Streeting at the Pentagon today as US-Ukraine tensions escalate
Dan Sabbagh
Defence secretary Wes Streeting is in Washington DC to meet US counterpart Pete Hegseth at a sensitive time when relations between the two normally close allies are strained by tensions over Ukraine, Iran and the Middle East.
The meeting is due to take place at lunchtime in the Pentagon a day after Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited London and said he felt betrayed by the US decision to throttle military access to the Starlink satellite internet system.
The UK finds itself in the middle of the deepening US-Ukraine dispute, and on Wednesday prime minister Andy Burnham met Zelenskyy and promised that he would engage in “laying the ground” for a reconciliation with US president Donald Trump.
At the same time, the UK faces questions about its ability to safeguard US military bases in Britain to the satisfaction of Hegseth, more than one of which has been targeted by Iran, leading to the recent withdrawal of 12 B-1 bombers from Fairford.
The US is also weighing up whether it wants to help Saudi Arabia in the fast developing conflict with Yemen’s Houthis at a time when it is trying to step away from a fresh outbreak of fighting with Iran before midterm elections next month.
That presents the UK with a difficult choice, because while the UK has largely kept out of the Iran war, it has acted as a junior partner with the US in joint in a series of air strikes on the Houthis during 2025 and early 2025.
Labour recognises that engaging in fresh bombing in the Middle East could be a difficult sell to the British public when Trump’s war in Iran is being blamed for cost of living pressures and increased energy prices at home.
Prior to meeting Hegseth, Streeting will also appear at the CSIS thinktank, at a session entitled “the future of UK-US defence cooperation”.
Prior to his flight to the US, Streeting sidestepped the tricky geopolitical issues and emphasised that he hoped that in future “Britain and America can lead the next generation of defence innovation”.
Key events
Chancellor promises ‘breathing space’ for consumers in budget
Heather Stewart
John Healey has promised to use his first budget in a fortnight’s time to offer consumers and businesses a “breathing space” while sticking to Labour’s fiscal rules.
Speaking to journalists in Bangkok, where he has been attending the International Monetary Fund (IMF) annual meetings, the chancellor said he was conscious of rising costs.
I want the budget to be a budget that gives Britain a bit of breathing space – but also reinforces the strength of our fiscal plans and the strength of our resilience and our economy for the future.
The government has already cut VAT on electricity bills, but Healey is expected to announce a further package of energy support at his 28 October tax and spending statement, before what is expected to be a sharp rise in the energy price cap in January.
He said:
The prime minister’s talked about recognising the cost of business, not just the cost of living.
Healey also reiterated his insistence that he will be sticking to the spending plans set out by his predecessor, Rachel Reeves, at last year’s spending review – and cabinet colleagues will have to find any additional resources within their existing budgets.
When the second half of a spending review is in place, there are pressures on departments, and colleagues are doing a good job of managing with what they’ve got.
You have to reprioritise if you want to do fresh things.
As we’ve been reporting, former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson has been sentenced to a total of 15 years for sexual offences against two women who were children when he abused them three decades ago.
You can read our full report from my colleague, Ireland correspondent Rory Carroll, here:
Britain’s AI Security Institute is “no longer enough” to keep the country safe and the government should bring forward statutory AI protections, the chairman of the Business, Innovation, Science and Trade Committee has warned.
Liam Byrne, the Labour former minister, said the Cyber Resilience Bill could be used to bring the statutory protections into law.
It is currently making its way through Parliament, having passed its initial stages in the House of Commons earlier this year.
Speaking in the Commons today, Byrne said:
We are blessed to have the AI Security Institute in this country, but it’s no longer enough.
So, will ministers confirm that we will have Government amendments at report stage of the Cyber Resilience Bill to ensure that we have statutory AI protections to keep this country safe?
AI minister Kanishka Narayan said he would work with MPs across the House “on ideas for the Cyber Security and Resilience Bill, looking in particular at protections on AI security”.
Will the UK PM overshadow the SNP’s conference?
Patrick Greenfield
The Scottish National Party’s conference kicks off today, and as my colleagues Patrick Greenfield and Eve Livingston write, this year even Andy Burnham has been invited
But by the time John Swinney stands up to address members on Saturday afternoon in Aberdeen to reinvigorate the case for a second independence referendum, his party may regret giving the UK prime minister so much prominence in the conference buildup.
Burnham is expected to visit Scotland on Friday – the middle of the event – in a thinly veiled attempt to overshadow the SNP gathering. While he will be in a different venue, the former Manchester mayor’s presence in Scotland will loom large over the event. Since taking over at No 10 in July, Burnham has largely avoided direct confrontations with his political rivals, rarely attacking Nigel Farage or Kemi Badenoch. But he has taken a different approach with the Scottish first minister.
The SNP leader was the only politician from a rival party, apart from Margaret Thatcher, that Burnham mentioned in his keynote address to the Labour party conference last month. He reflected on Swinney’s prediction that he would be the last prime minister of the UK at a meeting of separatist parties Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland to mark the first time all three devolved parliaments were governed by nationalists. Swinney inadvertently did so on the day Burnham’s father died.
“I quote that not to seek sympathy,” Burnham said, holding back tears. “Nor to criticise John Swinney. I relay it because I want you to know how it made me feel. Utterly determined to prove him wrong.”
Beyond ruling out a second independence referendum, recent British prime ministers have often paid little attention to Scottish internal affairs. Burnham has already said there is “no clear consensus” for another vote. But unlike his predecessors, he has decided to take on the SNP by loudly make the case for the union on Scottish soil.
Burnham presents a new challenge for the SNP as they seek to re-energise the case for Scottish independence. Swinney has said he wants a new vote before 2031. The separatists have grown used to facing off against rightwing, pro-Brexit governments in London during two decades in power in Holyrood, making it easier to argue that Scotland’s interests have been dismissed. Burnham’s devolution agenda, openness to exploring a return to the European Union and £2 bus fares are harder to confront.
Streeting at the Pentagon today as US-Ukraine tensions escalate
Dan Sabbagh
Defence secretary Wes Streeting is in Washington DC to meet US counterpart Pete Hegseth at a sensitive time when relations between the two normally close allies are strained by tensions over Ukraine, Iran and the Middle East.
The meeting is due to take place at lunchtime in the Pentagon a day after Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited London and said he felt betrayed by the US decision to throttle military access to the Starlink satellite internet system.
The UK finds itself in the middle of the deepening US-Ukraine dispute, and on Wednesday prime minister Andy Burnham met Zelenskyy and promised that he would engage in “laying the ground” for a reconciliation with US president Donald Trump.
At the same time, the UK faces questions about its ability to safeguard US military bases in Britain to the satisfaction of Hegseth, more than one of which has been targeted by Iran, leading to the recent withdrawal of 12 B-1 bombers from Fairford.
The US is also weighing up whether it wants to help Saudi Arabia in the fast developing conflict with Yemen’s Houthis at a time when it is trying to step away from a fresh outbreak of fighting with Iran before midterm elections next month.
That presents the UK with a difficult choice, because while the UK has largely kept out of the Iran war, it has acted as a junior partner with the US in joint in a series of air strikes on the Houthis during 2025 and early 2025.
Labour recognises that engaging in fresh bombing in the Middle East could be a difficult sell to the British public when Trump’s war in Iran is being blamed for cost of living pressures and increased energy prices at home.
Prior to meeting Hegseth, Streeting will also appear at the CSIS thinktank, at a session entitled “the future of UK-US defence cooperation”.
Prior to his flight to the US, Streeting sidestepped the tricky geopolitical issues and emphasised that he hoped that in future “Britain and America can lead the next generation of defence innovation”.
Former DUP leader Jeffrey Donaldson jailed for 15 years on child sex abuse crimes
Taz Ali
Jeffrey Donaldson, the former leader of the Democratic Unionist party (DUP) in Northern Ireland, has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for historical sexual offences against two women when they were children.
My colleague Taz Ali has live coverage of the sentencing here:
Donaldon led the DUP from 2021 until 2024.
He was convicted in June of one count of rape, 13 counts of indecent assault and four counts of gross indecency for crimes committed between 1985 and 2008.
Judge Paul Ramsey said Donaldson had “doubled down on his denials” since his conviction.
“There has not been, and doubtless will not be, one word of regret, apology or shame from this man to at least provide his victims with some crumb of comfort,” he said.
He added Donaldson had experienced a “catastrophic descent into disgrace”.
Labour instructs council groups to cut deals with Greens after Zionism policy
Labour says it’s told all of its local councils who share power with the Green Party to review their agreements after the Greens passed a “Zionism is Racism” motion at their autumn conference earlier this month.
If Green coalition partners don’t agree to condemn the policy, the Labour council groups have been instructed to terminate existing power deals.
Yesterday Andy Burnham in PMQs condemned the Greens motion- which wasn’t supported by most of the party’s MPs, but was passed by a majority of members – as “wrong” and “antisemitic”.
He ruled out Labour doing deals with the Green party:
We cannot support a partnership with a party that holds [the] position that has recently been adopted.
Healey hints at more Ukraine support in budget
Heather Stewart
Following from the Zelenskyy visit to Number 10 yesterday, John Healey has wrapped up his meeting with the UK press pack in Bangkok with a heavy hint that he is preparing to offer more support to Ukraine at the budget.
Healey, who was of course defence secretary earlier this year, said:
“Now is the time to step up pressure on Putin and step up support for Ukraine.”
Asked if that could come as soon as the budget, Healey said:
“I’m working on different ways we can step up support for Ukraine, military, diplomatic, and economic, and you know, if anybody needed any reminder of that, it’s what we see coming out of Ukraine, with Putin targeting these energy systems, leaving thousands without power, as we’ve got a harsh winter approaching.
The future of Ukraine is the future of European security, and that’s that’s why it’s so crucial that Putin doesn’t prevail.”d
Yesterday, Andy Burnham hosted Volodymyr Zelenskyy at Number 10 in a significant show of support, after recent attacks by the Trump.
The US president has swung back to hostile rhetoric against the Ukrainian leader, calling for Zelenskyy to be replaced after also announcing a deal between the US and Russia to buy cheaper diesel.
He’s also ordered Ukraine to stop its long-range strikes on Russian oil refineries – something Ukraine had complied with for a few days until the Russian strikes kept coming. Zelenskyy has told the FT newspaper “we’re done” with the pause.
Kyiv is also chasing answers from Washington on what has happened with a slowdown or drop-out in the military version of the Starlink satellite service- known as Starshield- which Ukraine relies upon for military operations.
Elon Musk has tweeted that the service is controlled by the US government, which decides any limits on speed.
Yesterday at Downing Street, PM Burnham vowed that Britain stood behind Zelenskyy and also discussed how the UK could “accelerate defensive support to Ukraine” ahead of a dreaded winter.
Eritreans could be stopped from coming to UK if country continues to reject returns deal
Rajeev Syal
And to another key story today on immigration – Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood has warned that Eritreans could be blocked from coming to the UK unless the east African country accepts more rejected asylum seekers and criminals.
As The Guardian’s Home Affairs editor Rajeev Syal writes:
VIPs and officials from the east African country have already been stripped of fast-track access to UK visas after their government refused to cooperate with the return of its nationals, the home secretary said.
The warning comes after Eritrea abruptly withdrew returns cooperation earlier this year, the Home Office said.
The UK should not get drawn into rejecting applicants for asylum from Eritrea, refugee organisations have warned, because it is a war-torn country and the UK usually accepts the vast majority of applicants, who are often escaping famine and conflict.
Eritreans were the most common nationality arriving by small boat in the year ending June 2026. Returns arrangements are vital for removing people who have been refused asylum and foreign criminals.
Mahmood said:
“Eritrea has had every chance to accept the return of criminals and those with no right to be in the UK. Unlike other countries, it has refused.
“My message to the Eritrean government is simple: take back your nationals or face a complete ban on your citizens entering the UK.
“I will not hesitate to impose further measures on other countries refusing to cooperate.”
The move follows similar threats of visa sanctions against Angola, Namibia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2025. Angola and Namibia subsequently agreed to cooperate with demands on migrant returns, while the Democratic Republic of the Congo faced visa restrictions before reaching an agreement with the UK in February.
Just over 100 refused asylum seekers from Eritrea have been deported – a figure comprising less than 4% of the 2,626 people whose claims were rejected in the past four years. Nearly 6,000 Eritreans have reached the UK across the Channel in the year to June, the highest number of any nationality.
Quick reminder to anyone not super across what banks have to pay in taxes, their current rate is a 3% surcharge on profits, on top of the 25% corporation tax rate.
All banks operating in the UK – both British and foreign – pay this levy, and the sector has recorded tremendous profits in recent years driven by higher interest rates. (Markets are also assessing that the central bank will most likely raise rates next month to 4%.)
Taxing the big banks a little bit more has long been mooted as a voter-friendly way for Healey to raise some cash.
Tory leader Kemi Badenoch is expected to joined the banks today though in criticising against the measure. The argument is that it would damage the UK finance sector’s international competitiveness, drive businesses out of the country, and/or that banks might just pass on the costs to customers.
Tory shadow chancellor Andrew Griffith has argued: “Britain needs growth but a raid on the financial services sector will stifle it.”
Healey at IMF asked about higher bank taxes in budget
Heather Stewart
Healey is meeting with UK journalists now at the IMF in Bangkok, including my colleague Heather Stewart.
The August print – a 0.1% growth instead of the predicted 0.1% contraction – would have been very welcome news this morning, but he still faces a major challenge trying to find cash going into his 28 October budget.
The idea of raising taxes on bank profits has been floating around, and Healey is asked on this. He replies:
“I don’t want anybody to try and read in or second guess what [we may] do in two weeks’ time.
My observations on the banks are just that people too often see them as a big distant financial institutions, when they are hardwired into the economic fabric of this country and our future prospects.
That said, you know I’ve got decisions to take in the in the budget, and I will. I’ll set those out in two weeks’ time.
Healey added that his “special responsibility as Chancellor is to protect the resilience of the British economy for the future”.
He also repeated comments welcoming the IMF’s support for the UK’s fiscal plans.
To just go back to that GDP uptick briefly, John Healey is at the IMF/World Bank meetings in Bangkok and is due to speak shortly.
I’ll bring his comments here courtesy of my colleague Graeme Wearden’s reporting over on our business live blog.
Basically, the UK economy is still weak but performing slightly better than earlier gloomy predictions; the IMF in fact this week raised its growth forecast to 1.£3% – up from its April prediction of 0.8%. Analysts are saying, at this rate, the UK is on track to be the second- best- performing G7 economy this year.
Entering the conference centre this morning, Healey said in brief remarks:
“I’m pleased the IMF here in Bangkok have backed our economic plans in London. They say the UK stands out on growth despite the deep economic shocks that are affecting worldwide at present.
They say Britain stands out on our plans to get to grips with the big borrowing costs by previous governments. They also say it’s important to stay the path, and I will follow that as I prepare my budget in two weeks’ time.”
Reform politicians filmed making racist, misogynist comments
Ben Quinn
Reform leader Nigel Farage has postponed a major announcement that was due to take place in Essex this morning after an ITV investigation aired last night showing party councillors and election candidates making graphic threats of extreme violence and expressing racist and misogynistic views.
Three councillors have already stood down from the party, which said it was conducting an investigation over the first revelations from the ITV undercover investigation.
More are expected from the undercover filming of senior Reform politicians and officials working at its UK headquarters.
Farage has made repeated pledges over the last two years to rid Reform of “extremists” and “bigots” and introduce vetting. The party says it carries out vetting checks on everyone who wants to stand for election.
However, the first clips from ITV’s year-long undercover investigation showed Alan Feeney, a Reform councillor and deputy mayor of Solihull, calling Asian homeowners “parasites,” and stating that “no more than 1% of [the] British population can be non-white”.
Feeney won seats on Birmingham city council and Solihull Metropolitan borough council and was then appointed deputy mayor of Solihull. He has announced that he has left Reform “for personal reasons”.
Other candidates were recorded making comments of extreme violence and sharing deeply misogynistic and racist views, including a Bromley councillor calling for King Charles to be killed and another councillor who made disturbing sexual and misogynistic comments about female colleagues.
Feeney was filmed with other candidates who went on to become councillors, Jamie Campbell and Chris Whelan, talking about where a local mosque might be built. After they make extreme racist comments in the discussion, Feeney says: “Oh god, we’re all going to end up in the papers”.
Chris Whelan announced he had resigned from Reform on 12 October “on personal and health grounds”. Campbell is still in post.
Dame Julia Unwin, chairwoman of the Charity Commission, is expected to deliver the following remarks at the AGM today in central London, condemning the harassment and abuse of RNLI rescuers.
“I want to use this opportunity to condemn in the strongest terms the thuggery and intimidation that volunteers of the RNLI have faced over recent weeks – and indeed over months and even years.
“Charities must only do things that meet their purpose and objects.
“For the RNLI that means rescuing people in peril in the sea.
“It is not their right to do so.
“It is their absolute duty.
“The charitable sector must have the courage to tolerate vigorous debate, individual charities must accept that people might disapprove of their work, for reasons of values, politics, faith or identity.
“We should in fact welcome differences of view as evidence that we are living in a society in which everyone has freedom of conscience.
“But we must never grow accustomed to criminal or para-criminal abuse.”
Opening summary
Good morning and welcome to our UK politics live blog, I’m Frances Mao stepping in for Andrew Sparrow today.
The UK economy’s 0.1% growth figure this morning is better than expected – markets had prepared for a slight contraction for August but once again, AI spending has boosted the economy.
That headline figure doesn’t mask the deeper issues though of rising inflation and government debt; fevered speculation continues on how Healey will address this in his first budget in two weeks time. Kemi Badenoch is expected to join the City’s critical chorus in denouncing the idea of slapping higher taxes on the banks.
Meanwhile, the charities regulator today is expected to lambast the “thuggery and intimidation” faced by Royal National Lifeboat Institution volunteeers in recent weeks, following anti-migrant demonstrations.
The charity, which saves lives at sea, had to temporarily pause its work at Portsmouth after facing a barrage of abuse from far-right groups and agitators calling the lifesavers “traitors” after instances when they helped rescue asylum seekers on small boats.
In addition to those threats, Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has previously called the RNLI a “migrant taxi service”.
Yesterday, the Guardian reported Farage’s call for NGOs and their volunteers who help asylum seekers to face criminal prosecution. Talking to a rightwing US podcaster he claimed such groups had “actually aided and abetted criminality in absolutely every way”.
When asked if he believed “in criminal penalties for those who facilitated this invasion of the English Isles”, he replied:
Totally, totally. The role of the NGOs, the role of those that are sponsored by taxpayers’ money, because they’re nice, they’re good, they’re kind. They have actually aided and abetted criminality in absolutely every way.
These are people [who are] are deluded – deluded, hard-left socialist Marxists, who don’t believe in countries, don’t believe in borders, don’t believe in identities, are intent on destroying everything that exists.
The Charity Commission head is expected to warn against a “normalisation of violence” against workers.
Source: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2026/oct/15/uk-politics-latest-news-updates-nigel-farage-reform-labour-conservatives
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