ritish Prime Minister Keir Starmer said Monday he is stepping down as leader of the governing Labour Party and will leave office within weeks, scarcely two years after being elected in a landslide. Starmer says he will remain caretaker prime minister until the party chooses a new Labour leader — with expectations that it will be former Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham.

After weeks of insisting he would fight to keep his job, Starmer conceded to growing pressure to hand over to a new leader who can try and revive the government’s flagging fortunes. He led Labour to a landslide election victory in July 2024, but since then his popularity and that of the party have plummeted.

Activists in London have attempted to erect a statue of jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti in Parliament Square.

The group, Free Marwan Now, said that Barghouti, who has been called “Palestine’s Mandela” , has been “imprisoned by Israel for 24 years, 1 month and 19 days for crimes he did not commit, He was convicted by a court he did not recognise in a trial widely criticised by legal experts and human rights observers,” it said.

“The statue may not stand in Parliament Square yet, but we know this is a just cause. One day, Marwan will take his rightful place alongside other civil rights leaders,” the group added.

The UK has struck a long-awaited trade agreement with the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, marking the first such deal between the bloc and a Group of Seven country. The agreement with the GCC – which includes Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – is set to deliver relatively modest economic benefits for the UK.

“At a time of increased instability, today’s announcement sends a clear signal of confidence,” said UK Business and Trade Secretary Peter Kyle. The agreement will remove 580 million pounds ($778m) in tariffs on UK goods imported to the Gulf, covering food, medical equipment, and advanced manufacturing.

Protesters attending the Unite the Kingdom march waved Union flags, while some wore red "Make England Great Again (MEGA)" hats, chanting, "We want Starmer out." On the other hand, protestors at the pro-Palestinian march carried signs that read "smash the far right" and "Free Palestinian Hostages". Some protestors could be heard referring to Robinson and chanting, "Shoot him in the neck like Charlie Kirk." Some protestors also called for Robinson to be "hung like Mussolini". 

Watch the Leader of the Oppositions speech delivered in parliament. A raw unfiltered breakdown of the Labour Governments first two years in power and the PM’s unwillingness to acknowledge the failure of his Government

Click for Video:

Angela Rayner says she has settled the unpaid stamp duty bill that led to her resignation as deputy prime minister, as a Labour leadership contest could be launched as soon as today

Keir Starmer will hold a crucial cabinet meeting this morning - even as some of them are urging him to go. Four junior members of the government have resigned, while more than 70 Labour MPs have urged the PM to step down.

Three junior members of the government have resigned and have called for Sir Keir Starmer to stand down. It comes as more than 50 Labour MPs have called from the PM to leave Downing Street.

The UK has imposed sanctions on 12 individuals and entities tied to Iran, claiming that they were involved in hostile operations, including alleged attack plots and financial support for groups accused of destabilising the UK and other countries. In a notice issued on Monday, the government outlined measures including asset freezes, travel bans and director disqualification orders.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer pledged to revive his struggling government but faced growing calls Saturday to resign after a disastrous set of local and regional elections for his Labour Party.

As the final results came in Saturday, Labour suffered a net loss of more than 1,100 local council seats across England, lost control of several local authorities it had held for decades and was booted from power in Wales after 27 years. Anti-immigration party Reform UK gained over 1,300 seats across England and made significant gains in legislative elections in Wales and Scotland. It was a blunt verdict from voters in elections widely seen as an unofficial referendum on Starmer, whose popularity has plummeted since he led the center-left party to power less than two years ago.

Reform UK is on the rise: The elections were a breakthrough for Reform UK, the latest hard-right party led by the veteran nationalist politician Nigel Farage.

Running on an anti-establishment and anti-immigration message, the party won hundreds of local council seats in working-class areas in England’s north, such as Sunderland, that were solid Labour turf for decades. It also made gains from the Conservatives in areas like the county of Essex, east of London, and increased its vote share in Wales and Scotland, new terrain for the party. Farage said the results marked a “historic change in British politics.” He said he’s confident that “voters who have come to us are not doing it as a short-term protest.” Reform UK currently holds just eight of the 650 seats in the House of Commons and it’s unclear whether it could repeat its success in a national election.

The two-party political system is fracturing: The results reflect a fragmentation of U.K. politics after decades of domination by Labour and the Conservative Party, which also suffered major losses on Thursday. The elections offered voters a rainbow of choices, including the centrist Liberal Democrats and the nationalist parties in Scotland and Wales. But the big winners were populist insurgents, Reform UK and the Green Party, whose focus has expanded from the environment to social justice and the Palestinian cause under self-described “eco populist” leader Zack Polanski. The Greens won hundreds of council seats from Labour in urban centers and university towns and took control of several local authorities.

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer has appointed former premier Gordon Brown as a special envoy on global financial affairs, Downing Street said on Saturday. In a statement, the British government also announced the appointment of Harriet Harman, a former deputy leader of the Labor Party, as an adviser on women and girls.

The Prime Minister's Office said Starmer remained committed to strengthening Britain's security and resilience, adding that Brown would advise the government on how international financial cooperation could contribute to those efforts. The statement said Baroness Harman would provide advice on improving government outcomes for women and girls, drawing on her longstanding parliamentary experience to help identify measures aimed at combating misogyny and expanding opportunities for women in public and political life.

Brown served as Britain's chancellor before becoming prime minister from 2007 to 2010, during which he played a prominent role in the international response to the 2008 global financial crisis. Harman served as Leader of the House of Commons during Brown's premiership and was deputy leader of the Labor Party between 2007 and 2015.

The Home Office recorded 70 people arriving in the UK on Friday, taking the total to 200,013 in the last nine years. Calm weather conditions meant 70 people on one boat were able to make the crossing. Successive governments have promised to reduce migrant arrivals through this route and halt the smuggling operations that facilitate the dangerous crossings, but the number of small boat arrivals has more than doubled in the last three years to reach this new milestone.

At least eight migrants have died while trying to cross the Channel by boat this year, according to the UN's International Organization for Migration and French authorities. Last year 23 people were confirmed to have died.

A UK immigration officer has been found guilty of working for Chinese intelligence as part of a "shadow policing operation". Chi Leung "Peter" Wai used his access to the main immigration database to track Hong Kong dissidents based in the UK.

He was found guilty of assisting a foreign intelligence service alongside Chung Biu "Bill" Yuen, 65, who was initial his contact with the Hong Kong authorities. Wai was also found guilty of misconduct in public office.

British ​health authorities said on Wednesday they ‌had advised two people to self‑isolate after they had returned to Britain from a luxury ​cruise ship hit by an ​outbreak of hantavirus, a rare but potentially ⁠deadly disease. The UK Health Security Agency ​also said that none of the British ​citizens onboard the MV Hondius had reported symptoms, but added they were being closely monitored.

The ​MV Hondius, with nearly 150 people ​on board, is expected to dock in Spain's Tenerife, in the ‌Canary ⁠Islands, within three days, Spain's health minister said earlier in the day. Three people - a Dutch couple and a German ​national - have died ​in ⁠the outbreak. Eight people - including a Swiss citizen who has ​returned home and is being ​treated ⁠in Zurich - are suspected to have contracted the virus, with three of them ⁠confirmed ​by laboratory testing, according ​to the World Health Organization.

Political parties and their candidates have been making their final push for votes on the last full day of campaigning ahead of elections across England, Scotland and Wales. Voters in Scotland and Wales will choose who should run their national governments, while seats on dozens of councils and mayors are up for election in England. The polls will be open between 0700 BST and 2200 BST on Thursday 7 May, with results expected to follow on Friday and over the weekend.

The polls will be the biggest test of public opinion since Labour won the general election in 2024. Opinion polling suggests the results could reflect the increasing fragmentation of British politics, with voters' support spread across a wider range of parties in England, Scotland and Wales. In Scotland, the Scottish National Party is looking to stay in government by winning its fifth devolved election in a row, keeping Labour and Reform UK at bay. Reform UK and Plaid Cymru are vying to be the biggest party in the Senedd, in Wales, where Labour's continuous streak in power since devolution in 1999 is under threat.

Labour also has a lot to lose in England, where the party has a majority on or leads many of the councils up for election, and could face significant losses to Reform UK and the Green Party candidates. The results will determine who runs vital public services such as schools, social care, rubbish collection, transport. But they could also indicate how voters feel about the performance of the Labour government and Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer, whose leadership has come under pressure in recent months. There has been speculation of a challenge to his leadership should the results prove to be disastrous for the party.

A dedicated team of 100 additional officers is to be deployed to protect London's Jewish communities, the Metropolitan Police has said. The force said the new Community Protection Team would comprise of officers from neighbourhood policing, specialist protection and those with counter terrorism capabilities. It follows a series of arson attacks on Jewish sites in London, as well as a double stabbing in Golders Green that is being treated as an act of terrorism.