The Foreign Secretary says 300k Brits are in the Middle East. Of those 102k have registered with the Foreign Office to say where they are. She says advice is to shelter in place, but govt is looking at the “full range of options” to bring them home.
02.03.2026 08:26 — 👍 24 🔁 5 💬 15 📌 2
NEW: The Lib Dems are demanding MPs get a vote on allowing the US to use UK air bases.
Leader Ed Davey says:
“No matter how the Prime Minister tries to redefine offensive as defensive, this is a slippery slope. He must not let Trump drag Britain into another prolonged war in the Middle East.”
No10 say the bases will be used to stop Iran from firing missiles - ie a defensive stance, not an offensive one, in their view
01.03.2026 21:22 — 👍 83 🔁 17 💬 62 📌 41BREAKING: Keir Starmer says the U.K. has given the US permission to use British bases to launch strikes on Iran
01.03.2026 21:17 — 👍 265 🔁 154 💬 156 📌 212Green Party leader Zack Polanski says Keir Starmer should go on television and “condemn these illegal strikes” #BBCLauraK
01.03.2026 09:27 — 👍 481 🔁 78 💬 48 📌 14BREAKING: Donald Trump says Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is dead.
28.02.2026 21:48 — 👍 17 🔁 2 💬 16 📌 2BREAKING: Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu says there are “growing signs” that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei is “gone”.
28.02.2026 19:13 — 👍 26 🔁 9 💬 11 📌 5
Some clear political differences emerging between the political parties this morning:
Reform - via Nigel Farage tweet - says UK should allow US to use our bases to attack Iran.
Green Party says UK must stay out of it.
Starmer chairing COBR and so far on the fence.
NEW: @EmilyThornberry tells me on @LBC that Keir Starmer should call what she believes to be the illegality of the strikes on Iran overnight. She says she is glad the U.K. was not involved and fears escalation.
28.02.2026 10:18 — 👍 100 🔁 18 💬 10 📌 2
“…which we have recently bolstered. We stand ready to protect our interests.
“We do not want to see further escalation into a wider regional conflict.”
“Our immediate priority is the safety of UK nationals in the region and we will provide them with consular assistance, available 24/7.
“As part of our longstanding commitments to the security of our allies in the Middle East, we have a range of defensive capabilities in the region…”
BREAKING: PM to chair COBR this morning in response to strikes to Iran.
The U.K. did not take part in military action.
Government spokesperson:
“Iran must never be allowed to develop a nuclear weapon and that is why we have continually supported efforts to reach a negotiated solution…”
I’ll have rolling coverage of all the breaking news out of Iran, Israel and America this morning, @LBC 10am-12pm.
“Take over your government, your hour of freedom is at hand” says Trump.
But have the lessons of past attempts at regime change been forgotten?
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BREAKING: President Trump confirms that the US has launched ‘major combat operations’ against Iran, arguing that Iran has been a threat to the US for ‘47 years’.
28.02.2026 07:42 — 👍 37 🔁 19 💬 17 📌 7
Angela Rayner says that Labour must be “braver” and treat Gorton and Denton as a “wake up call”. A hint of a potential leadership bid in future?
27.02.2026 09:33 — 👍 73 🔁 11 💬 16 📌 4
The result in Gorton and Denton mirrors the one in Caerphilly last year.
Voters piled in behind a party of the left and kept Reform out.
The potential for tactical voting at the next election will be fascinating.
It questions the presumption in the polls that Reform will win a landslide.
You have to have been a resident for twelve months
26.02.2026 13:23 — 👍 1 🔁 0 💬 1 📌 0
Jersey differs from the Isle of Man in allowing a doctor to end the life of a patient, rather than the patient having to do it themselves.
Where euthanasia by doctors has been allowed, laws have tended to be expanded much further, eg Canada, Netherlands, Belgium.
Way things are heading, all democratically elected chambers in the British Isles will have said 'yes' (of some sort) to Assisted Dying (tho Wales also recently said no to the principle). Only the unelected Lords will have blocked AD - opponents insist perfectly legitimately.
26.02.2026 11:47 — 👍 25 🔁 6 💬 5 📌 2On the Eng and Wales bill, both supporters and opponents have been working on the assumption for several weeks now that the bill will run out of time. Govt has always said it won't give any govt time in Lords. Hence debate has moved to whether the Parliament Act should be used in the next session.
26.02.2026 11:30 — 👍 21 🔁 1 💬 1 📌 1
BREAKING: Jersey becomes the second place in the British Isles to legalise assisted dying, voting 2 to 1 in favour.
32 for, 16 against.
Joins the Isle of Man in voting in favour. Scotland due to vote next month.
England and Wales bill remains in Lords and likely to fail.
But challenge is keeping up with arrivals.
There were 41,000 small boat crossings in 2025, up 13% on the year before, according to the latest Home Office stats.
NEW: Some evidence in today’s government stats that asylum backlog is reducing:
- 64,000 people awaiting an initial asylum decision, 48% lower than 2024
- 107,000 people in receipt of asylum support, 5% lower than a year prior
- 31,000 asylum seekers in hotels, 19% lower than year before
When do you get the shorts out?
26.02.2026 07:51 — 👍 23 🔁 0 💬 9 📌 0This vote has been knocked into tomorrow now…
25.02.2026 18:12 — 👍 16 🔁 1 💬 0 📌 0
Following the vote ‘in favour’ of assisted dying in Wales yesterday, Jersey also has its final vote on assisted dying today.
While Jersey is small, the vote is of course important to its own citizens, but also to the sense of momentum for assisted dying.
Expect supporters to big it up if passes.
Former Leader of the Lords, Baroness Royall, says peers are deliberately blocking the assisted dying bill.
“I think it is absurd… how can it be that you take nine days to scrutinise three clauses of an act? … That to me looks like filibustering.”
(She supports the bill).
On flip side, @CNKAlliance:
Dr Gordon Macdonald, CEO of Care Not Killing, commented: “Naturally, we are disappointed by the approval of this dangerous Legislative Consent Motion, especially given the growing chorus of concern about the assisted suicide bill in Westminster.”
Spokesperson for Kim Leadbeater reacts:
“Both the elected House of Commons and the elected Senedd have registered approval. Only a small minority of unelected peers are standing in the way of a democratic decision.”
