Latest news with #SirKeirStarmer
Telegraph
3 days ago
- Politics
- Telegraph
The seats that Labour's teenage voters will steal from Reform
Sir Keir Starmer's decision to hand 16-year-olds the vote will overwhelmingly favour the Left, an analysis shows. The Prime Minister was accused of 'breathtaking' cynicism after announcing plans to bring the voting age down to 16 in line with Scottish and Welsh elections. Tory and Reform UK figures claimed the Labour leader was trying to 'rig' future elections amid his party's waning political support since taking office last year. An analysis by The Telegraph has found that the decision would hand Labour 206,000 new voters in England and Wales. At last year's general election, 18 to 24-year-olds gave Labour 41 per cent of their vote and the Greens a further 19 per cent, according to Ipsos. Combined, that is 20 points higher than their vote share across the entire electorate. On the Right, however, Reform and the Conservatives secured just 13 per cent combined from under-25s against a national vote share of 38 per cent. Applying those figures to the 1.35 million potential new voters who would be added to the electoral roll, and adjusting for the 37 per cent turnout, Labour is on track to secure more than 200,000 new voters, while the Greens would gain around 100,000. Nigel Farage's Reform UK would secure just 40,000 new voters. In an election, at a localised level, these 500,000 new voters are just a drop in the ocean of the 26 million votes cast. The Telegraph estimates that at last year's election, assuming the 18 to 24 voting trends were replicated evenly across the country, Labour could have gained an extra seven seats across England and Wales. That would have been enough for Sir Keir to match Sir Tony Blair's 1997 landslide election victory with the 'teen' vote helping mop up seats where the Conservatives then held with incredibly small margins. It could have also reduced Reform's take by a fifth, with South Basildon and East Thurrock being one of the potential seats lost with an extended franchise. An additional 358 Labour votes from under-18s would have overrun James McMurdock's wafer-thin 123 seat majority and spared Reform the recent embarrassment of his resignation from the party. However, these kinds of extrapolations assume an even split and even turnout across the country. In reality, voting patterns would vary depending on the area's makeup. A year since coming to power, Labour no longer dominates the polls and Reform is now increasingly likely to win the next election. A recent YouGov MRP poll, which produces likely results constituency by constituency, showed that Reform are on track to win 271 seats, making them the largest party, but 55 short of an overall majority. Labour has also lost some of the support of the youngest 18 to 24 voters, falling to 28 per cent, with the Greens on 26 per cent and Lib Dems on 20 per cent, according to the latest YouGov poll. Reform UK, however, have not seen their meteoric rise among the youngest voters, maintaining the same vote share as in the 2024 election at 8 per cent. If these new voting shares to 16 to 17-year-olds are adjusted to YouGov's likely election situation, the impact is clear: Reform would lose out. They would lose 12 of those seats, with most going to Labour, and pull Mr Farage further from Downing Street. Similar caveats apply, even more so when looking forward, as the population makeup is changing rapidly. However, the point remains that the next election is likely to see tiny margins of victory if voters remain as divided as they are now. Any disadvantage that skews away from Reform will make the likelihood of a majority increasingly unlikely. As ever in British politics, however, it is unlikely to go that simply for Labour. For instance, Jeremy Corbyn and Zarah Sultana's new hard-Left political party could create an earthquake for younger voters. One in three voters aged under-25 previously said that they would consider voting for this new party when it formally emerges. Analysis from More in Common also highlights that seats with the highest number of 16 to 17-year-olds saw independents and Workers Party perform their best. Young voters, it would seem, are the most drawn to Labour, but also the most likely to stray from the traditional Left altogether. This fragmentation could help Reform avoid the worst of the impacts a franchise extension could have. And importantly, while the policy may dent at Reform's chance at the next election, the one group unlikely to reap any significant benefits from the voting reform is the party implementing it, Labour. Once guaranteed the youth vote, even they are abandoning it.
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Starmer and Macron's channel crossings deal: safe routes hold the key to future progress
To use a football analogy that he might appreciate, the first year of Sir Keir Starmer's premiership has been a game of two halves. Domestically, grievous strategic mistakes have been made. On the foreign stage, however, an approach that Sir Keir likes to style as 'quiet, serious diplomacy' has yielded some tangible results. For the most part, this week's state visit by Emmanuel Macron further showcased the benefits of leaving behind the blowhard politics of the post-Brexit years. Sir Keir and the French president used the occasion to pledge greater cooperation on security and strengthened their joint commitment to safeguarding Ukraine's future as a sovereign independent state. But the biggest take-away from Mr Macron's trip launched the prime minister straight back into toxic domestic terrain. The announcement of a 'one in, one out' migrant returns deal with France represents the government's most high-profile attempt to halt the Channel crossings, which led last year to a record 86 deaths at sea. In the spirit of a renewed 'entente amicale', Mr Macron has agreed to the automatic return of a small proportion of migrants reaching Britain on small boats. In exchange, the UK will offer safe routes from France for an equivalent number of asylum seekers. The prime minister hopes this agreement can work sufficiently well to be scaled up, acting as a deterrent to those currently willing to risk their lives to reach our shores. The stakes, both ethically and politically, cannot be overstated. Sir Keir is absolutely right to suggest that Labour must combat the performative outrage of Nigel Farage and Reform – to which he has at times lamentably pandered – with a more humane, 'social democratic' response to the Channel crossings. As the Guardian's reporting has this week underlined, the desperate situation of refugees on the French coast shames political authorities on both sides of the Channel. But whether this week's deal constitutes such a response is much less clear. Most obviously, it is difficult to see how a pilot scheme targeting only a very small proportion of arrivals can ever offer 'proof of concept' of deterrence. Many migrants using irregular routes, having already risked so much, will surely choose to take their chances as before. The selection procedure for those to be sent back to France is also murky, and returns decisions will almost certainly be subject to legal challenge. Implementation of the plan will ultimately depend on the verdict of the European Commission as to its legality. Italy, Spain and Greece have already made their objections known. Delay and confusion would only lead to more gruesome headlines for Labour. In one respect though, Sir Keir was justified in describing the scheme as 'groundbreaking'. For years, Conservative governments have attempted to stop Channel crossings through devising unjust and unworkable deterrence measures such as the Rwanda scheme. The only result has been a rising toll of human misery. By agreeing for the first time to expand safe routes to Britain for asylum seekers – albeit on a tiny scale – the prime minister offered a glimpse of a different, more compassionate solution. Going further, in cooperation with countries of origin and European partners, would be the most effective way to undermine the business models of people-smugglers, especially if combined with meaningful levels of aid to the world's poorest countries. Labour should be focusing more on how it lets refugees in, and less on how it can find new ways to kick them out. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
The Guardian
11-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
The Guardian view on Starmer and Macron's channel crossings deal: safe routes hold the key to future progress
To use a football analogy that he might appreciate, the first year of Sir Keir Starmer's premiership has been a game of two halves. Domestically, grievous strategic mistakes have been made. On the foreign stage, however, an approach that Sir Keir likes to style as 'quiet, serious diplomacy' has yielded some tangible results. For the most part, this week's state visit by Emmanuel Macron further showcased the benefits of leaving behind the blowhard politics of the post-Brexit years. Sir Keir and the French president used the occasion to pledge greater cooperation on security and strengthened their joint commitment to safeguarding Ukraine's future as a sovereign independent state. But the biggest take-away from Mr Macron's trip launched the prime minister straight back into toxic domestic terrain. The announcement of a 'one in, one out' migrant returns deal with France represents the government's most high-profile attempt to halt the Channel crossings, which led last year to a record 86 deaths at sea. In the spirit of a renewed 'entente amicale', Mr Macron has agreed to the automatic return of a small proportion of migrants reaching Britain on small boats. In exchange, the UK will offer safe routes from France for an equivalent number of asylum seekers. The prime minister hopes this agreement can work sufficiently well to be scaled up, acting as a deterrent to those currently willing to risk their lives to reach our shores. The stakes, both ethically and politically, cannot be overstated. Sir Keir is absolutely right to suggest that Labour must combat the performative outrage of Nigel Farage and Reform – to which he has at times lamentably pandered – with a more humane, 'social democratic' response to the Channel crossings. As the Guardian's reporting has this week underlined, the desperate situation of refugees on the French coast shames political authorities on both sides of the Channel. But whether this week's deal constitutes such a response is much less clear. Most obviously, it is difficult to see how a pilot scheme targeting only a very small proportion of arrivals can ever offer 'proof of concept' of deterrence. Many migrants using irregular routes, having already risked so much, will surely choose to take their chances as before. The selection procedure for those to be sent back to France is also murky, and returns decisions will almost certainly be subject to legal challenge. Implementation of the plan will ultimately depend on the verdict of the European Commission as to its legality. Italy, Spain and Greece have already made their objections known. Delay and confusion would only lead to more gruesome headlines for Labour. In one respect though, Sir Keir was justified in describing the scheme as 'groundbreaking'. For years, Conservative governments have attempted to stop Channel crossings through devising unjust and unworkable deterrence measures such as the Rwanda scheme. The only result has been a rising toll of human misery. By agreeing for the first time to expand safe routes to Britain for asylum seekers – albeit on a tiny scale – the prime minister offered a glimpse of a different, more compassionate solution. Going further, in cooperation with countries of origin and European partners, would be the most effective way to undermine the business models of people-smugglers, especially if combined with meaningful levels of aid to the world's poorest countries. Labour should be focusing more on how it lets refugees in, and less on how it can find new ways to kick them out. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here.
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Starmer and Macron to take on Musk with European Starlink rival
Sir Keir Starmer has agreed to inject €163m (£140m) into a French-led rival to Elon Musk's Starlink as part of Emmanuel Macron's state visit to Britain. The UK will participate in a €1.5bn investment round for the Paris-based satellite business Eutelsat, the company announced on Thursday. This will support Eutelsat's efforts to challenge Mr Musk's Starlink, including in Ukraine, where the satellite internet system has been vital to troops' defence against Russia. Britain already owns a stake in Eutelsat as a result of its merger with OneWeb, the satellite business rescued by Boris Johnson's government in 2020. However, up until today, the Government had not committed to take part in the company's latest fundraise, which will see the French state become its biggest shareholder. Eutelsat, best known as a satellite TV provider, merged with OneWeb in 2022 as space companies scrambled to adapt to the rapid rise of Starlink, a subsidiary of Mr Musk's SpaceX. The UK government had rescued OneWeb from administration in a £400m deal championed by Dominic Cummings. But the business had struggled to keep up with Starlink, and several of its satellites were seized by Russia in the early days of the Ukraine war. Eutelsat has also encountered its own issues financially, which prompted the latest fundraising as bosses scrambled to reduce the company's debt burden. It has been boosted in recent months by suggestions that the White House will cut off funding for Starlink's use in Ukraine. The UK's investment in Eutelsat means it will maintain its 10.9pc stake in the company, while it also has a golden share in OneWeb that grants it certain national security guarantees. Peter Kyle, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, said: 'As our adversaries increasingly use space technologies to harm us, resilient satellite connectivity has become essential to our continent's national security. 'This investment reflects our commitment to support the development of these critical technologies and maintain an important stake in the global satellite communications sector.' Mr Macron wrote on social media: 'Thanks to our British friends as they continue to follow us on the Eutelsat adventure! We're over the moon to keep going with you. Together we go further!' OneWeb remains headquartered in the UK, although its next generation of satellites will be built in France. Jean-François Fallacher, OneWeb's chief executive, said: 'In the current environment, it is crucial that our countries continue to collaborate and support each other, including in Space, which has become a key sovereign strategic asset. 'We remain committed to the UK, which we consider as one of our home markets and to supporting the development of OneWeb to address the needs of all our sovereign and commercial stakeholders.' Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
The Independent
10-07-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Starme ‘accepts invite' to visit Trump during expected trip to Scotland
Sir Keir Starmer has accepted an invitation to visit Donald Trump during the US president 's expected trip to Scotland this month, according to sources. Details, including a specific date, are still being finalised, the source familiar with the plans, who was not authorised to speak publicly, told Reuters on Thursday. Scottish police said on Wednesday that they were preparing for a possible visit by Mr Trump to Scotland later this month, which would mark his first visit to Britain since the US election last year. in recent months, and last month signed a framework trade deal on the sidelines of a G7 meeting that formally lowered some US tariffs on imports from Britain. The deal came after the British prime minister visited the White House in February for a friendly encounter that included an invitation from King Charles for a future state visit, which Mr Trump accepted. UK media this week reported that Mr Trump would visit his golf clubs in Scotland later this month, though a final date is yet to be confirmed. Sky News said he would visit his Turnberry and Aberdeenshire golf courses. The cost of policing a potential visit by the US president will be "considerable", a senior Police Scotland officer said as the force looks to secure extra funding. The visit will require substantial policing resources and likely units to be called in from elsewhere in the UK. Deputy Chief Constable Alan Speirs told the PA news agency on Thursday that Police Scotland will be discussing costs with the Scottish and UK Governments. The last time Mr Trump came to Scotland – in between his two terms as US president – he was met with substantial protests. Mr Speirs said he was confident the force would be able to deal with any protests, urging those who would want to demonstrate to "do it in a fair and reasonable way and within the realms of the law". A Scottish government spokesperson said: 'The Scottish Government has been working collaboratively with the UK Government to support Police Scotland's planning for a potential visit to Scotland by the President of the United States.'
