Elections

SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon is “extremely confident” the party is heading back into power at Holyrood – although she conceded winning an overall majority of MSPs there is a “very, very long shot”. As early results started to come in from Thursday’s Scottish parliament elections, the Scottish first minister downplayed the prospect of winning a […]

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has said that he will do “whatever it takes” to rebuild trust in the party following its “bitterly disappointing” by-election defeat in Hartlepool. Starmer has come under fire from all sides after Labour suffered a crushing defeat. In a stunning result, the Conservatives took the seat – which had been […]

The SNP will be the “leading and largest party” in the new Scottish parliament, deputy first minister John Swinney has declared – though he said it was still too early to say if the party would win an overall majority at Holyrood. Swinney, also the education secretary in the Scottish government, comfortably held his Perthshire […]

Boris Johnson has described the early election results as “very encouraging” after hopes of a Labour revival were dealt a crushing blow when the Conservatives won the Hartlepool by-election. Speaking to reporters in Coventry, the prime minister said: “I know that the results have been coming in since this morning and there’s clearly a lot […]

Campaigning in the Hartlepool by-election, Sir Keir Starmer said repeatedly that Labour had a “mountain to climb” if it was to regain power. Now that the votes are in and counted, that task looks every bit as formidable as the party seeks to chart a route back to No 10. It is hard to see […]

Hopes of a Labour revival under Sir Keir Starmer have suffered a blow after the Conservative Party comfortably won the Hartlepool by-election. The Leave-supporting North East constituency went blue for the first time in its 47-year-old history, as Boris Johnson demolished another brick in Labour’s so-called “red wall”. Voters in the town backed Tory candidate […]

Labour has all but conceded defeat in the Hartlepool by-election after a shadow cabinet member admitted the party was “not close to winning this”. Shadow transport secretary Jim McMahon, who led the opposition party’s campaign to hold the North East town, said it looked clear that Labour had not “got over the line”. Such a […]

A new poll has revealed the Tories could be on course to win the Hartlepool by-election after its candidate polled 17 points ahead of Labour. Tory candidate Jill Mortimer could win 50% of the vote with Labour GP Dr Paul Williams on 33%, if undecideds were removed, according to Survation. Independents Thelma Walker and Sam Lee […]

The Alba Party’s manifesto is the only one “taking Scottish independence seriously”, Alex Salmond has said. At the launch of his party’s proposals, the former first minister took a swipe at the SNP and the Scottish Greens – the latter of whom he has previously accused of being “as weak as dishwater” on independence. During […]

Outspoken lockdown critic Laurence Fox is tied with an intergalactic bin in last place in the race for London mayor. The new Comres poll has Labour candidate Sadiq Khan clearly in the lead with 41% of the vote, followed by the Conservative Shaun Bailey at 28% with Lib Dem Luisa Porritt and Green Sian Berry significantly behind with […]

Germany’s Greens have chosen co-leader Annalena Baerbock as their candidate for the federal election in September. Baerbock’s candidacy was announced on Monday morning after beating co-leader Robert Habeck to the role. Baerbock, 40, dismissed concerns about her lack of political experience during her acceptance speech. “Democracy lives off change. Yes, I was never a chancellor and never a […]

The Tories are on course to face their worst defeat of a candidate for the London mayoral race since the office was created Polling shows Sadiq Khan is set to secure a second term as London mayor on May 6. He is easily beating his Conservative rival, Shaun Bailey, who looks likely to suffer the […]

Two citizens’ assemblies should be held in Northern Ireland and the Republic to lay the groundwork for a border poll which could be held in the next decade, a Fine Gael TD has said. Neale Richmond will present his new paper Towards A New Ireland at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge University, on Monday. The paper […]

New analysis has suggested more than nine million people in Great Britain are not correctly registered for the May 6 elections, as the deadline to register to vote passes at the end of Monday. Council and mayoral positions in England and Scottish and Welsh parliament seats are all up for grabs during the May 6 votes, […]

Alex Salmond has claimed his Alba party is being censored by the broadcasters ahead of the Scottish elections. The former first minister said the broadcasters “are simply failing in their democratic duty” because Alba has been excluded from the televised debates featuring leaders of parties who currently have MSPs at Holyrood. Salmond took umbrage with […]

UKIP’s Wales leader has defended an election candidate who sent offensive tweets about Muslims. Stan Robinson, who is running on the South Wales West list, sent several derogatory messages in the past fortnight about Islam and Muslims. He has also retweeted a message labelling migrants “parasites” who should be “arrested” or “shot” to “stop the […]

The recent Dutch elections show how European politicians – and their electorates – can no longer separate EU affairs from national concerns. The recent Dutch elections kicked of a series of national parliamentary elections on the European continent: German elections are scheduled for September this year, followed by the French elections in May 2022. Given […]

It may not seem at the top of voters’ concerns but electoral reform offers a chance to tackle so many of the UK’s problems. Labour must seize it now, says MP Ruth Cadbury. In late September 2017, instead of heading to Liverpool for Labour’s annual conference, I was in Auckland getting voters out to the polls. Playing […]

Angela Merkel’s Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party has suffered a historic defeat in state elections – with one senior member describing it as a “wake-up call”. Final results streaming in early Monday confirmed the centre-right CDU lost out in two elections to popular incumbent state governors – the Greens’ Winfried Kretschmann in Baden-Wuerttemberg and the centre-left […]

Next week’s elections in the Netherlands will be seen as a test of how voters assess their government’s performances in the Covid crisis.  Four years ago, the world watched the Dutch elections – among the first major votes after the Brexit referendum and election of Donald Trump – for a clue to whether the anti-European, populist right was poised for a […]

A new record is about to be set for the longest period of time since a parliamentary by-election was held in the UK. On March 5, a total of 582 days will have passed since voters last went to the polls in a Westminster by-election. The gap is unprecedented in post-war history, according to analysis […]

Wales’ elections in May could be delayed – but when they eventually happen they will help make history. The scene was set for May 6 2021 to be a historic day for democracy in Wales. It would be the first time that 16 and 17 year olds would be able to vote in an election. […]

Legislation is currently making its way through the UK parliament to repeal the controversial fixed-term parliaments act, which sets the period between general elections at five years and limits the prime minister’s power to trigger an election earlier. An earlier election is possible if two thirds of MPs vote for it or if the government […]

A group of EU citizens living in the UK who were prevented from voting in the 2019 European Parliament elections because of onerous registration requirements is preparing to take the government to court. The3million, which campaigns for an estimated three million EU citizens living in the UK, has taken legal action against the Cabinet Office […]