Zia Yusuf hits back over ‘burka ban'
There's trouble in paradise, it seems. Perhaps the most eye-catching moment at yesterday's PMQs came when Sarah Pochin, Reform's newest MP, stood up to grill Keir Starmer for the first time. The moment was heavily trailed by deputy leader Richard Tice, who promised it would be 'interesting' in a video on X. Pochin duly rose and asked Keir Starmer the following:
Given the Prime Minister's desire to strengthen strategic alignment with our European neighbours, will he – in the interests of public safety – follow the lead of France, Denmark, Belgium and others, and ban the burqa?
Lee Anderson, sat beside her, was heard muttering: 'Here, here!' He later posted on X: 'Ban the burqa? Yes we should. No one should be allowed to hide their identity in public.' Given Anderson's role as the party's chief whip, you'd think that the Reform disciplinarian would be speaking the party line.
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The Independent
an hour ago
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Sarwar says surprise by-election win could help Labour back to power at Holyrood
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar said his party's shock victory in a Holyrood by-election could help propel him into power next year – as he declared he wants to 'gain scores of seats across the country' in a bid to defeat the SNP. Mr Sarwar and his party celebrated in the early hours of Friday morning after Labour's Davy Russell was elected as the new MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse, winning the seat from the SNP. With the votes showing a swing of more than 7% from the SNP to Labour, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said on Friday the result showed people have 'voted for change'. The by-election had been held following the death earlier this year of Scottish Government minister Christina McKelvie. When the votes were counted, Mr Russell polled 8,559, SNP candidate Katy Loudon took 7,957 votes, while Reform's Ross Lambie secured 7,088. And although Mr Russell was elected with fewer votes than Labour secured in the seat in the 2021 Scottish Parliament election, the SNP's support fell from just over 46% of all ballots then to 29.35% in the by-election. Reform UK deputy leader Richard Tice insisting they were 'delighted' with coming third – despite speculation prior to the count that they could come in second or may even pull off a surprise victory. Labour's win came after Scotland's First Minister John Swinney – who made numerous campaign visits to the area – had declared the contest to be a 'two-horse race' between the SNP and Nigel Farage's Reform. But speaking at a media event in Hamilton on Friday morning, Mr Sarwar accused the SNP leader of running a 'disgraceful' campaign. Mr Sarwar also insisted the by-election could 'help lead the way' to him becoming Scotland's next first minister in the May 2026 Holyrood elections. The Scottish Labour leader said he believed the victory to be 'even more significant' than the party's win in the nearby Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election in October 2023 – which he said had been key in helping to secure Labour's general election win in July last year. Mr Sarwar declared: 'I think in some ways this by-election result is even more significant than the Rutherglen by-election result two years ago. 'It is right to say, I believe, the result in Rutherglen helped lead the way in helping to elect a UK Labour Government and I also believe the by-election result here will help lead the way to elect a Scottish Labour government next year.' Looking ahead to that election, Mr Sarwar told the PA news agency: 'I want us to gain scores of seats across the country so we can remove this SNP government from office.' He went on to accuse Mr Swinney of running a 'disgraceful campaign' in the by-election, saying that despite the SNP having been in power for 18 years, 'the best he had to offer was 'vote SNP to stop Farage''. And while Reform UK came in third in the by-election, Mr Sarwar said Mr Farage's party could not win the Scottish Parliament elections. He insisted: 'Nigel Farage is not standing to be first minister. 'It is a straight choice – it is either going to be John Swinney, or it's going to be me.' The Scottish Labour leader continued: 'The choice is stark next year. Our Parliament is not about protests, our election is not about protest, it is about choosing a government here in Scotland. 'The choice is stark – a third decade of the SNP with John Swinney as first minister or a new direction for Scotland with me as first minister.' However, Mr Tice told BBC Radio 4's that the result in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse was 'truly remarkable'. He said: 'We've come from nowhere to being in a three-way marginal, and we're within 750 votes of winning that by-election and just a few hundred votes of defeating the SNP, so it's an incredible result.' Mr Swinney, meanwhile, said the SNP was 'clearly disappointed' with the result. The party leader said Labour had 'won by an absolute landslide' in Rutherglen and Hamilton West – noting the SNP 'came much closer' this time round. But he added: 'The people of Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse have made clear that we still have work to do. 'Over the next few days, we will take time to consider the result fully.'
The Independent
an hour ago
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Badenoch insists Tories are still the main opposition to Labour
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Metro
an hour ago
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Why I'm scared by a report about Britain's 'minority white' future
A new study has predicted that 'white British' people are set to become a minority in Britain in the next 40 years. Cue the hysteria. I'm not surprised, it feels like this was exactly the intention behind this report. Conducted by Matt Goodwin of Buckingham University, who is also a regular voice on the right-wing TV channel GB News channel, the research claims that the proportion of white Brits will decline from 73% (where it currently stands) to 57% by 2050. It is then thought that white British people will become a minority by 2063 and that by the end of the century they will only constitute a third of the overall population. Referencing his study's findings, Goodwin said that those in favour of 'maintaining the way of life of the traditional majority population' will need their concerns 'recognised, respected and addressed.' Let's be real about what we're looking at here. This is not an impartial, apolitical study of demographic change. Goodwin's definition is so absurdly broad that figures such as King Charles and Winston Churchill wouldn't be considered 'White British' in this instance. Firstly, Goodwin makes frankly insulting and arbitrary decisions about what exactly is considered 'White British'. He defines this as those without at least one immigrant parent – creating a strange conclusion in which some people seem defined only by their 'foreign' side, creating a two-tiered system in which only those untainted by immigrant blood are considered genuinely 'White British' or native. By his definition, as a Muslim with one English parent and one Libyan, I'm not as British as a white non-Muslim, despite being born and raised here. This only reinforces what I have known my entire life – or at least, since I started looking visibly foreign by first wearing the hijab at 15: That I am always defined by my foreignness and never my Englishness. Goodwin's definition is so absurdly broad that figures such as King Charles and Winston Churchill wouldn't be considered 'White British' in this instance. But it is not white people with an American mother or a Greek father who are accused of diluting the native British population when it comes to studies like these. It's people like me whose brown, Muslim lineage renders me a foreigner, despite me being ethnically just as English as I am Libyan. Why else would Goodwin focus on his headline-grabbing statistic that 1 in 5 Britons will apparently be Muslim by the end of the century. In fact, Goodwin's main report on 'religious projections' doesn't even mention any other faiths, simply categorising the UK population along the lines of Muslim or non-Muslim. This sounds chillingly like 'us versus them', 'good guy versus bad guy' or 'native versus foreigner' – all of which fuel hysteria about a Muslim takeover and label Islam and Britishness as mutual exclusives. In fact, just this week we have seen Reform – a party that many predict could soon find its way in Number 10 – raising the issue of a Burka ban. For many, being British is about more than a passport. It looks, sounds and acts a certain way – and that is not Muslim. Studies like the one released this week embolden those holding Islamophobic views, giving them a statistical basis for their bigotry. Research conducted by someone with such incendiary views should be taken with far more suspicion than we have seen with these findings – but I suppose that doesn't matter when there are some catchy fear-mongering soundbites on offer. While the survey has predictably been used as evidence for lowering immigration levels, beneath the odd (frankly racist) categorisation of British identity, it also paints a picture of the birth rates of different communities in the UK and how that will impact future demographics. Given that Britain's birth rate is at an all-time low, we have seen pronatalist policies slowly creep into the mainstream as politicians panic about what the future will look like if nobody can afford to have babies. But what this survey seems to reinforce is that calls to raise the birth rate aren't simply about providing the nation with the next generation of workers and taxpayers. It is, for many, ensuring that the future face of the west remains white and that the so-called native population reproduces quickly enough to balance out other communities like my own, who traditionally tend to have larger families. Last year a peer in the House of Lords made a speech in which he warned about radical Muslims taking over Britain 'through the power of the womb'. More Trending Every year when the name Muhammad inevitably tops the list of most popular baby names, we see another wave of media-manufactured moral panic that Britain overrun by Muslims unless the white British population has more babies. Reports like these don't just legitimise conspiracy theories like this, they help manufacture them, and attempt to make people like me feel more othered, more unsafe. Who knows what this hypothetical Britain will look like in decades time? But if the children and grandchildren of people like me aren't considered part of the future British population, but a hostile outside force, then things are only going to get worse for all of us. Do you have a story you'd like to share? Get in touch by emailing Share your views in the comments below. MORE: Donald Trump and Elon Musk might make peace – but it will never last MORE: What does Eid Mubarak mean and how should you reply to the greeting? MORE: Universal digital 'BritCards' on an app could soon be used to prove who you are
