Politics
Princess Of Wales In Italy To Explore ‘Reggio Emilia’ Approach
The Princess of Wales is on a fact-finding mission in Italy this week, with a view to learn more about the globally-recognised Reggio Emilia approach to early years education.
It is her first official foreign trip since being diagnosed with cancer two years ago. Back in January this year, Princess Catherine shared the news she was “cancer-free” after undergoing chemotherapy.
Her Italy visit forms part of her work with The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which she founded in 2021.
So, what is the Reggio Emilia approach? And why is it of interest to the Princess? Here’s a quick breakdown…
What is the Reggio Emilia approach?
This is a child-centred approach to early years education where kids are put in the driver’s seat, and given the autonomy to construct their own learning.
Rather than following a strict, set curriculum, much of what is learned happens through experience and hands-on exploration of their interests, which is guided by an adult.
The approach was developed after the Second World War in the Italian town of the same name. It was founded by the late Loris Malaguzzi, a teacher who emphasised the importance of child-directed learning, creativity and social interaction.
Per The Voice Of Early Childhood, Malaguzzi “advocated for a learning environment that respects and nurtures [children’s] natural curiosity and interests”.
There’s a real focus on collaboration and learning by experience, as well as exploring the arts, music and movement.
Malaguzzi believed that a child has 100 languages to express themselves. His 100 languages poem – which the Princess will learn about as part of her trip – centres around children possessing infinite ways to express, explore, and connect their thoughts, feelings and creativity.
This might be through reading and writing, or it could be through sculpting, painting, drawing, dancing, singing, cooking, gardening, etc.
One study suggested that people who were taught this approach in the early years had “significantly” improved outcomes related to employment, socio-emotional skills, high school graduation, election participation, and obesity, compared to those who didn’t receive formal early years care.
However, comparisons with people who attended alternative forms of childcare didn’t show any “strong patterns of positive and significant effects”.
Why is Princess Catherine interested in this approach?
She’s speaking to educators and practitioners about the key concepts of the Reggio Emilia approach, and how it supports children’s social and emotional development. She’ll also be seeing the early years philosophy in action.
In 2023, she launched an awareness raising campaign, called Shaping Us, to increase public understanding of the importance of the first five years of a child’s life. Its aim is to make early childhood development “one of the most strategically important topics of our time”.
The campaign is spearheaded by The Royal Foundation Centre for Early Childhood, which found one in three (36%) adults report knowing just a little or nothing about how children develop in their early childhood. Yet almost three-quarters (70%) of people believe early childhood should be a greater priority for society.
A spokesperson for The Princess told CNN she is “keen to explore further how globally we can identify positive, hopeful solutions to address some of today’s toughest social challenges, by investing in the extraordinary impact of early childhood and prioritising the early years with the same urgency as climate change”.
Politics
Good riddance to Jess Phillips
Jess Phillips resigned yesterday from her role as the UK safeguarding minister, citing prime minister Keir Starmer’s poor leadership.
In her resignation letter, she described Starmer as a ‘good man fundamentally, who cares about the right things’, while warning that this is ‘not enough’ to get results. Ironically, that it is not simply enough to say you care about an issue is something Phillips herself could have been reminded of. Safeguarding children from sexual abuse, as well as fulfilling Labour’s promise of halving violence towards women and girls, would have required, at times, a willingness to stick one’s neck out for those at risk. Phillips repeatedly proved that she was unwilling to do this.
‘Do you think there are people in this country who have, culturally, a very, very different view of women, and therefore are more likely to be engaged in these kinds of activities?’, LBC host Tom Swarbrick asked Phillips in an interview last year, in the wake of several incidents of sexual assault perpetrated by illegal migrants. Phillips was unable to give him a straight answer. ‘Which culture doesn’t have patriarchy and misogyny in it?’, she tried. When Swarbrick brought up crime data regarding migrants from Afghanistan, indicated as 20 times more likely to be convicted of sexual assault than the average Brit, Phillips still refused to engage. ‘I’ve seen victims and perpetrators from every single walk of life’, she stressed. She skirted further questions surrounding culture and misogyny by concluding: ‘I’ll tell you the group of people who are most likely to abuse – that is men.’
It was a disappointing show. When given the opportunity to stand in solidarity with Afghan women living under genuine patriarchal oppression, not to mention with those British women who have suffered as a result of the government importing those norms, Phillips’s self-professed ‘gobby’ feminism seemed to lose its bite. The fear of being labelled as problematic was simply too much. Hence why she, and so many others, continue to pretend that men socialised in countries where women can be legally beaten, raped and imprisoned in their own homes would never dream of doing the same things in Britain.
This is also why Phillips managed to resign from her post as safeguarding minister without a single word about the biggest safeguarding scandal in British history. For decades, grooming gangs made up predominantly of Pakistani Muslims raped thousands of vulnerable, working-class English girls as the establishment looked the other way. And yet, Phillips had been among those most resistant to holding a statutory national inquiry into these appalling crimes. When she was later made responsible for organising and overseeing such an inquiry, several survivors urged her to quit. They cited tight controls on what they could say publicly, as well as attempts to widen the topic of discussion beyond grooming gangs – a not-so-subtle attempt to dilute the inquiry’s focus. If such accusations are true, Phillips’ actions read more as narrative preservation than an attempt to seek justice for the industrial-scale rape of women she had vowed to protect.
One recalls a Question Time appearance back in 2016, when Phillips was asked about a spate of sex attacks that had taken place on New Year’s Eve in Cologne, Germany. In a single night, there had been 509 sexual offences reported to local police, including 22 rapes, the majority of which had been committed by men who appeared ‘north African’. In true Jess fashion, she responded with evasion: ‘A very similar situation happens on Broad Street in Birmingham every week, where women are baited and heckled.’ In other words, ‘Stop looking over there, and look instead at this safer, less polarising thing that won’t get me cancelled’.
‘Politics is as much about feelings as policy’, Phillips concluded her resignation letter. If that’s the case, then let’s hope – for the sake of thousands of vulnerable women and girls who have been thrown on the scrapheap over the past few years – that our next safeguarding minister actually ‘feels’ like doing their job this time.
Georgina Mumford is a content producer at spiked.
Politics
Diane Abbott demolishes media fear-mongering about ditching Starmer
Diane Abbott just responded perfectly to media fear-mongering about a possible contest to replace Keir Starmer as prime minister.
Diane Abbott: The markets are no reason to keep Starmer
Speaking to Sky‘s Cathy Newman about replacing Starmer, Abbott said:
I want there to be a proper, properly organised selection process and we’ll see who emerges.
Newman then injected a hint of fear, claiming:
And that will take weeks and weeks. And meanwhile the bond markets will go into a hissy fit.
But Abbott replied that:
British politics and British parliament can’t be run at the behest of the bond markets.
Newman, however, wasn’t going to leave it there. And she added:
We’re all going to be pretty poor if we don’t pay heed to the markets, though, aren’t we?
Abbott answered with the mic drop:
If the British government is gonna be completely dominated by the bond market, MPs might as well go home.
She also suggested that there are different ways to deal with economic change. Rather than continuing with welfare cuts, for example, she argued that Labour could always stabilise finances by putting less money into the pockets of the arms industry.
The corporate media always backed Starmer. We need to dump both of them!
The exchange on Sky certainly looked like an attempt by a corporate media outlet to take some heat off Starmer when he’s at his weakest point. And that’s hardly surprising. Because elite propagandists in the media got firmly behind Starmer early on. Then, despite his obvious awfulness, many of them endorsed him in the 2024 election.
Starmer’s predecessor Jeremy Corbyn had been a threat to establishment interests. That’s why the corporate media waged a brutal propaganda war against Corbyn and his supporters. And it’s why Starmer – the fraud representing the millionaire-funded campaign to replace Corbyn – brought elite propagandists a sigh of relief.
Much like Newman, Starmer loyalists are now trying to convince us all to avoid ‘playing games’ by pushing for Starmer’s removal. But that is the height of hypocrisy considering all of their efforts to sabotage Labour’s electoral chances under Corbyn.
Oh…*now* 'it's not a game'? — Mrs Gee
https://t.co/VEpVmJakP5 pic.twitter.com/TIVJASTnnT


(@earthygirl011) May 12, 2026
Right-wingers in the media and Labour led a long campaign to defeat Corbyn. First, there was the 2016 chicken coup, trying to blame Corbyn for Brexit. Then, there was the sabotage (via strategic diversion of funds, for example) of the 2017 election to stop Corbyn’s Labour winning.
All throughout, meanwhile, was endless bullying from the media.
Today, Starmer is the least popular prime minister ever, and almost no one thinks he’s been doing a good job:
While the Labour Party is divided over his future, just 11% of Britons believe Keir Starmer has been a great or even good prime minister so far
Great/good PM: 11% 2024 Labour voters — YouGov (@YouGov) May 12, 2026
Average PM: 25%
Poor/terrible PM: 58%
Great/good PM: 22%
Average PM: 36%
Poor/terrible PM: 36% pic.twitter.com/E1QW2XrIqg
And as Abbott told Newman, he’s now coming out of:
the most disastrous local authority election result in living memory
Nonetheless, some in the media still want you to think it’s best to just let Starmer continue.
As Abbott rightly said on Sky, though, we need to ignore media fear-mongering about replacing Starmer.
If the profits of obscenely wealthy individuals are the only thing that matters, they could just openly set up a corporate dictatorship already. But that’s not yet (fully) the case. So when people like Starmer don’t serve their constituents or country, we absolutely should hold them to account. And they absolutely should lose their jobs.
Featured image via the Canary
By Ed Sykes
Politics
Zarah Sultana forces apology from racist Katie Hopkins
Well, well, well. It looks like Zarah Sultana has forced an apology out of celebrity bigmouth Katie Hopkins:
Please retweet. https://t.co/CMpwjVpJhn
— Zarah Sultana MP (@zarahsultana) May 13, 2026
Didn’t Hopkins once say she would never apologise for anything?
How the whitey has fallen
Hopkins apology reads in full:
On behalf of their client, Zara Sultana, Bindmans Media and Information Law Practise Group requires that I publish the following statement on X, and that such statement must be clearly visible and pinned to my profile for a continuous period of no less than 24 hours:
“On 30 March 2026, I published a post on my X account addressed to Zarah Sultana in which I stated that she encourages and incites violence and is friends with terrorists.
Those statements are false. I was wrong and offer my sincere apologies to Ms Sultana for the harm and distress caused to her.”
It is my very great pleasure to do this, and I reiterate my sincere and repeated offer to meet with Miss Zara Sultana in person to resolve our differences.
Why did Hopkins accuse of Sultana of being “friends with terrorists”? Because Sultana is a British Muslim and supported this country’s political prisoners, whereas Hopkins has repeatedly expressed white-supremacist beliefs, including:
- Referring to refugees and migrants as “cockroaches”;
- Promoting the ‘white genocide’ conspiracy;
- Calling for a “final solution” to the UK’s Muslim population (mirroring Hitler’s ‘final solution’ to Germany’s Jewish population);
- Working with other white supremacists.
Apologetics
As noted, this is what Hopkins said in the past:
I have never apologised for anything I’ve said. I find it very disappointing when people apologise. You should have the positive moral attitude to stand by what you say,
We’d suggest Hopkins must be very disappointed in herself, but let’s face it, she probably doesn’t give a shit. This Z-list grifter will say and do anything to get attention, and finally that’s caught up with her.
Well done, Zarah Sultana, for not taking any shit from this pathetic racist.
Featured image via Si Chun Lam (Wikimedia)
By Willem Moore
Politics
The House | Two decades on from the original, can ‘The Devil Wears Prada 2’ still impress? Rosie Wrighting says yes

Meryl Streep as Miranda Priestly and Stanley Tucci as Nigel | Image by: FlixPix / Alamy
3 min read
Capturing an industry reshaped by AI and social media, I was wrong to doubt the wisdom of making a sequel – this love letter to fashion is as compelling as ever
I was nine when the first The Devil Wears Prada film came out and – having spent most of my teenage years dreaming of and working towards a place in the fashion industry – to this day one of the first things people outside fashion ask me is: “Is it really like The Devil Wears Prada?” And honestly, while it’s an early 2000s film made for entertainment, parts of it do show the industry in a very real light. That real light being that the fashion industry is very tough yet brilliant.
It’s an industry that encapsulates you. You have to not just work in it but live it – because its consumers, readers and followers do. The people I worked alongside are some of the most resilient, commercially minded and driven people I know, and in fashion there is no path to success without teamwork, leaning on others’ talents and hard work to create an end product.
I developed a level of resilience working in fashion that I need every single day in Westminster. The first film conveyed that – yes, as an exaggerated, watchable version – but the speed at which you need to make decisions, the competitiveness and the absolute love of the art you are creating: that is real.
Almost two decades have passed since that first film. By the time I went to study fashion, technology was already profoundly changing the industry. When I graduated during Covid, the world of the runway and the head office felt distant and uncertain. So, when I heard a sequel was coming, I was sceptical. Could it capture a fashion industry reshaped by social media, one where print media is no longer the primary source of fashion news, where AI informs buying decisions and Gen Z dictates the trends?
Andy has a love story in the film. But she didn’t need one
I am glad to say I was wrong to doubt it. The second film is honest about the changes the industry has faced rather than retreating into the romanticised version of fashion that exists in the public’s imagination.
It shows fashion as it is today and, crucially, it shows that fashion is quick to adapt. The world has changed, but the passion has not. The film carries a raw affection for the industry – an affection and protectiveness I recognise, and that I bring with me when I advocate for it in Parliament.
Andy has a love story in the film, but she didn’t need one. The real love story is the relationships you build when you are working with people to create something you love, and hoping others will love it too. That is what keeps people in this industry through the hard years. That is what the sequel chooses to celebrate.
The clothes are beautiful. The characters are as compelling now as they were then. But what makes this film worth your time is that it shows the industry the way those of us inside it have always known it: demanding, commercial, creative and brilliant. The Devil Wears Prada 2 is, more than anything, a love letter to fashion. And it’s one the industry deserves.
Rosie Wrighting is Labour MP for Kettering
The Devil Wears Prada 2
Directed by: David Frankel
Venue: General cinema release
Politics
Human rights group calls out Israel: ‘if everyone’s lying, open Gaza’
Human rights group Euro-Med Monitor has called Israel’s bluff on its genocide denialism. The murderous apartheid colony is again lashing out and calling the whole world liars for condemning its crimes. Euro-Med kept it simple and to the point: “if everyone’s lying, open Gaza”:
Israel, if everyone is lying, open Gaza.
If the ICC, the UN, international human rights organisations, Israeli rights groups, journalists, doctors, humanitarian workers, aid agencies, witnesses, and survivors are all lying, then open Gaza.
Let independent investigators,… pic.twitter.com/Uk8m1Pt8vL
— Euro-Med Monitor (@EuroMedHR) May 12, 2026
‘Every accusation is a confession’
Israel refuses to allow foreign journalists into Gaza, except for a few tame, ’embedded’ pro-Israel hacks who see and report what Israel wants. The colonisers have murdered hundreds of journalists – along with their families – for reporting on its crimes. It does the same in Lebanon. It attacks everyone who calls the genocidal spade a spade. None of that would be necessary if the accusations were lies.
No, the only lies are those Israel tells in its “every accusation is a confession” mode. Brutal murders, weaponised rape, torture, targeting of innocents. None of those are the acts of Palestinians or their supporters. All of them are documented atrocities of the apartheid occupation.
Featured image via the Canary
By Skwawkbox
Politics
Politics Home Article | Tribune MPs Ready To Fight For Burnham Inclusion If Streeting Runs

31 March 2026 Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester outside Downing Street, London (Alamy)
4 min read
Senior members of the influential Tribune group of MPs will push Labour’s ruling body to allow for Andy Burnham’s inclusion in a leadership race if one is triggered imminently, PoliticsHome understands.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting has reportedly told allies that he is preparing to resign from government and announce his leadership challenge on Thursday.
As a mayor and not an MP, Burnham would not be eligible to participate in a leadership race held so quickly. But PoliticsHome understands that senior soft left figures would nonetheless stick with their priority of allowing Burnham to run, instead of turning to Angela Rayner as their candidate.
For it to unfold in this way, a sitting Labour MP would have to stand down, triggering a by-election, then Labour’s national executive committee (NEC) would have to allow Burnham to seek selection as the parliamentary candidate, and he would have to win the seat – all before MP nominations opened.
“The NEC decides the timetable so Wes triggering doesn’t stop Andy contesting. It would be outrageous for them to try and block the most popular politician in the country from standing,” a senior Burnham-backing Labour MP said.
Rayner was forced to resign as deputy prime minister last year over a tax scandal, and the HMRC investigation into her unpaid stamp duty has still not concluded, to the knowledge of reporters. Her favourability as a leadership contender has declined dramatically over recent months.
“I don’t think there are many Ange fans around now,” one Labour MP concluded.
With all 11 of Labour’s affiliated trade unions signing a joint statement that agreed Keir Starmer would “not lead Labour into the next election” and that backed a leadership election “at some stage”, some Burnham supporters hope the NEC would be more likely to allow Burnham to stand for Parliament.
The mayor was blocked in January from running as the Labour candidate in the Gorton and Denton by-election, after a core group NEC officers refused to give him permission to stand.
A government source told PoliticsHome: “There has been a noticeable shift in the attitudes of the officers of the NEC towards Andy. There is no complacency – the work has been done – but the current political situation has fundamentally changed since January.”
A well-placed source has told PoliticsHome that Ellie Reeves, the solicitor general and an NEC officer, was in favour last time of the decision going to a meeting of the full NEC – a body of almost 40 members, rather than the smaller officers group of 10.
Burnham supporters hope the full NEC would be more supportive of accommodating his inclusion in any Labour leadership contest.
“The pressure to take this out of officers and to full NEC would be quite significant now, and that’s where I could see it going the other way,” said one NEC member, who does not plan to back Burnham.
Allies of Burnham have also been floating the acronym ABC – “Andy By Conference” – as a potential timetable. This would be too slow for many Labour MPs who want a race concluded as quickly as possible, however.
Burnham supporters have claimed repeatedly that he has found a winnable seat and is preparing to run for Parliament.
MPs in the North West who have denied they are willing to step aside for Burnham include Afzal Khan in Manchester Rusholme; Peter Dowd in Bootle; Marie Rimmer in St Helens; Dan Carden in Liverpool Walton; and Paula Barker in Liverpool Wavertree.
One soft left MP told PoliticsHome: “Regardless of whether Keir stays or goes right now, I think the case for Andy to be allowed to return is now undeniable.”
Another MP from the Tribune group said: “It would be a very odd scenario holding a by-election in these circumstances but I feel momentum is with him.”
Almost 100 Labour MPs have now called on the Prime Minister to set out a timetable for his departure after last week’s local election results, with four ministers resigning.
Politics
Far-right MP defends Tommy Robinson’s foreign hate speakers
Rupert Lowe is the MP who left Reform UK following several run-ins with Nigel Farage. Lowe has since formed his own party, and because he doesn’t have much in the way of imagination, his party is called ‘Restore Britain’. The party sells itself as a further-right alternative to the already-far-right Reform. In aid of this, Lowe has come out to defend the foreign hate speakers that Britain has now banned from attending Tommy Robinson’s racism festival:
Rupert Lowe suddenly likes ‘foreigners’ https://t.co/FQ7QZNdqmx
— Curtis Daly (@CurtisDaly_) May 12, 2026
How Lowe can he go?
The “foreign commentators” in question are those who were set to attend Tommy Robinson’s ‘Unite the Kingdom’ rally, which takes place on 16 May.
Lowe’s message reads in full:
This Government is entirely wrong to ban foreign commentators from speaking at Robinson’s rally on Saturday
I will be formally challenging the Home Office, again, on the decision to prevent these individuals from entering.
I won’t be there myself, but many patriots will be and they deserve to hear lawful views in order to decide for themselves if they agree or not.
That is free speech.
Islamist extremists are personally welcomed by the Prime Minister, yet this group is banned.
It stinks.
Barrister Jane Heybroek responded to Lowe’s post with the following:
“lawful views” being the operative term.
Is incitement to racial hatred lawful?— CrémantCommunarde
(@0Calamity) May 12, 2026
So, are these people inciting racial hatred?
In our opinion, there’s an incredibly straightforward argument that: yes, they are.
Hate mongers
On 12 May, Rose Cocker reported the following for the Canary:
During a speech on 11 May, Keir Starmer (PM-for-now) boasted about blocking “far right agitators” from entering the country. Labour has in fact blocked the visas of seven individuals who were planning to attend ‘Unite the Kingdom,’ a far-right rally happening on 16 May. Among them are two prominent MAGA figures.
Cocker suggested that Starmer only made this move because his party lost so many voters to the left-wing Green Party in the local elections. Regardless, it was the right move given the actions of these people.
Speaking on the banned Joey Mannarino, Cocker wrote:
At a Britain First ‘March for Remigration’ in 2025, Mannario gave a rambling speech in front of a backdrop image of himself and Donald Trump. When he later tweeted a recording, he urged viewers to:
“deport the parasites who are raping their way through America, Europe and the United Kingdom.”
For those who don’t know, ‘remigration‘ is the plan to deport non-white people from European countries, regardless of whether or not they were born here.
Starmer also banned Valentina Gomez, who is one of the most virulent Islamophobes in American politics:
The Home Office and Shabana Mahmood need to be consistent.
They revoked Kanye West’s visa. Why not revoke Valentina Gomez’s for her bigotry? pic.twitter.com/SKe5mAtIwE
— Mukhtar (@I_amMukhtar) April 9, 2026
Gomez spoke at last year’s rally, as can be seen here:
England, see you SOON May 16th.
England will be ENGLISH again. pic.twitter.com/JvCgXQilr0 — Valentina Gomez (@ValentinaForUSA) April 17, 2026
These people want a civil war
One of the speakers at the last Unite the Kingdom rally was the Dutch racist Eva Vlaardingerbroek. Vlaardingerbroek was blocked from entering the UK earlier this year, as we reported on 15 January:
Vlaardingerbroek is part of Generation Remigration, which is a group that advocates for – you guessed it – ‘remigration’.
Additionally:
Remigration is built on the idea that people of different ethnicities cannot live peacefully together. This is quite obviously what you would describe as ‘racist’. In years gone by, people on the far right would try to provide some sort of cover to claim ‘we’re not racist‘. Clearly, there is no such cover here.
The fact that people are happy to openly support remigration shows that racists are once more back out in the open. People with more than two brain cells, however, understand what remigration would look like in practice.
According to the last Census, the number of people who aren’t ‘white’ is over 10 million – many of whom were born here. Indeed, many may be second, third, or fourth generation. How many of those people would oppose being deported? How many white people do you think would join them? Going off the global George Floyd protests, we can assume ‘a shit tonne’.
What do you call a situation in which one section of the country goes to war with the other?
Public good
The government has blocked all these speakers because their presence isn’t “conducive to the public good”. Once you understand what remigration is, it’s hard to deny that fact.
Remember we said that Joey Mannarino spoke at a Britain First remigration rally? Well, this is Britain First’s leader:
"I want this country to become a shithole. I want this country to descend into a fucking nightmare"
They don't care about the country. They thrive off discord. pic.twitter.com/N0Sb9yvq33 — smile2jannah (@smile2jannah) April 12, 2026
Far right extremist Paul Golding exposed in a secret recording:
Rupert Lowe is a hair’s width away from this guy, and that’s concerning, because he’s an actual MP.
Featured image via The Canary
By Willem Moore
Politics
11 unions join calls to oust PM saying Labour “cannot continue on its current path”
In a letter leaked to the Guardian, the General Secretaries of 11 Labour-affiliated unions are putting their case to PM Keir Starmer today, saying:
It’s clear that the prime minister will not lead Labour into the next election, and at some stage a plan will have to be put in place for the election of a new Leader.
Adding that the Labour Party:
cannot continue on its current path.
Long-Labour allies GMB, Unite and Unison are among the rebelling unions. This damning letter follows resounding calls from over 80 Labour MPs, and the British public generally, for Starmer to step down
Increasing that pressure, union leaders and a number of socialist Labour MPs have also reportedly formed a new pressure group called Socialism26. As a result, despite the right-wing Wes Streeting eyeing up the leadership, it appears that Labour MPs and affiliates increasingly recognise that abandoning progressive, socialist policies has driven many of the Labour Party’s problems since the election of the UK prime minister.
Well, it took them long enough – but at least they’re standing up now.
EXCL: Keir Starmer will not lead his party into the next general election, Labour-supporting unions have predicted, in an intervention that threatens to further destabilise PM after damaging few days.
The 11 Labour-affiliated unions – including Unite, Unison and GMB – are…
— Pippa Crerar (@PippaCrerar) May 13, 2026
Unions: “Govern in the interests of workers”
The statement penned by the unions is said to be announced later today, but the Guardian were able to obtain a leaked copy in advance.
In the letter, the general secretaries write:
Labour’s affiliated unions have been clear that Labour cannot continue on its current path.
Whilst we recognise progress has been made, such as aspects of the Employment Rights Act and the increase in the minimum wage, the results at the election last week were devastating.
Labour is not doing enough to deliver the change that working people voted for at the general election. Our focus is on the fundamental change of direction on economic policy and political strategy that unions have been clear is needed, and not on the personalities and unfolding political drama in Westminster.
It’s clear that the prime minister will not lead Labour into the next election, and at some stage a plan will have to be put in place for the election of a new Leader.
This is a point where the future of the party we founded will be debated and determined – and we are working closely as unions to shape a shared vision on policy, political strategy and economic policy that will reorient Labour back to working people, so Labour do what it was elected to do: govern in the interests of workers.
Keir Starmer is facing an increasingly destabilised leadership as a rebellion grows among long-quiet Labour MPs, many of whom now fear for their own positions after the abysmal – though hardly unexpected – performance at the recent local elections. In a desperate attempt to save face with the electorate, MPs are increasingly distancing themselves from Starmer, leaving the prime minister’s days in power looking clearly numbered.
Moreover, some specific demands are making their way through from the newly formed Socialism26 initiative group, making clear the areas in which they insist the Labour Party must do better:
NEW: A group of Labour MPs and general secretaries of Labour-affiliated trade unions are launching a new political initiative called Socialism26
They have the following immediate demands: — Sienna Rodgers (@siennamarla) May 12, 2026
– New Deal for Working People in full
– Recognise the genocide in Gaza, support rebuilding…
Socialism26: “Recognise the genocide in Gaza… Introduce sanctions”
The ‘immediate demands’ of this mix of socialists who still believe the Labour Party have a chance of regaining trust with the public are:
– New Deal for Working People in full
– Recognise the genocide in Gaza, support rebuilding efforts, introduce sanctions
– WASPI compensation
– Drop jury trials policy, lift restrictions on the right to protest, stop changes to indefinite leave to remain
– Measures to cut energy bills
It must be said – these demands do indeed expose exactly why Labour drove away its traditional voter base and destroyed the trust and respect the British public once had for the party. Nevertheless, it’s been decades since we’ve had a Labour administration that wasn’t moving towards the right, suggesting it will be a lot harder to get this (former) party of the working class to actually remember where its priorities, and loyalties, should actually lie.
The Guardian have reported that the group has been founded, and backed, by the following:
The founders are:
Unison’s Andrea Egan
FBU’s Steve Wright
CWU’s Dave Ward
TSSA’s Maryam Eslamdoust
+
Neil Duncan-Jordan
Chris Hinchliff
Cat Eccles
Terry Jermy
Peter Lamb
Brian Leishman
Simon Opher
Richard Quigley
Lee Barron
Lorraine Beavers
Chris Bloore
Steve WitherdenAlso backed by lots of Socialist Campaign Group MPs
Will right-wing Labour listen?
The Labour right have their claws deep into the party infrastructure. Thanks to persistent purges of socialist anti-Zionists, the party is beholden to the Zionist state of Israel. Conducting a genocide hasn’t swayed their allegiances, so it is hard to see them suddenly take heed of the repeated demands from the left of Labour.
After all, they’ve taken a huge sum in donations from pro-Israel groups and, whilst forgetting it is the British public who pay their lofty and privileged salaries, they have chosen to guide their policies to suit right-wing, hostile interests.
Moreover, we have already written about the more than 100 MPs in the Tribune Group who are likewise pressuring Labour to shift leftward with their own set of demands. However, the emergence of two separate socialist groups issuing their own demands reinforces the perception that socialists remain disorganised, as they scramble to retain influence within a party machine that continues to favour right-wing politics.
Therefore, whilst this letter is a welcome sight and a refreshing reminder that socialism is not completely extinct in Labour, it is hard to imagine it would lead to any real, genuine socialist change.
When people widely accept and recognise that socialist policy offers the only real way to heal the harms of neo-liberal capitalism, we cannot afford to waste time on a hoodwinking political elite.
Featured image via the Canary
Politics
Greens push Labour to adopt rent controls in King’s Speech
Since the local elections, the key political question in the UK has been, ‘When will the Labour leader go?’. Notably, that’s when, not if, because let’s face it, the writing has been on the wall for Keir Starmer for some time now.
While Labour has obsessed over itself, the Green Party has been working to get things done. In aid of this, the Green’s new mayors and MP Carla Denyer have put the following to the government:
Our mayoral, council and Senedd campaigns were rooted in fighting to end the housing affordability crisis, and voters have spoken. We need action to end rip-off rents now.
So newly elected Green Mayors @ZoeGarbett and @LiamShrivastava alongside Carla Denyer MP have written to… pic.twitter.com/B7l9WF7YVu — The Green Party (@TheGreenParty) May 12, 2026
Labour, ‘This scandal has to end’
The above letter is addressed to Steve Reed. Although Reed is the housing minister, you may be more familiar with his campaign to smear Green Party activists and politicians.
In their letter, they ask Reed to actually get on with his job and deliver for ordinary renters. It reads (emphasis added):
We are writing to you as newly elected Green Mayors, alongside Carla Denyer MP and on behalf of every newly elected and sitting Green Councillor, to request that you take urgent action to end rip-off rents, and include a Rent Controls Bill in the King’s Speech this week.
Spiralling rents are ripping the heart out of our communities. People are being forced to cut back on essentials just to afford a roof over their heads. Young people are being priced out of the areas they grew up in, with schools in London closing as families are pushed out of the city. Teachers, nurses and careworkers cannot afford to live in the boroughs they work in. Renters across the UK now pay on average a third of their wages on rent, the highest level on record.
But whilst renters get poorer, wealth is being funnelled straight into landlords’ pockets. As you will be aware, the government is set to transfer £70 billion to private landlords through housing support between 2024-28. That is six times the amount of money that was spent on affordable homes over the past five years. Housing has become a way to make money, rather than a universal right.
This scandal has to end. If we had frozen rents four years ago, households in Britain would now be saving over £3,300 per year on average.
It’s time to get serious
The letter continues:
The Green Party’s success last week shows that the country is desperate for an urgent and transformative programme to end rip-off Britain, and are angry that your government has failed to deliver. Our mayoral, council and Senedd campaigns were rooted in fighting to end the housing affordability crisis, and voters have spoken.
Keir Starmer has said that a break with the status quo is needed. The King’s Speech is your opportunity to do this by getting behind the Green Party’s longstanding demands for crucial measures to make life affordable for all, starting with rent controls. With food and energy costs set to sky-rocket as a result of the illegal war on Iran, it has never been more critical.
If your government is in any way serious about improving the lives of the 11 million private renters in England, you must commit to introducing rent controls now.
Keir Starmer himself said the status quo cannot stand in his make-or-break speech on Monday, but at this point, we’ve heard it all before.
Starmer in 2020: "We cannot go back to business as usual after this"
Starmer now: ".. every single time in the past we've simply tried to get back to a status quo that didn't work, we can't do the same again"
The same line, 6 years apart. He wants to fool us twice. https://t.co/aieAKqyj4B pic.twitter.com/MsRDJfakyS
— Saul Staniforth (@SaulStaniforth) May 11, 2026
Is change on the horizon?
In the lead up to the local elections, Labour made it clear that the party wouldn’t introduce rent controls. The question is whether the local elections have taught Starmer’s government anything, or whether status quo policies remain the politics of choice.
Featured image via the Canary
By Willem Moore
Politics
Ryanair Staff May Soon Have Reason To Fine Big Bags Harder
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Budget airline Ryanair, like other airlines, is notoriously strict about the size of bags you can bring with you on holiday.
And speaking to The Times recently, boss Michael O’Leary seems to have given his staff a reason to hit passengers harder with fees.
He told the publication he’s planning to increase bonuses for staff members who identify and fine people carrying oversized luggage.
At the moment, he said, the number of passengers found to be bringing too much baggage to the airport has fallen significantly, leading to a drop in corresponding fines.
How much do Ryanair staff get paid for fining oversized bags?
At the moment, O’Leary said, his staff get paid €2.50 (about £2.16 as of the time of writing) for every oversized bag they fine. He wants to raise that by a euro (about 87p) for successful spotters.
“The number of outsized bags is falling from, I don’t know, 0.0001[%] to 0.00001[%],” the controversial businessman said.
“As the numbers fall, I think we will up the rate of commission, from €2.50 to €3.50 or so. Everybody must know, do not show up with a bag that doesn’t fit in the sizer because you will be charged.”
At the moment, Ryanair’s site reads, passengers who “bring an oversize [check-in] bag (over 55x40x20cm) to the boarding gate will either have their bag refused or, where available, placed in the hold of the aircraft for a fee of £/€ 70.00 [or] £/€ 75.00”.
That means staff currently receive just over 3% of the highest total fine in commission. The proposed change would raise their commission to over 4.5%.
How can I beat Ryanair baggage fines?
Speaking to HuffPost UK previously, Hannah Mayfield, a money expert with travel insurance company PayingTooMuch, said, “Even if your bag looks like it fits, you could still get fined due to technicalities. Some airlines count weight as well as dimensions, while others impose last-minute gate checks – especially on full flights.
“I’ve even seen recent cases where passengers have been charged because the wheels or handles of their suitcase are slightly over the size restrictions.”
To lower your odds of getting caught out, she advised: “the best way to avoid unforeseen fines is to stay informed about your airline’s baggage rules and measure your luggage before you travel”.
Ryanair’s rules for 20kg check-in bags are:
- Dimensions should be no greater than 55x40x20cm,
- Weight should be no more than 20kg.
Their rules for 23kg check-in bags are:
- Dimensions should be no greater than 80x120x120cm,
- Weight should be no more than 23kg.
Their rules for 10kg check-in bags are:
- That these need to be purchased separately at checkout if you haven’t bought a Priority ticket: otherwise, you can pay €/£35.99-€/£40 in the airport for them,
- Weight should be no more than 10kg,
- Dimensions should be no greater than 55x40x20cm.
Their rules for personal bags are:
- Dimensions should be no bigger than 40x30x20cm,
- The bag should fit under the seat in front of you on the plane.
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