data was saying something very different from Number 10’s rhetoric.

If there is evidence of irregularities at some polling stations at the Gorton and Denton byelection, then that evidence should be properly and promptly investigated in accordance with due process by the proper authorities. And that is what is being done. Any denunciations of the election result should thereby await the result of this process. The losing party spokesperson candidly admitted the day after the election that any irregularities were not enough to have affected the result, which was emphatic. But this did not prevent the losing party’s leader from loudly promoting grave allegations of sectarian voting, corruption and dishonesty. Yet if the irregularities are not upheld on investigation as invalidating the result, it is unlikely that those findings will be shouted about. And such a response is irresponsible. Parts of the United Kingdom have a history of sectarian violence. Parts of the United Kingdom have histories of racial tension. Responsible politicians should not exploit such allegations for partisan advantage. Making such allegations is to play with fire, literally. Responsible politicians should be careful to avoid subverting the very fundamentals on which a functioning democracy rests. Such “poisoning of the wells” is familiar to those following the politics of the United States, and it lay behind the lethal violence that took place in Washington DC on 6th January 2021.

New

The poisoning of the wells

Why discrediting election results without waiting for due process is unhealthy for a democracy

This week's Weekly Constitutional by me at @prospectmagazine.co.uk

Address is guardian.readers@theguardian.com

Trump’s Orwellian Board of Peace Consists Entirely of Human Rights Abusers An Intercept analysis finds that every single Board of Peace member state has been rebuked for human rights violations.

Trump’s Orwellian Board of Peace Consists Entirely of Human Rights Abusers: every single Board of Peace member state has been rebuked for human rights violations writes @theintercept.com.

Empowering autocrats: the new US foreign policy ⚡️

theintercept.com/2026/03/02/t...

Starmer says UK sending more fighter jets to Middle East as he defends response to crisis – UK politics live PM also confirms that the first repatriation flight for Britons in the region has taken off

Starmer says UK sending more fighter jets to Middle East as he defends response to crisis – UK politics live www.theguardian.com/politics/liv...

Hi! Immigration lawyer here! Mahmood's view of the Refugee Convention as providing temporary protection just isn’t correct & AFAIK isn’t one anyone has ever adopted.

On the contrary, the Convention is clearly predicated on a long-term need for protection.
1/🧵

Should have had a Policy Exchange backdrop?
Goodhart hosted PE's Blue Labour event promoting Danish 'tough' policy!
[Even Trevor Phillips when chair of the Commission for Racial Equality, described his arguments as being those of "liberal Powellites", after the Conservative politician Enoch Powell.]

Britain’s Biggest Far-Right Protest: More than 100,000 attend Tommy Robinson’s Unite The Kingdom Rally  – HOPE not hate Today saw Britain’s largest ever far-right protest with police estimating 150,000 people in attendance for the “Unite the Kingdom” rally. Organised by Stephen Lennon —...

Britain’s Biggest Far-Right Protest: More than 100,000 attend Tommy Robinson’s Unite The Kingdom Rally  – HOPE not hate
@hopenothate.org.uk

@news.sky.com promote Blue Labour's Shabana working with Policy Exhange on "tough" immigration policies as brave to do 45mins with Trevor Phillips - a Snr Fellow of Policy Exchange! Normalised ppl at Tommy Robinson rally with this far-right line-up! But protests against genocide are 'hate marches'?

People who are not tax resident in the UK should not be allowed to donate to UK political parties.

Companies should not be allowed to donate to UK political parties.

No one should be allowed to use crypto to donate to UK political parties.

There is a better way forward, and that would be to genuinely tackle inequality, nourish strong communities, and stop stoking racist hatred. The politics of fear is cheap and easy but in the end we will all pay a heavy price for it.

One thing the Home Secretary is right about is that far right politics are indeed “taking hold”. But that is because successive governments have actively legitimised and proudly pursued far right, racist, policies, insisting they are part of our core values.

Meanwhile the 2024 Labour govt was first govt of either party in history whose electorate was majority pro-immigration in broad terms. Reforms like this just don't make political sense. Obviously policy doesn't have to be popular, but Mahmood claims there is an electoral case for this. There isn't!

Your regular reminder than a large majority of voters - and overwhelming majority of Labour voters - favour giving settled migrants access to the welfare state after five years or less. The Home Secretary is not reforming rules in line with public opinion. She is doing the opposite.

Mahmood’s move to make asylum temporary ‘may undermine refugee convention’ Law Society says home secretary’s review of refugee status after 30 months is in tension with UK’s legal obligations

Shabana Mahmood’s decision to tell every person applying for asylum from Monday that their status is temporary could undermine the refugee convention, the Law Society has said

www.theguardian.com/world/2026/m...

Shabana Mahmoud - Reform's not so secret weapon!

Read these words from 100 years ago about immigrants in Britain – and see how history is chillingly repeating itself | George Monbiot Shabana Mahmood’s new rights clampdown looks outlandish until we remember that this kind of hardline action is part of our country’s fabric, says George Monbiot

The precedent is eerily, chillingly precise. What the current Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood is doing to immigrants and refugees today is almost a carbon copy of what Sir William Joynson-Hicks was doing 100 years ago. And that's not a good thing. My column.
www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

"would otherwise receive immediate access to welfare and social housing" is BS.

Correct: "after 5 years working in a care home, would be eligible to apply for welfare and social housing on the same basis as the rest of us."

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...

Deliberately misleading/disingenous.

Trump vs Sanchez: Why Europeans should back Spain against US threats – European Council on Foreign Relations The US has threatened Spain with a trade embargo for refusing it access to Spanish military bases. European leaders should use this moment to show they are capa

European leaders must see Trump’s administration coercion for what it is and respond collectively to defend the autonomy of the EU and its member states - a good piece in @ecfrpower.bsky.social
ecfr-eu.cdn.ampproject.org/c/s/ecfr.eu/...