NewsBeat
Creator of fake video of MLA Cara Hunter has not been found
A Stormont politician has said the person who created a false pornographic video of her has yet to be found.
Cara Hunter of the Social Democratic and Labour Party was targeted in a deepfake video three years ago, when her face was digitally superimposed on to the face of another person.
The video was circulated widely on WhatsApp and social media in the run up to the 2022 Stormont elections.
A deepfake is an image or video that has been digitally altered with the help of artificial intelligence to replace the face of one person with the face of another.
Hunter has since campaigned for a change in the law that would see the creation of deepfake images to be made a criminal offence in Northern Ireland.
Speaking to BBC Radio Foyle’s North West Today programme, the assembly member for East Londonderry said while the Police Service of Northern Ireland was “very sympathetic”, it was unable to take the matter further due to the “lack of appropriate laws here and also a lack of investment in cybercrime technology”.
“What’s very sad is that we’re now almost three years on from what happened to me and, right now, the same thing could happen again – to any woman, to any child, to any man,” said Hunter.
“There’s a real sinister use of this technology and if someone does it to you, you want to know who has that level of anger or angst or resentment towards you that they would make something such as this.”
Hunter added that deepfakes were “extremely convincing” and she still did not know who targeted her.
She appealed to anyone with information to come forward and also appealed to the Department of Justice (DoJ) to invest more in tackling cybercrime.
“I’ve looked at the models of other countries, especially across Europe, and how they approach victims of deepfake technology and they’re far further ahead,” she said.
“In Germany, they have AI [artificial intelligence] centres, which look at AI innovation but also supporting people who have been deepfaked and enabling them to have guidance and support.
“We don’t have anything like that here.”
She previously told the Belfast Telegraph that the experience had been “the most horrific and stressful time of my entire life” and that it still affected her mental health three years on.
Later in January, Hunter will feature in a Channel 4 documentary about the issue with TV presenter Vicky Pattison.
I’m A Celebrity winner and former MTV Geordie Shore star Ms Pattison “directed and produced” a deepfake video featuring herself as part of the documentary.
The DoJ has been contacted for a response.
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Police have been called out to reports of four people stabbed outside a supermarket in south London.
The attack happened at a warehouse close to an Asda supermarket in Beddington, Croydon, around 10am on Thursday morning.
All four stabbing victims are receiving treatment for their injuries, the Metropolitan Police said. The force added a suspect has been arrested.
Emergency service crews have been pictured at the scene, along with a row of at least four fire engines.
The scene remains cordoned off as police conduct investigations.
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “At 10:15hrs on Thursday, 23 January, officers responded to reports of a stabbing at a commercial address on Marlowe Way, Beddington.
“Officers are on scene with the London Ambulance Service to treat four injured people.
“The suspect has been arrested.”
More follows on this breaking news story…..
The Old Course at St Andrews has been confirmed as the host of the Open Championship in 2027.
The announcement by the Royal & Ancient (R&A) maintains the five-year cycle the Old Course has had, with just one exception, since 1990.
Royal St George’s was awarded the 2020 Open so the Old Course – widely regarded as the Home of Golf – could stage the 150th edition of the game’s oldest major the following year.
However, the Covid-19 pandemic meant the Claret Jug was contested on the Kent coast in 2021 before the championship returned to Fife in 2022.
That was the 30th time St Andrews had been the host – comfortably ahead of Prestwick with 24 – since it first did so in 1873.
The 2027 championship will be the 100th anniversary of the great Bobby Jones’ victory in The Open at St Andrews, where six years earlier he had torn up his scorecard after taking four shots to escape from a bunker on the 11th.
For the R&A to return The Open to St Andrews to the regular slot of years ending in a 5 or 0, as it had had since 1990, it would have had to host either just three years after it last did so – or seven.
Instead the governing body has opted to retain the five-year cycle and awarded St Andrews the 155th Open, meaning it is also poised to host in 2032 and 2037.
Cameron Smith pipped Rory McIlroy to the 150th Open title at St Andrews in 2022, when record crowds of 290,000 attended.
The course is not a natural venue for the huge championship The Open has become, but Jack Nicklaus, who like Tiger Woods has twice won The Open over the Old Course, said of it: “If you’re going to be a player that’s remembered, you must win at St Andrews.”
Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland is this year’s host of The Open, with Royal Birkdale in Southport the stage in 2026.
Politics
Donald Trump has ‘nothing to loose’ in plans to make life ‘inconvenient’ for US immigrants: ‘A fundamental transformation’
US political commentator Ryan Girdusky has praised Donald Trump’s immigration policies, saying the new President “fills us with hope” as he implements sweeping changes.
“If you make it inconvenient for people to be here, they will leave. If they have no promise of Asylum or amnesty or work permits or welfare they will leave,” Girdusky said.
The comments come as Trump begins to make what Girdusky called “real fundamentally long-standing change in the United States” just days into his presidency.
President Trump signed an executive order targeting illegal immigration through America’s southern border, the White House announced earlier this week.
Ryan Girdusky said that Trump is looking to make fundamental changes to immigration
GBN America
The measure specifically aims to prevent the “physical entry of aliens engaged in an invasion of the United States” according to the White House press release.
Girdusky told GBN America: “If you make it inconvenient for people to be here they will leave, and if they have no promise of Asylum, amnesty, work permits or welfare they will leave.
LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:
“I think that Trump has nothing to lose at this point and there are a number of people around him who have made this their goal in life, to make a real fundamentally long-standing change in the United States. It’s only been a day or two so we’ll see how it goes.”
He added: “He does give us hope there’s no question about it, I mean there’s no previous Republican president who would have picked a JD Vance as vice president. It just wouldn’t have happened.
“George W Bush didn’t even consider doing all this that Trump is doing right now it’s remarkably different, we can go all the way back to Reagan but that’s talking 40-something years ago. It was a different country.
“It’s a different place you’re talking about, a different planet even. So I think that Trump represents a change.
Donald Trump plans to crack down on illegal immigration REUTERS
“What happens both underneath Trump as far as lower level Republicans go or post-Trump after he retires, because he can only run for one last term, is a different question.
“I think a lot of Republicans realise his popularity but who knows how they actually feel.
“Some will also believe in this fundamental transformation, I’m sure many do not and they’re just grunting and bearing because they realize how popular a President he is among the people.”
The Department of Homeland Security, Department of Justice, and Department of State have been directed to take immediate action under the order.
He said that the president “fills us with hope”
Reuters
While specific details of the measures were not outlined in the press release, the order signals an intensification of federal border control efforts.
The move underscores what the Trump administration has described as a crisis at the border.
“Within moments of my inauguration, we will begin the largest domestic deportation operation in American history,” Trump had declared earlier in January 2024.
NewsBeat
Southport killer Axel Rudakubana gloated he was ‘glad they’re dead’ after murdering three children
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Remorseless Axel Rudakubana appeared to gloat about his murderous attack after he was heard muttering he was “glad” his child victims were dead.
Prosecutor Deanna Heer KC revealed the knifeman, who murdered three girls and wounded ten people in a horrific mass stabbing at a Taylor Swift-themed children’s holiday class in Southport, was recorded making the sinister comments after his arrest.
Although the killer remained silent in police interview, he was heard speaking to himself as he paced the custody suite.
Liverpool Crown Court was told on Thursday that Rudakubana could be heard saying: “I’m glad they’re dead.”
The violence-obsessed 18-year-old pleaded guilty to all 16 offences he faced on the first day of his trial on Monday.
Alice da Silva Aguiar, nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, died following the stabbing at The Hart Space on a small business park in the seaside town shortly before midday on 29 July.
The killer admitted their murders as well as the attempted murders of eight other children, who cannot be named for legal reasons, and class instructor Leanne Lucas and businessman John Hayes.
Cardiff-born Rudakubana further pleaded guilty to possessing a knife which he bought on Amazon, production of the biological toxin ricin, possession of a document which contained al-Qaeda training material.
He is not expected to receive a whole-life order because he was 17 at the time of the attack. The sentence can normally only be imposed on criminals aged 21 or over and is usually only considered for those aged 18 to 20 in exceptional circumstances.
The sentencing hearing continues.
More follows on this breaking news story…
England remain winless in the Women’s Ashes as Australia won a dramatic rain-affected encounter by six runs in the second T20 to complete an outright series victory.
Set a challenging 186 to win in Canberra, England needed 18 from the last five balls with Heather Knight unbeaten on 43 before heavy rain fell and no further play was possible.
England finished on 168-4, an agonising six runs short of the required score set by the Duckworth-Lewis-Stern (DLS) method.
The result sees Australia take a 12-0 lead in the points-based multi-format series, which ends England’s hopes of a draw.
Rain had also disrupted the tourists’ chase after 8.4 overs, with England two runs ahead of DLS at 69-1, but it eased enough for play to resume with no overs lost.
Knight’s brilliant partnership of 65 in 6.5 overs with Nat Sciver-Brunt kept England in contention throughout before the final result was taken out of their hands and the captain walked off visibly upset.
Opener Danni Wyatt-Hodge’s 52 from 40 balls at the top of the order kick-started England’s brave effort, supported by Sophia Dunkley’s 32, but ultimately they were left to rue a sloppy final three overs of their bowling innings which conceded 48 runs.
They were in the game when the hosts stuttered to 137-5 after 17 overs, only for Tahlia McGrath and Grace Harris to bludgeon their way to 185-5.
McGrath, standing in for captain Alyssa Healy because of a foot injury, smashed an unbeaten 48 from 35 balls and Harris launched three sixes in her 17-ball 35.
Off-spinner Charlie Dean was the pick of the bowlers with 2-28 but she dropped McGrath on 42 on another poor night for England’s catching statistics, with Lauren Bell and Freya Kemp also putting down chances off Georgia Voll and Annabel Sutherland – they were not particularly costly in terms of runs, but it remains a big concern for Knight’s side going forward.
The third and final T20 takes place in Adelaide on Saturday, followed by the one-off Test match in Melbourne on 30 January.
Politics
Rayner under-fire after dismissing Southport stabbing terror connection as Farage demands apology over ‘fake news’ accusation
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner has come under-fire after previously dismissing claims that Axel Rudakubana’s Southport attack was terror-related.
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage yesterday demanded an apology from Rayner after she also accused him of spreading “fake news” about the perpetrator.
Rudakubana, now 18, pleaded guilty on Tuesday to murdering Alice da Silva Aguiar, aged nine, Bebe King, six, and Elsie Dot Stancombe, seven, at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class.
He was referred to the Government’s anti-extremism scheme Prevent three times before his attack in late July, with police later finding an al-Qaeda training manual alongside ricin.
Angela Rayner
PA
Following Rudakubana’s guilty plea, Sir Keir Starmer revealed that police and politicians knew about the terrorist connection shortly after the killings.
Farage first likened the horrific attack to terrorism just one day after the stabbings on July 30.
He said: “I have to say there are one or two questions. Was this guy being monitored by the security services? Some reports say he was, others less sure… I just wonder whether the truth is being withheld from us. I don’t know the answer to that. I think it is a fair and legitimate question. What I do know is something is going horribly wrong in our once beautiful country.”
Speaking about Farage at the time, Rayner said: “He must understand that you have a level of responsibility, you’re a community leader, you’re elected to represent your constituency and therefore you have a level of responsibility with that, and it’s not to stoke up what conspiracy theories or what you think might have happened, or lean into what you think.
“There’s a responsibility to say the police are doing a difficult job, local authorities, all of the services that are on the ground.
“We want to establish facts as soon as possible and we have a responsibility to hold the community together and say, let’s get the facts and then let’s look at what the actual solutions are and what we can do about the horrific situation that we find ourselves in, not to stir up these fake news online.”
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Axel RudakubanaPARudakubana, who developed a disturbing interest in school massacres in 2019, was referred to Prevent in the same year after researching shocking information on a school computer.
However, experts rejected concerns about a counter-terrorism risk.
Earlier this week, the Prime Minister confirmed he knew about the details of the case “as they were emerging” but could not risk the case collapsing or the “vile” perpetrator walking away free.
He said: “‘.That is why the law of this country forbade me or anybody else from disclosing details sooner. I wouldn’t be forgiven if I had.”
Starmer added: “It was not my personal decision to withhold this information, any more than it was a journalist’s personal decision not to print or write about it.”
Nigel Farage GB NEWSResponding to Rayner’s previous comments last night, the Reform UK leader told The Telegraph: “Many public figures, including Angela Rayner, made derogatory and inciteful remarks about my comments in the vacuum that followed the terrorist attack in Southport.
“I was right all along. This man was known to the authorities and the truth was withheld. As the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation Jonathan Hall KC confirmed, the public should have been told the truth without damaging the trial. This is an appalling cover-up and I deserve apologies.”
Home Office Minister Jess Phillips separately described Farage as a “grifter”, while Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson argued the Reform UK leader was the “voice of the EDL”.
However, non-Labour politicians also accused Farage of stoking tensions during the subsequent summer riots, including ex-Security Minister Tom Tugendhat.
Axel Rudakubana pleaded guilty to murdering three young girls in the Southport knife attack in July 2024PATugendhat, who was running to replace Rishi Sunak as Tory leader at the time, described the Reform UK leader as “irresponsible and dangerous”.
Ex-Minister Tobias Ellwood even accused the Clacton MP of “stirring up racial hatred”.
However, the former independent review of terrorism legislation Lord Carlile yesterday became the latest senior figure to criticise the decision not to disclose crucial details about Rudakubana’s background.
He told the BBC: “In one instance, they should have made it absolutely clear right from the beginning that this perpetrator was not an immigrant, that he was British-born and had lived in Britain throughout his life.
“It was the false disinformation at saying that he was an immigrant or a recent immigrant that contributed at least to the extent of riots both in Southport and elsewhere.”
NewsBeat
The Independent’s documentary hailed for shining light on ‘reprehensible’ jailing of Aung San Suu Kyi
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The Independent has been hailed for shining a light on the continued imprisonment of Aung San Suu Kyi by a brutal military regime in Myanmar.
Human rights campaigner Bianca Jagger and Wild Swans author Jung Chang joined politicians, journalists and lawyers at the London screening of the Independent TV’s documentary Cancelled: The rise and fall of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The film looks at the life of the 79-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who has become a deeply divisive and controversial figure internationally after failing to speak out on her country’s extreme violence against its Rohingya Muslim minority.
It was described as a “rallying point” for the freedom of a woman seen as the “last hope” for the people of her country.
Speaking afterwards, Jagger said: “I think the most difficult issue is for people to have mercy on fallen heroes. Because she was a hero for many of us, including me.
“But we must do everything we can to see her released. This is the perfect film to launch a campaign calling for her freedom… I think this film will be the perfect rallying point to bring us all together and to demand that she be released.”
Ms Chang, who met Ms Suu Kyi on a number of occasions, said: “I greatly admire her. And I am full of sympathy for her, in solitary confinement. So of course I think the more people help her and draw attention to her plight the better.”
Ms Suu Kyi is believed to have spent long periods in solitary confinement since her arrest following a coup in February 2021 and faces 27 years in prison.
Responding to the documentary, three former foreign secretaries, William Hague, Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Jack Straw, have said the ousted former leader was jailed on trumped-up charges and deserves the chance to lead her country democratically.
Former deputy foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell, who attended Wednesday’s screening, said: “She has been treated terribly by the illegal junta in Myanmar. She should be released immediately – and films like this help explain why.”
Ms Suu Kyi, who studied at Oxford and married a British academic Michael Aris, raised two children, Alexander and Kim, in the UK before returning to Myanmar in 1988.
She spent nearly 15 of the 21 years between 1989 to 2010 under house arrest, where her fight for democracy became famous across the world.
The junta allowed Ms Suu Kyi to become the de facto head of Myanmar following elections in 2015, but only if they controlled the key ministries of home affairs and defence and border control, as well as the military budget.
In 2019, she became a global pariah in the eyes of the international community and many human rights organisations after she appeared at the International Court of Justice in the Hague to defend her country’s use of force against the Rohingya.
Two years later she was imprisoned after the military seized power in a coup, plunging the country into conflict.
Baroness Helena Kennedy, one of Britain’s most distinguished lawyers, said: “She may have made some miscalculations along the way but I do think that the world has to reflect again on what she was seeking to achieve. And I think she thought she was preventing the inevitable coup that did in fact take place.”
She added: “What shocked me is the lack of concern for her human rights. I hope this documentary is the start of a campaign to say what is happening to this woman is utterly, utterly reprehensible”.
Her son, Kim, who appears in the film, added: “I’m very glad that this has been brought back into the public domain that people start to question the narrative about her.”
He said that his only contact with his mother had been through one letter that he received since she was imprisoned. “I hope the other thing that people take from this is that she is not under house arrest, she is in prison,” he said.
“And the prison cell that she has been kept in all this time I know is rat infested and completely open to the elements.”
The film was also praised by Paul Scully, a former Conservative minister who was Theresa May’s trade envoy to Myanmar.
He said: “For decades millions of people in Myanmar have suffered at the hands of the military. It is so important to have this documentary return the attention to the plight of Aung San Suu Kyi, for so long the focal point and last hope for the people of Burma.”
In the documentary, Lord Hague, who welcomed Ms Suu Kyi to London in 2012, said it was possible to be critical of the country’s former de facto prime minister “but also say we should be campaigning for her release”.
He described her as a “political prisoner on trumped-up charges”, adding “we might disagree with things that she has said and done, but she has been the strongest force for democracy in Myanmar in a generation, and she is imprisoned because she was that force for democracy.”
Technology reporter
Getty ImagesMore than 100 Reddit communities have banned users from posting links to X in protest at owner Elon Musk’s controversial arm gesture at a rally celebrating Donald Trump’s return to office.
The billionaire twice extended his arm out straight as he thanked the crowd for “making it happen.”
Critics, including some historians, said it was a Nazi salute – Mr Musk has dismissed that, saying comparisons with Hitler were “tired” and “dirty tricks.”
However many Reddit users have been unpersuaded by his response describing his actions as “hateful”, leading the moderators of scores of communities – or subreddits – to stop content being shared on X.
The BBC has approached X and Reddit for comment.
Reddit relies heavily on community moderation, where unpaid individuals known as Redditors decide what is – and isn’t – allowed to be published on their own corner of the website.
They moderate subreddits, the name given to a forum within the Reddit platform which is effectively a community of people who gather to discuss a particular interest.
Since the controversy erupted, dozens of those subreddits have decided they won’t link to content on X, potentially reducing traffic and engagement.
The biggest subreddits to have enforced the ban include basketball community r/NBA, which has 15 million members, female-focused community r/TwoXChromosomes, which has 14 million members, and American football community r/NFL, which has 12 million members.
It is worth remembering that subreddits are almost always run by fans – it does not mean that the NFL or NBA organisations are taking a stance against Musk.
The BBC has independently verified that at least 100 subreddits have banned X posts.
Of this number, more than 60 have at least 100,000 members.
But the actual number that have instituted the ban will likely be significantly higher by taking into account smaller subreddits with only a few thousand members.
And there are many more communities discussing a potential blacklisting.
Who and why?
The subreddits run by fans of football clubs Liverpool, Celtic and Tottenham Hotspur have all instituted the bans, as have communities for many US sports sides as well as Formula 1.
The subreddits where residents of many cities and countries gather around the world – ranging from New Jersey to South Korea – have also blocked posts to X.
And gamers are also amongst those to bring in the ban for video games including Baldur’s Gate 3 and World of Warcraft.
But while the blacklisting may have first started in some of these communities, it is popping up in a variety of places now where people gather to discuss all sorts of topics, ranging from RuPaul’s Drag Race to Disneyland and even the military.
While the vast majority of subreddits discussing a ban are in favour of it, there are some that have refused.
The moderators of the Maine community for example say they won’t institute a ban so long as “the state maintain official accounts there”.
And those running a group for people in British Columbia said they simply aren’t “doing censorship here”.
Does it matter?
Though there are many subreddits which already disallow posts from social media, those built around professional sports in particular may have a big impact on referrals to X.
That’s because sports subreddits generally get a lot of content from links to athletes, analysts and journalists who spend a lot of time posting online.
For example, the top two most popular posts of all time on the NBA subreddits are screenshots taken from X, while three of the top ten most popular posts of all time on the AEW wrestling subreddit are screenshots from the platform.
And gaming subreddits have a similar story, with the top posts on the Animal Crossing and Kingdom Hearts communities both screenshots from X.
But that is not to say the bans will necessarily be permanent – Reddit is known for this sort of community movement to protest against wider issues, which doesn’t always work out.
In 2023, thousands of communities “went dark” to contest changes to how the platform was being run.
Some of the biggest Reddit communities then began only allowing photos and videos of comedian John Oliver, following comments from disgruntled users.
But this proved to be short-lived.
Eventually the communities mostly became publicly available again, and Reddit’s plan ultimately proved financially beneficial – the platform subsequently successfully listed on the New York Stock Exchange.
Lynn Ban, star of Netflix reality show Bling Empire: New York, has died after having brain surgery due to a skiing accident.
The 51-year-old jewellery designer from Singapore died on Monday, her son Sebastian announced on social media – weeks after she underwent emergency brain surgery due to a skiing accident.
Last month, Ban, who lived in New York, shared with her Instagram followers that she “had a ski accident that would change my life” while on holiday in Aspen on Christmas Eve.
She revealed a CAT scan showed she had a severe head injury, including a brain bleed, meaning she needed an emergency craniotomy.
She said she woke up in hospital with her husband Jett Kain nearby, and hoped to recover this year.
In an update on her Instagram account on Wednesday, her son Sebastian wrote: “My mum passed away on Monday. I know she wanted to share her journey after her accident and brain surgery, so I thought she would appreciate one last post sharing the news to people who supported her.
“Many of you followed my mum but never got the chance to know her or meet her in person,” he added.
“I would like to take the chance to share who my mum really was. She was and always will be my best friend, the best mother to me, and someone who cared for all.
“She always had a smile on her face even when times were tough during her recovery process.
“She was a fighter until the end and is the strongest woman I know. She was the funniest and coolest mum I could ever ask for. She took care of me, my dad, and our entire family throughout her whole life.
“Although she may be gone now, I will do everything I can to make sure she is never forgotten and for her life to be celebrated as it deserves to be.
“As a final message to my mum, I would just like to say that I will miss you forever and to end in something she always told me ‘I love you more than life itself’ mum.”
Read more:
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Sting cancels shows and awards performance
Ban starred in Bling Empire: New York, a spinoff of the popular Netflix reality series Bling Empire, which followed a group of wealthy Asian American socialites living in Los Angeles.
She also had a private jewellery label which catered to a host of celebrities, including thRihanna, Beyonce, Cardi B, Billie Eilish, Madonna, Lady Gaga, Kendrick Lamar and Post Malone.
Pop star Rihanna was among those who paid tribute on social media, writing: “2025 is rocking me at this point! This is too much!!! Lynn you will always be our fairy godmother!”
Designers Bea Akerlund and Phillip Bloch, Younger star Debi Mazar, and A Star Is Born actress Drena De Niro also paid tribute.
Reform UK is eyeing three major electoral upsets today as Farage’s party looks to inflict its first defeats on Labour in 2025.
By-elections, important bell-weather tests that reveal which way the country is voting, have been a nightmare for incumbent Labour since July’s General Election.
Keir Starmer’s party has suffered a net loss of 27 seats, while the Conservatives have recorded a net gain of 22 seats. Reform is up seven.
Today, five more council seats are up for grabs, with Reform poised to mount a strong challenge in three. They are:
Town ward, Newcastle-under-Lyme
Reform’s best chance of causing an upset is likely to come in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, adjacent to Stoke-on-Trent.
Neill Antony Walker is standing for the anti-immigration party. He came third in July’s General Election, 2,000 votes behind the Tories and 6,000 behind eventual winner Adam Jogee of Labour.
But a sophisticated poll-aggregating model shows Reform has eliminated the gap to Labour in the constituency in the time since the election.
The Nowcast model puts Reform on 31.4 per cent in the patch, 0.4 per cent behind Labour and six per cent ahead of the Tories.
Projection for Newcastle-under-Lyme
ElectionMapsUK
Much Woolton and Hunts Cross ward, Liverpool City
An outside chance of an upset for Reform comes in the Much Woolton and Hunts Cross ward in south Liverpool.
A safe Labour area, Reform candidate Adam Heatherington is hoping to capitalise on record levels of mistrust in Starmer’s party.
Heatherington has been unsuccessful in his first 13 elections in which he has stood for UKIP, the Brexit party, as an independent and now Reform UK.
The Nowcast model shows Heatherington faces a tough task. The model puts Labour safely out in front as the largest party, though down 7.9 per cent.
Reform is up 6.7 per cent into second.
Heatherington said: “We have been well received on the doorsteps and there has been an increasing support for Reform UK.
“This is due to the mistrust of Labour which has neglected the working class for their own selfish ideology.
“Labour has put massive distrust and disappointment in the hearts of voters and they look to Reform UK as the last hope for saving Great Britain.”
Liverpool Garston projection
ElectionMapsUK
Bannockburn ward, Stirling
Reform’s only realistic chance north of the border comes in Bannockburn, one of Stirling’s council wards.
William Docherty is standing for Reform’s party here, who is channelling Robert the Bruce for his campaign.
Docherty said: “Bannockburn has always been a symbol of perseverance and victory against the odds.
“Inspired by Robert the Bruce, who turned defeat into glory right here on our soil, I am stepping forward once again to fight for the future of our community.
“People are ready for a new kind of politics.”
The ward falls within the Westminster seat of Stirling and Strathallan, currently projected as a Labour loss by Nowcast model.
Starmer’s party is set to lose it to the SNP however, with Reform, the Tories and Labour competing for second, though Reform is the only party to have recorded significant growth in support.
LATEST FROM MEMBERSHIP:
Stirling and Strathallan projection
ElectionMapsUK
Elsewhere, there is a Liberal Democrat ward up for grabs in Edinburgh and a Labour ward heading to the polls on Shetland.
Labour is guaranteed to lose the Shetland ward as two independent candidates are standing unopposed.
It comes after Reform UK enjoyed another strong batch of poll results over the last seven days.
MoreInCommon put the party joint first on 25 per cent yesterday, while YouGov projected a score of 24 per cent putting them second two points behind Labour on Tuesday.
DeltaPollUK put Reform third on 22 per cent, while Find Out Now had Reform in joint first on 25 per cent last week.
It is important to remember polls do not predict the future but show a snapshot of public opinion on a certain day.
Further, council wards are affected by local issues and suffer from low turnouts, making them difficult to predict.
Local elections are due across England in May. There are also elections for the Welsh and Scottish parliaments in May 2026.
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