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In a day that upset the apple cart of party politics, Reform won the Runcorn and Helsby by-election by six votes, with 38.72 per cent of the vote, compared with Labour’s 52.9 per cent last year. Of 1,641 wards in England up for election, Reform won 677. The Tories lost 676, winning only 317. The Lib Dems gained 163, winning 370 in all. Labour lost 186, winning 99. Reform won control of ten of the 23 councils in contention. The Liberal Democrats won three councils. The Tories lost all their 16 councils. Dame Andrea Jenkyns, a former Tory minister, was elected Reform mayor of Greater Lincolnshire; Luke Campbell, the former boxer, became Reform mayor of Hull and East Yorkshire. Labour narrowly hung on to mayoralties in North Tyneside and Doncaster, and held the West of England mayoralty. ‘It marks the end of two-party politics,’ said Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform. Kemi Badenoch, the Conservative leader, said: ‘We have a big job to do to rebuild trust with the public.’ ‘We need to go further and we need to go faster on the change that people want to see,’ said Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader. On winter fuel payments Downing Street said: ‘There will not be a change to the government’s policy.’
Eight men, including seven Iranian nationals, were arrested in two separate counter-terrorism police investigations. Britain signed a long-sought trade agreement with India. In ten years’ time the government might save £60 million annually from not having to care for those who underwent assisted suicide, according to a Civil Service impact assessment of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill. Fourteen children aged 11-14 were arrested by police investigating the death of a 14-year-old boy in a fire at an industrial unit in Gateshead. The Co-op admitted that a cyber attack had stolen Co-op Group members’ personal data, but not their passwords, bank or credit card details. Harrods reported cyber attacks, while Marks & Spencer attempted to recover from its ransomware attack.
The King and royal family joined VE Day commemorations. The Duke of Sussex failed in his legal appeal on his security protection in Britain; ‘I could not say the Duke’s sense of grievance translated into a legal argument,’ said Sir Geoffrey Vos in judgment. In an emotional interview with the BBC, the Duke said his father wouldn’t speak to him: ‘I would love reconciliation… I don’t know how much longer my father has.’ Downing Street inspected its bunker and other preparations for an attack by Russia. Transgender women will no longer be able to play in women’s football in England or Scotland or in cricket and netball, their authorities said. Ethel Caterham, of Lightwater, Surrey, born in 1909, became the world’s oldest person.
Shareholders in Royal Mail’s parent company approved its sale to Daniel Kretinsky, the Czech billionaire. Deliveroo, the food delivery app, was to be taken over by the American giant DoorDash for £2.9 billion. Moorcroft Pottery, Stoke-on-Trent, ceased trading after 128 years.
Abroad
India launched strikes on Pakistan and Pakistan-administered Kashmir, targeting ‘terrorist infrastructure’; Pakistan promised retaliation. Ukraine and America agreed to give America a share of profits from future sales of Ukraine’s mineral and energy reserves. Moscow’s major airports were closed on the third night of drone attacks by Ukraine. Mike Waltz was sacked as the US National Security Adviser. Warren Buffett, 94, is to retire as chief executive of Berkshire Hathaway at the end of the year. The Alternative für Deutschland (AfD) party was designated a right-wing extremist body by Germany’s federal office for the protection of the constitution, an intelligence agency; Marco Rubio, the US Secretary of State, called this ‘tyranny in disguise’. Israel’s security cabinet approved plans to expand its offensive against Hamas. Israel bombed targets near Damascus in defence of the Druze, and Sana’a airport in Yemen, against the Houthis. But President Donald Trump said the Houthis had ‘capitulated’ and ‘we will stop the bombings’.
The King will visit Canada to open parliament. Mark Carney, the Canadian Prime Minister, met Mr Trump, who felt his knee, at the White House. In Australia, the Labor party won a landslide. The Prime Minister of Romania resigned after presidential elections gave the first-round lead to the right-wing nationalist George Simion. The conclave to elect a new pope began. An AI-generated image of Donald Trump as pope was re-posted by him and by the White House. CSH
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