The king failed to mention a ban on the use of snares during his weird annual speech on Wednesday 13 May 2026. Along with a shit load of other animal rights omitted, this comes despite widespread expectations that the government would finally ban the cruel traps.

The Hunt Saboteurs Association (HSA) recently released footage of illegal snaring on the historic Welbeck Estate in Nottinghamshire. The video shows a wire snare set at the entrance of a badger sett with an adorable badger cub appearing just inches from the lethal device.

More broken promises for our wildlife

The king’s speech didn’t include the Animal Welfare (Snares) Bill, despite Labour’s bullshit manifesto pledging to protect our wildlife. Wildlife charity Born Free laments the lack of wildlife commitments, calling the government’s silence a ‘troubling retreat’ from what Starmer promised. But what can we expect from a dickhead who got into power with ten pledges that turned out to be total and utter lies?

The RSPCA also weighed in, noting that the ban on snare, alongside the one on trail hunting, wasn’t contained within this year’s legislative agenda. This omission ignores the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) Animal Welfare Strategy from December 2025, which explicitly committed to banning snare traps in England.

Scotland and Wales have already banned the fucked-up traps, but it remains legal in England. The hunting industry still continues to use snares for ‘predator control’, which is total and utter bullshit. They’re frequently found in breach of welfare codes.

Illegal activity on the Welbeck Estate

The footage obtained by the HSA on Welbeck Estate shows very clear proof of illegal activity. The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 clearly states that it is a criminal offense to set a snare which intends to cause bodily injury to badgers. And having one mere inches from a sett full of cubs definitely suggests fatal intentions.

The snare was found reset near an active sett and it showed recent signs of a struggle in the dirt. Blood-stained soil doesn’t exactly scream innocence from the Welbeck Estate. Wildlife presenter Chris Packham branded the scene ‘savage’ and called for an immediate ban to crush the ‘widespread illegal activity’.

Welbeck is a sprawling 1,500-acre estate owned by William Parente, who once served as the high sheriff of Nottingham. Ironic. The estate hosts frequent bird shoots, massacring pheasants and partridges, and these activities usually lead to the deaths of non-target species.

In other words, they use the guise of shooting birds to ‘accidentally’ murder innocent mammals such as foxes. What is it with rich people and this need for blood?

Toxic trash near tourist hotspots

In addition to these illegal snares, the HSA discovered boxes full of poison and dead rats littered all over the woods. These were located just a few hundred metres from Creswell Crags, a popular tourist attraction.

The irresponsible use of poisons poses such a major environmental risk. How long is it before a beloved family pet stumbles across the site and dies? And if a predator eats one of those poison rats, they can easily spread the poison through the food chain. But something tells me that may be the point.

The hunting industry has faced repeat convictions for these shitty practices. A court convicted a Shropshire gamekeeper of using toxic bait to target predators in 2022.

A HSA spokesperson said the shooting industry will ‘always prioritise their hideous blood sports’ over the environment. With the Labour party and the king refusing to provide the promised legislative follow-through, how many more animals will suffer and die before this brutal practice is finally shut down?

Featured images via Hunt Saboteurs Association/Facebook

By Antifabot

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Starmer’s policies have failed to meaningfully support universities and colleges (Alamy)

4 min read49 min

During moments of political crisis it’s often said there are weeks when decades happen. This has been one such week.

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Last Thursday the country overwhelmingly rejected Keir Starmer and the direction he has taken the Labour Party. As general secretary of the University and College Union (UCU), I called for him to set out a timetable for his departure. I did so, not simply because he’s lost the confidence of the country, but because his government’s policies have failed to meaningfully support universities and colleges and, in many cases, have actively deepened the crisis facing them.

For months ministers have talked about the need to support young people: at Labour Party conference, in the King’s Speech, and in repeated promises about opportunity and national renewal. Yet the rhetoric has never been matched by investment. Britain is now on course to become the first generation to leave its children poorer than themselves. That is the defining struggle of our time, and education should be at the centre of any serious response to it. Instead, Labour has adopted little more than a holding position while the crisis in higher education worsens by the week.

UCU has been sounding the alarm on university finances for years. On Tuesday, Parliament’s Education Committee finally put its weight behind those warnings. Its report describes a sector under “unprecedented” financial pressure and warned dozens of universities are at risk of going bust within the next 12 months.

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This is a sector that contributes hundreds of billions of pounds annually to the economy, employs half a million people, educates three million, and projects soft power across the world, with more world leaders graduating from the UK than any other country. Campuses also act as economic drivers in many of the post-industrial towns that were once considered Labour heartlands, creating jobs and building pride in local communities. In short, UK higher education remains one of the sectors Britain leads the world in, creating huge benefits: locally, nationally and globally.

Every pound of public money invested in higher education results in a £14 return. If last Thursday’s voters had seen meaningful investment locally, they may not have turned so resolutely against Labour. But instead of growth, Labour chose to launch self-defeating attacks on international students: a new levy, stricter rules for those on graduate visas, embracing ever more hostile migration rhetoric. It chose to sacrifice our universities on the altar of Reform’s hard-right immigration agenda in an attempt to win votes. This strategy ended in spectacular failure last Thursday, with voters from the centre, the left, and the right turning against the party like never before. Now, as with many of our universities, it is terminal for Labour.

 The consequences for universities, staff, students and local communities are now severe. If institutions begin collapsing before the next general election, the economic and social damage will be immense. Labour cannot claim to support growth while allowing one of the UK’s most successful sectors to fall apart.  

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That is why the government must implement the Education Committee report’s recommendations on protecting staff, students and local communities from institutional failure. We are calling for direct government intervention before the crisis spirals further.

This must start with a lifting of the hostile migration policies that have harmed higher education, jobs, local economies and resulted in millions of voters abandoning Labour for the Green Party and Plaid Cymru.

Ministers need to recognise the scale of intervention now required. Labour has just announced it will nationalise British Steel, protecting 2,700 jobs. This is the same number of staff that just one institution, the University of Nottingham, put at risk of redundancy this week. Over the past year, UK universities have announced more than 15,000 job cuts.

UCU members continue to fight, and marking boycotts are due to go ahead at multiple institutions if universities refuse to prioritise saving jobs and courses. But our members alone cannot resolve a crisis created by political failure and government inaction.

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If Labour is serious about growth, national renewal and the future of young people, it must stop treating higher education as an afterthought. A revived university sector is essential not only for students and staff, but for the future of the UK economy and for any hope Starmer’s successor will have to rebuild public trust and ensure they are not remembered as Britain’s last Labour prime minister.

Jo Grady is general secretary of the UCU

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UN agencies have warned that both the Israeli military and settlers are murdering or permanently injuring increasing numbers of Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank. Compounding the issue, access to treatment for those injuries is in desperately short supply.

UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) spokesperson James Elder stated that Palestine was suffering from “historic levels of settler attacks”. Since January 2025, Israelis have killed around 70 children. Beyond this, 850 children have been injured. In both cases, the majority of the attacks used live ammunition.

Likewise, since the October 2025 ‘ceasefire’, UN agents have recorded over 229 children killed and 260 injured in Gaza alone.

Palestinian children facing coordinated attacks

Speaking from Geneva, Elder added that:

We’re seeing attacks become increasingly coordinated. Documented incidents include children shot, stabbed, children beaten, and children pepper-sprayed.

He also explained that there has been a “sharp rise” in Israelis detaining or arresting Palestinian children in the occupied territory. In fact, these levels have now hit their highest totals of the last 8 years.

At least 347 minors are currently imprisoned in Israeli military detention “for alleged security-related offences”. Worse still, 180 of that number are being:

held under administrative detention and without the procedural safeguards, including detention without regular access to legal counsel and the right to challenge detention.

Schools becoming ‘places of panic’

Elder described how, during a recent West Bank visit, he met an 8-year-old who was beaten by a settler. The resulting head injuries hospitalised the child, and his mother:

had both her arms broken when she reached across to protect her four-month-old baby, putting therefore her arms between her baby and the attacker’s club.

The UN official also reported on the alarming prevalence of attacks on attacks on children in or around schools. Israelis have targeted schools for demolition, and detained, injured or even killed the students themselves. The spokesperson explained that:

Schools, which should be places of safety and stability, are increasingly becoming places of panic.

I walked with schoolchildren through the West Bank so as to try and help them avoid any attacks. It’s interesting to watch them walk… They don’t walk in a straight line because they’re constantly looking over their shoulder.

This is a walk to school. It’s become a walk through fear.

‘Preventable disability risks become permanent’

Speaking from Jerusalem, the UN World Health Organization (WHO)’s representative for the Occupied Palestinian Territories – Dr Reinhilde Van de Weerdt – reported that roughly 10,000 children are living with life-changing injuries in the Gaza strip.

Since October 2023, a total of around 43,000 of the 172,000 people injured in Gaza have sustained significant trauma to the limbs, the spinal cord or brain. Likewise, of those 172,000, nearly 2,500 were wounded after the so-called ‘ceasefire’ of October 2025.

Currently, over 50,000 conflict-related injuries are in need of long-term rehabilitation. However, the are currently no operational rehabilitation facilities within Gaza. The WHO representative added the chilling warning that:

Every day that rehabilitation services in Gaza remain under-resourced is a day that preventable disability risks become permanent.

The severe shortage of prosthetics in the Strip further exacerbates this issue. Van de Weerdt explained that:

Of the 2,277 people that have had a limb amputated, less than 25 per cent have been fitted with permanent prosthetics.

However, that shortage of medical equipment is being engineered by Israel. Currently, 18 shipments of prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs and other rehabilitation-related supplies are ‘pending clearance’ for entry into Gaza. The waiting times vary from just above 4 months to over a year.

Featured image via the Canary

By Alex/Rose Cocker

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New analysis from the Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC) shows that nearly 40% of the newly elected Senedd supports the Palestinian-led call for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) in respect of Israel. This includes seven of the ten newly appointed members of the Welsh government cabinet.

The figures show that 36 of the 96 Members of the Senedd (MSs) signed PSC’s Senedd Pledge for Palestine, which included the call for BDS. Signatories include:

• 33 Plaid Cymru MSs, including deputy first minister Sioned Williams MS, six other cabinet members and two further deputy ministers.
• Both Green MSs.
• Labour MS Mike Hedges.

You can see the full list of pledged MSs below, including constituency.

Going into the 7 May election, 141 candidates for the Senedd had made the pledge, including:

• 57 Plaid Cymru candidates.
• 49 Green candidates.
• 9 Liberal Democrat candidates.
• 7 Labour candidates.
• 7 independents.

Palestinian civil society organisations launched the BDS movement in 2005. It called on global allies to boycott, divest from, and sanction Israel to pressure it to end its occupation and apartheid against Palestinians.

It takes inspiration from the global anti-apartheid movement, which helped bring an end to apartheid in South Africa. That campaign was very active in England and Wales.

BDS directly relevant to Wales

The pledge calls on members of the Senedd to take all appropriate steps to:

• Uphold the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people.
• Stand up to Israel for its crimes of genocide and apartheid.
• Ensure the Welsh government is not complicit in these crimes, including by supporting BDS.

This has direct relevance to the Senedd. Last year it emerged that the Welsh government had given a £500,000 grant to an arms company that exports parts for Israel’s F-35 fighter jets, despite the then first minister claiming otherwise.

These aircraft have been used in Israel’s obliteration of Gaza, which is widely considered to have amounted to the crime of genocide, a finding confirmed by the UN Independent Commission of Inquiry.

More than 2,200 council candidates in England signed a similar pledge ahead of the local elections. This followed more than 1,300 sitting councillors from across the UK already making the pledge.

Bethan Sayed, co-chair of Palestine Solidarity Campaign Cymru, said:

The scale of support for the Senedd Pledge for Palestine is a watershed moment for Welsh politics. Almost 40% of our new Senedd Members have sent a clear message: the people of Wales will not sit idly by while the UK government fuels the machinery of apartheid and genocide. This shows that Palestine was on the ballot paper, and the new Welsh government must act decisively.

We are calling on the Welsh government to immediately audit all financial ties to companies complicit in Israel’s illegal occupation and ensure that no more Welsh taxpayers’ money, such as the £500,000 grant to the F-35 supply chain, is used to facilitate the obliteration of Gaza.

But the Senedd’s responsibility doesn’t stop at our borders. The Welsh government must use its unique voice to demand that the UK government end its arms export licences to Israel. Wales has a proud tradition of internationalism; it is time for our leaders to match the moral clarity of the Welsh public and turn that tradition into decisive action.

Full list of MSs who made the pledge:

• Alun Cox, Afan Ogwr Rhondda, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Sera Evans, Afan Ogwr Rhondda, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Elyn Stephens, Afan Ogwr Rhondda, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Mair Rowlands, Bangor Conwy Mon, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Elfed Williams, Bangor Conwy Mon, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Niamh Ffion Mai Salkeld, Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Lindsey Geoffrey Whittle, Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Sioned Ann Williams, Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Zaynub Akbar, Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Nick Carter, Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Dafydd Trystan Davies, Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Paul Rock, Caerdydd Ffynnon Taf, Green Party.

• Anna Heledd Brychan, Caerdydd Penarth, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Leticia Andrea Gonzalez Estagarribia, Caerdydd Penarth, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Kiera Duncan Marshall, Caerdydd Penarth, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Anthony Slaughter, Caerdydd Penarth, Green Party.

• Lyn Ackerman, Casnewydd Islwyn, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Peredur Owen Griffiths, Casnewydd Islwyn, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Kerry Elizabeth Ferguson, Ceredigion Penfro, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Anna Nicholl, Ceredigion Penfro, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Llyr Gruffydd, Clwyd, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Carrie Harper, Fflint Wrecsam, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Marc Jones, Fflint Wrecsam, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Beca Brown, Gwynedd Maldwyn, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Sian Gwenllian, Gwynedd Maldwyn, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Mabon ap Gwynfor, Gwynedd Maldwyn, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Elwyn Vaughan, Gwynedd Maldwyn, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Safa Elhassan, Gwyr Abertawe, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Mike Hedges, Gwyr Abertawe, Labour Party.

• Gwyn Williams, Gwyr Abertawe, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Sarah Rees, Pen Y Bont Bro Morgannwg, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Heledd Fychan, Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Lis McLean, Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Matthew Jones, Sir Fynwy Torfaen, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Cefin Campbell, Sir Gaerfyrddin, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

• Nerys Evans, Sir Gaerfyrddin, Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales.

Featured image via the Canary

By The Canary

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The nuclear industry will become “more dangerous” and regulation of the sector has been captured by “vested interests,” campaigners and experts have told the Canary, after the Nuclear Regulation Bill was put forward in the 2026 King’s Speech.

The Labour Government had already said in March 2026 that it was committed to implementing the recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Review, which was led by John Fingleton – sometimes referred to as the Fingleton Review.

Announcing the findings of the review in March 2026, the government said:

overly complex regulation in the UK has contributed to the ‘relative decline’ in the UK’s global leadership position in nuclear.

It also set out 47 recommendations to:

to speed up building new nuclear projects.

King’s speech 2026

The King announced the Bill in his King’s Speech, saying:

My Ministers will also take forward recommendations of the Nuclear Regulatory Review and encourage a new era of British nuclear energy generation.

In briefing notes published by the government, which explain their plans in more detail, the government referenced the Fingleton Review, which it characterized as calling for “a radical refresh” of the nuclear regulatory regime.

It went on to say that the Nuclear Regulation Bill is:

modernising the way that new nuclear projects are regulated so we can deliver safe, secure and affordable nuclear power and infrastructure sooner, while maintaining strong environmental protections.

The briefing notes tried to placate fears that the recommendations in the Fingleton Review could erode environmental protections.

They added:

To speed up the delivery of new nuclear and reduce costs, the Government is overhauling planning and regulation in a boost to the UK’s energy sovereignty and the nuclear deterrent.

This Bill will support quicker delivery of nuclear projects in a way that produces a win-win for building critical infrastructure while protecting nature and the environment, and high standards of nuclear safety.

‘Industry falsehoods’ used to justify risk nuclear projects pose to nature – conservationist

The Wildlife Trusts‘ head of public affairs Matthew Browne told the Canary:

This Government was elected to govern on the basis of a manifesto that promised to restore the natural world. We are a long way from this promise being delivered. Today’s King’s Speech is silent on nature recovery, and includes measures that will actively harm wildlife.

Whilst early proposals for the ripping up of nature protections have thankfully been dropped, the Nuclear Regulation Bill is justified on the grounds of industry falsehoods which minimise the risk projects can pose to nature. The Regulating for Growth Bill gives environmental regulators an inappropriate focus on growth, bending their work away from vital nature recovery objectives.

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With ongoing nature loss impacting our ability to grow food, to protect communities from flooding and our ability to stay healthy, this failure to respond to a growing national security crisis risks fundamental dereliction of duty. The Government needs to change course, and face up to environmental reality, before it comes an economic and social disaster.

Bill will make ‘inherently dangerous’ nuclear power ‘more dangerous’ – anti-nuclear campaigner

Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament (CND) general secretary Sophie Bolt told the Canary:

When you think of nuclear accidents like at Windscale in 1957, Chernobyl in 1986, or Fukushima in 2011, it’s easy to see that Britain’s current nuclear regulatory procedures and rules are in place for a simple reason – that nuclear power is inherently dangerous.

Rather than acknowledge these risks or legacy issues – like tackling the toxic waste generated by nuclear power – the government’s plan to cut regulations essentially means this industry will be more dangerous.

This is disturbingly similar to what Donald Trump did earlier this year when he gutted the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the US Environmental Protection Agency.

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These proposed regulatory changes are also for the benefit of Britain’s deadly and costly nuclear weapons programme, which already accounts for almost a quarter of Britain’s military budget. Rather than strengthening our security, these proposals will instead weaken it and put us all at even greater risks from the nuclear industry.

Government should pursue renewables instead of nuclear – SNP

Scottish National Party (SNP) Alex Kerr MSP told the Canary:

Under Keir Starmer’s watch, energy bills have spiralled out of control, 1,000 jobs are being lost every month in the North Sea and Scotland’s only refinery at Grangemouth has closed – the Labour party has zero credibility when it comes to energy.

Now Labour is ripping up regulations to pursue its dangerous obsession with nuclear power.

Scotland has an abundance of clean energy sources – we don’t need new nuclear power stations, which are ludicrously expensive, take years to build, and leave us with dangerous waste.

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Another energy superpower, Norway, has just ruled out using nuclear energy. With the fresh start of independence, Scotland can do the same and use our vast energy wealth to lower bills, enhance our energy security, and build a wealthier country.

Pursuit of nuclear instead of renewables unjustifiable – academic

University of Sussex emeritus professor Andy Stirling told the Canary that the evidence shows renewables should be pursued instead of nuclear, and the only reason that the government wants a civil nuclear sector is to enable the UK’s nuclear weapons programme.

He said:

Detailed plans for deregulating nuclear power set out in the King’s speech further underscore how deeply policy making in this field has been captured by vested interests.

Despite huge official noise around this issue, no UK Government document has systematically compared nuclear with alternative options to deliver affordable, safe, secure, domestic low carbon power. This situation in itself seriously undermines both sound policy making and wider democracy.

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If any such analysis were to have been undertaken, the overwhelming independent evidence is, that it would have had to conclude that nuclear is verging on obsolescent as a means to deliver these objectives. Even existing mature forms of nuclear power costs many times more than comparable means to deliver firm-equivalent electricity and are far slower and problematic in other ways. So consumer bills are raised and climate action delayed.

That the Government does not even try to make arguments against this, shows the real reason for supporting high price, slow, troublesome nuclear power, is to underpin equally problematic and ineffective nuclear weapons ambitions.

Bill sets government on ‘collision course with communities’ – anti-Sizewell C campaigner

Stop Sizewell C executive director Alison Downes told the Canary:

The government is on a collision course with communities over its plans for a Nuclear Regulation Bill, for example in response to the Nuclear Regulatory Task Force it included the concerning promise to ‘go further’ in creating a new pathway to allow semi-urban nuclear power stations.

Ironically, rigorous public consultations are promised, but the Prime Minister’s inflammatory rhetoric directed at those who express concern about new nuclear plants in no way builds public confidence. We need assurances of strong, independent regulators and affected communities to be allowed to actively engage, not be insulted.

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At the time of writing, the cabinet minister with responsibility for the Bill is Ed Miliband – the secretary of state for energy security and net zero. However, Miliband is widely touted as a potential leadership challenger to Keir Starmer.

Miliband would likely have to resign from his ministerial role if he did stand for the Labour leadership, so it may be some time before the Bill has a proper advocate in parliament.

Featured image via the Canary

By Tom Pashby

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Keir Starmer’s rivals are preparing to launch a contest for the Labour leadership (Alamy)

5 min read1 hr

A leadership contest to oust Keir Starmer as prime minister looks imminent, with Health Secretary Wes Streeting having resigned and more than 90 MPs having called on Starmer to stand down or set out a timetable for doing so.

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Starmer’s rivals are lining up to launch a leadership contest. Streeting has published his letter to Starmer announcing his resignation from the Cabinet, writing that he had “lost confidence in your leadership” and that it would be “dishonourable and unprincipled” to stay in post.

Former deputy Labour leader Angela Rayner has said she had settled her unpaid council tax bill of £40,000, and her allies have briefed that she would be prepared to stand in any leadership contest if needed.

Labour Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham – who served as a minister during the Blair and Brown governments – also wants to run as leader, but is currently sitting as a Labour MP and therefore unable to enter the race.

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Labour’s ‘soft left’, including senior members of the influential Tribune group of MPs, will push the party’s ruling body to allow for Burnham’s inclusion in a leadership race if one is triggered imminently. But huge questions remain over whether Burnham will be able to find a seat to run in and win a by-election before nominations for a leadership race take place.

So far, Starmer has insisted he will not stand down, saying in a speech on Monday that he will not step down as PM, as he did not want to “plunge the country into chaos”. In an appeal to his own MPs, he said that the governments constantly changing their leadership was “damaging”.

Should Starmer refuse to leave, he is automatically entitled to be on the ballot paper as the sitting Labour leader and current prime minister.

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As a leadership challenge looks imminent, how will a contest work, and how long would it take?

The process for a Labour leadership election

There are two main paths to replacing a Labour prime minister, with the process differing significantly from that of the Conservative Party, which held multiple leadership elections during its time in power between 2010 and 2024. 

A leadership contest can be triggered by either Starmer resigning or by another Labour MP gaining the support of 80 MPs – or 20 per cent of sitting Labour MPs – to challenge him for the leadership. Before 2021, an MP only needed the support of 10 per cent of the Parliamentary Labour Party to stand. 

The candidates then need to win nominations from the Constituency Labour Parties and affiliates. The final stage is an alternative vote – also known as a preferential ballot – where party members and affiliates rank their preferred candidates. Voters only have one vote. Votes are then redistributed by ranking until one candidate receives over 50 per cent of the vote; the candidate that reaches the threshold first wins the leadership contest and becomes Labour leader and prime minister of the United Kingdom.

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Labour leadership contests can drag on for months. In practice, a full Labour leadership contest usually takes more than 12 weeks.

The formal process under Labour’s current rules is as follows:

1. The leader resigns or is challenged
2. Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) sets the timetable
3. Candidates need nominations from MPs (candidates need to reach the threshold of 81 nominations, 20 per cent of the current Parliamentary Labour Party)
4. Candidates then need to win nominations from the Constituency Labour Parties and affiliates
5. The third stage is the members and affiliates vote
6. The result is announced

The NEC has significant flexibility over the nomination thresholds, the timing of voting ballots, the schedules for hustings and the overall pace of the contest.

How long did previous Labour leadership contests take?

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• 2020 Labour Party leadership election (Keir Starmer succeeds Jeremy Corbyn) About 16 weeks from resignation announcement to result or about 13 weeks from formal opening to result
• 2016 Labour Party leadership election (Corbyn challenged by Owen Smith) About 13 weeks from revolt to result
• 2015 Labour Party leadership election (Corbyn elected leader) About 18 weeks. One of Labour’s longest modern contests.
• 2010 Labour Party leadership election (Ed Miliband beats David Miliband) About 19 weeks. Again, very long because it followed a general election defeat and involved a full summer campaign.

The process for a parliamentary by-election

If Burnham is to run in the contest, he would have to be serving as an MP before the initial nominations for a leadership – which currently looks very difficult for the Manchester mayor to achieve.

Polling day for a parliamentary by-election is usually held about 4 to 8 weeks after an MP announces their intention to stand down.

If an MP stands down for Burnham, the process for a parliamentary by-election would be as follows:

1. The seat would become vacant
2. Labour whips would need to move the writ
3. Burnham would need NEC approval as a candidate
4. And then win the by-election

Labour whips usually control when the writ is moved, and the party could theoretically slow-walk the process, delay the by-election, or complicate Burnham’s route back.

How long did previous Labour leadership contests take?

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• Gorton and Denton by-election, 2026 – just under 5 weeks
• Runcorn and Helsby by-election 2025 – about 6½ weeks
• Rutherglen and Hamilton West by-election 2023 – around 9 weeks
• Mid Bedfordshire by-election 2023 – around 7 weeks
• Uxbridge and South Ruislip by-election 2023 – around 6 weeks
• Tamworth by-election 2023 – around 6 weeks
• Selby and Ainsty by-election 2023 – around 4.5 weeks
• Hartlepool by-election 2021 – around 7 weeks

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Angela Rayner has been cleared of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness by HMRC, according to the Guardian. Coincidentally, this ‘redeeming’ news for Rayner comes just in the nick of time as her former boss’ position appears increasingly untenable. 

As a result, likely runners Wes Streeting and Andy Burnham look set to face another contender. Nonetheless, it hardly feels like any of these contenders will actually provide any real difference to the public at large.

After all, they have all been perfectly happy to sell out their principles to get closer to power – that isn’t likely to change when the next job offers even more power.

As we all well know from the numerous examples we’ve seen over the years: power corrupts.

EXCL: Angela Rayner has been cleared by HMRC of deliberate wrongdoing or carelessness over her tax affairs, paving the way for a potential leadership bid if Keir Starmer’s grip on power unravels.

The former DPM has settled £40,000 in unpaid stamp duty, but has not paid any…

— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) May 14, 2026

Rayner will ‘play her part’ in making Starmer step aside

According to the Guardian’s political editor, Rayner has cleared her stamp duty debt of £40k but has not received any penalties from the HMRC for failing to pay it in the first place. Apparently, this is likely to make her a hopeful in the upcoming – likely fiery – leadership battle for the job of PM after they inevitably oust Starmer.

Journalist Pippa Crerar posted on X:

HMRC was also satisfied there was no tax avoidance.

Rayner tells me she was “bruised” by whole experience because of intrusion into her disabled son’s personal life, but also because it had appeared as though she was “in it for myself” rather than on the side of ordinary people.

Rayner indicated she may run in event of a contest as she would “play my part” and that she understood why Labour MPs were so upset following last week’s election crushing. She said Starmer should “reflect on” stepping aside.

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Whilst Labour MPs are clambering to distance themselves from Starmer, it is hard to ignore the fact that many of these same MPs have had no issue up until now with the PM’s leadership.

Rayner, more specifically, had been seen as a genuine advocate for working class people in years gone by. Nevertheless, her apparent comfort to back down on her principles, and her sense of humanity, has not gone unnoticed. 

For instance, despite full solidarity having been offered to her constituent – a Palestinian man – before entering government, he was later seen being forcibly removed from a public event. This followed an appeal to Angela Rayner for help and compassion after multiple members of his family were murdered by Zionist Israel.

Heartbreaking moment Dalloul al-Neder confronts Angela Rayner about his family who died in Gaza.@NadiaWhittomeMP reacts on the new Pod Save the UK with @cocobyname & @MrNishKumar. Listen here: https://t.co/0G12rmurTr#PodSaveTheUK pic.twitter.com/E7BWdXZ5Lj

— Pod Save the UK (@podsavetheuk) February 2, 2024

Rayner – where has your voice been?

The Morning Star reported at the time:

Dalloul al-Neder, who has lost his mother, brother, pregnant sister-in-law and two nieces during bombing in December, confronted Ms Rayner during the fundraising event at the Village Hotel in Cheadle.

“I lost my family in Gaza,” Mr Neder began as Ms Rayner looked on.“Why did you not demand a ceasefire?”

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He was dragged away seconds after his intervention by a police officer.

Adding:

Another protester shouted: “Fifteen thousand children and women are dead: where has your voice been?

“You call yourself a modern-day feminist? I don’t think so. Women are having to use scraps, tents, for sanitary towels.”

Therefore, it is surely pretty clear – as it is to the electorate – that any of these Labour MPs running for leadership might change the face at the top, but their priorities will unlikely change in practice. 

Many in the UK also see the futility in any of the leadership ‘hopefuls’ for Labour:

Labour are finished, neoliberalism should never have been the guiding light for Starmer’s change’ schtick.
Now they are paying the price.
Rayner was all for a free Palestine, but quickly threw her principles out of the window.
Burnham was already blocked over becoming an MP by…

— EuropeanPowell (@EuropeanPowell) May 10, 2026

The post above finishes:

Chaos, treachery, U-turns, the Epstein saga, McSweeney, Palantir, Blackrock, supporting genocide, purging the left, punching down instead of up.

Labour are finished, watch them tear each other apart in their death throes.

Join the Green Party, the only truly viable party of the left.

We can’t keep doing the same thing and somehow expect a different outcome

We know by now that the Labour political elite are all more focused on bending to powerful people, rather than effectively defending and championing the ever-eroding civil rights and freedoms of ordinary people. Following Starmer’s purge of socialist, anti-Zionists from the Labour Party, this really was inevitable. Rayner may have been more loyal to working class people – but she could have done far better.

As a result, this misplaced priority is dragging the country further into decline. The rich and powerful may be capable of weathering instability and uncertainty. However, that burden becomes increasingly unbearable for poor people across the UK.

Therefore, it is essential that people don’t buy into the misleading portrayals of these MPs as somehow different to their soon-to-be predecessor as PM. They, too, have shown they are perfectly happy to sell out their principles, and their constituents, for the right price.

British people deserve far better than the political class corrupting and subverting our democracy.

Featured image via the Canary

By Maddison Wheeldon

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Keir Starmer has abandoned his pre-election promise to ban trophy hunting imports. Animal rights campaigners are not happy.

Considering the pressure tactics Starmer used against the Tories to ban this disgusting practice, he has, in a political sleight of hand, folded to the US pro-hunting lobby.

Starmer’s spine needs checking

Trophy hunting is a vile sport which needs eradicating. Wankers who, more often than not, are wealthy, pay thousands to kill wild animals to satiate their weird bloodlust.

Once they’ve massacred innocent animals, said wankers keep the severed heads, hides, and feet like some kind of votive offerings. Because nothing says comfort like a stuffed giraffe hanging over you as you watch the TV. Fucking weirdos.

The proposed law — otherwise known as the UK Hunting Trophies (Import Prohibition) Bill — aimed to stop British hunters from bringing animal parts home as if they were souvenirs. It would have ushered in a zero-tolerance police of this archaic hunter-gatherer-behaviour which endangers at-risk species.

But Labour quietly dropped the policy, hoping we wouldn’t notice. The issue was also conspicuously absent from the King’s speech, which may suggest it will not feature in the upcoming parliamentary agenda. No timeline, no start date from Labour — in it’s typical signature U-turn.

Before the election, Labour MPs made a point of attacking the Conservative government for dragging its feet on the issue. But let’s be honest, Labour, under Starmer, has completely folded under international pressure.

The Trump administration leaned on the DEFRA and it crumbled

The Trump-led US government heavily lobbied the UK to drop the ban. It should come as no surprise from a  man who viciously protected the right to bear arms. US secretary of the interior Doug Burgum wrote to the Department for Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, asking Labour to drop the bill.

Burgum claimed the ban would undermine conservation and disrupt cultural traditions. This, I struggle with because how the fuck will stopping rich people having tiger skin rugs undermine conservation? And if your cultural tradition is slaughtering an innocent animal to get your rocks off, I’d say it’s a tradition that belongs in the fucking bin. The US hunting lobby previously spent £1m fighting UK restrictions.

Instead of standing up to Washington and it’s gun-loving lobby, Starmer’s spine melted into oblivion and he caved.

British hunters import body parts of endangered species

The government is ignoring its own citizens to please foreign billionaires. Over 90% of British people find trophy hunting disgusting. Whilst our so-called ministers stall, our British billionaires are out there slaughtering endangered species.

Eduardo Goncalves, the founder of the Campaign to Ban Trophy Hunting, blasted the delay. He stated that the bill is sat there waiting for ministers to get on with it. And yet, they have quietly shelved all plans, much to the public’s dismay.

New research shows that blood thirsty British hunters brought back 118 body parts from giraffes between 2020 and 2024. They’ve become Britain’s most hunted trophy animal, even as they face a silent extinction.

Many subspecies of giraffe are now critically endangered, such as the Masai and Reticulated giraffe. Yet British hunters continue to murder these defenceless creatures, just so they can display their corpses in their stately homes.

UK imports of lion trophies skyrocketed from two in 2022 to 28 in 2023. It may seem like small numbers, but the fact is it is growing. Now, please tell me how the fuck this is helping conservation efforts? Trophies from 39 endangered species were shipped to our shores in 2023. That’s three times the amount from the year before.

Claire Bass, director at Humane World for Animals UK, slammed the decision, arguing that the US government is attempting to wield power over a British decision.

The Labour party has shown it lacks the spine to defend animals from bloodthirsty rich elites. By burying the bill, the government has once again shown it’s promises mean fuck all when faced with American pressure.

Featured image via the Canary

By Antifabot

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