Two-thirds of Britons blame the UK's immigration policy for the outbreak of riots across the country, a new poll has revealed.
A poll by Savanta has shown that more people think the recent unrest was about migration, rather than the Southport killings in July.
A petition to protect the Winter Fuel Payment from being means-tested is within 6,000 signatures of reaching its target.
In July, the new Labour Government's Chancellor Rachel Reeves confirmed the energy bill benefit will be reserved for those on low income who are claiming benefits.
In response, Age UK launched the "Save the Winter Fuel Payment for struggling pensioners" petition with the goal of reaching 400,000 signatures.
Under the Winter Fuel Payment, every pensioner is entitled to up to £300 in energy bill support every winter.
However, with the recently announced changes, pensioners will now need to be in receipt of means-tested benefits from the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to claim.
Experts have warned that millions of pensioners are at risk of losing access to the Winter Fuel Payment due to the low uptake of the DWP benefit.
The petition from Age UK states: "Cutting the Winter Fuel Payment this winter, with virtually no notice and no compensatory measures to protect poor and vulnerable pensioners, is the wrong policy decision.
"Millions of struggling pensioners won’t receive up to £300 they rely on to pay their bills. We believe as many as 2 million pensioners who find paying their energy bills a real stretch will be seriously hit by this cut."
Does Labour hate pensioners? Vote now in the poll above and have your full say in the comments below.
Cabinet Ministers received hundreds of thousands of pounds from trade unions before capitulating to pay deals with public sector workers.
Sir Keir Starmer’s inner circle accepted £480,030 in cash and donations in kind from Labour’s trade union backers since 2019.
The donations came before Chancellor Rachel Reeves agreed to inflation-busting pay rises for millions of public sector workers.
Teachers and nurses look set to pocket a 5.5 per cent pay increase, while prison service workers and senior NHS managers can expect to see salaries soar by five per cent.
Train drivers have also been offered a huge hike of 14 per cent over three years.
Reeves ultimately decides whether or not to give the go-ahead to the rises after deals are drawn up by independent pay boards.
Health Secretary Wes Streeting received £14,286 in support from unions in the past five years, The Telegraph has revealed.
Unison contributed £3,143 to cover the costs of printing campaign leaflets.
Britain’s biggest trade union voted for strike action two years ago over the Government’s four per cent pay offer at a time when inflation hit 11 per cent.
Transport Secretary Louise Haigh also received a total of £24,289 in union support since 2019.
More than £12,000 of this sum was donated either to her local party or indirectly via the central party by the GMB union in January 2020.
GMB also contributed £10,040 in indirect donations to Home Secretary Yvette Cooper.
Senior Tories have accused Labour of being in the pocket of trade union fat-cats.
Ex-Defence Secretary Ben Wallace last week accused the Labour Government of prioritising union “paymasters” over national security.
However, GB News understands that Labour is looking to maintain a strong working partnership with trade unions to ensure the economy grows and living standards improve.
Unions have been putting increased pressure on Labour, with trian drivers threatening 22 days of industrial action.
Aslef announced a strike every weekend from the end of August to mid-November and the RMT is threatening to also take industrial action if its demands are not met.
A Labour Party spokesman said: "All donations are declared in accordance with Parliamentary and Electoral Commission rules."
Keir Starmer is hiding from Britons on immigration and is 'tone deaf' to their concerns, Priti Patel has said.
The former Home Secretary, speaking exclusively for GB News members outlined how she had called on Keir Starmer to recall Parliament during the protests but he had ignored the call.
She said: "I think he's become very tone deaf actually. And this what's happened in recent weeks speaks to this as well.
"You all know I called for the recall of Parliament because I felt it was really important to have this debate and discussion. So what do they do? They just hid.
"They just had no recall, no recall. I just felt that that was inappropriate. I really did, because then we could have these discussions around policing, for example, around the causes, how people are feeling, you know, what's going on in parts of the country. And I just don't think they are engaging on this at all."
Patel added: "The reality is this is, you know, we hold the police to account through the Home Secretary.
"She did not come to Parliament over recess when all this was happening.
"The police need to be getting on and doing the job of policing. And they have the tools, they have the resources and the powers. And I think it's really important at times, the difficult times that we've seen over the last fortnight, we get out there and we, you know, make sure that they've got everything they need to do to police situations that we've seen."
Chopper went on to ask: "How would you give voice to the silent majority?"
Patel answered: "You get on and deliver for them, which is that's our mission now is conservatives, right?
"I always refer to them as the law abiding, silent majority. They're not the ones coming out on the streets. You know what they want in life. They want to. They want good, competent governments that are on their side.
And finally he asked: "And how important to you as free speech in our democracy?
Patel replied: "Hugely. Absolutely. It's it's it's it's who we are as a country. And you'll you will recall this. I mean, you know, we had some of these debates back in the day of the pandemic as well. So I think it's important that we live in a free and open society."
Keir Starmer is seemingly being held hostage by unions across Britain as the Tories claimed that kowtowing to train drivers was a sign that the Labour Party is being “played by its union paymasters”.
A pay offer to train drivers came to light on Wednesday and is set to be voted on by the Aslef union.
If accepted, it would include a backdated 5 per cent pay rise for 2019 to 2022, 4.75 per cent for 2022 to 2024 and a further 4.5 per cent for 2024 to 2025.
Despite the offer, train drivers from LNER announced that there could be strike action for the next three months.
RMT union boss Mick Lynch told The Times he expected a “parallel, synchronised offer” to be offered to his members.
Tory Shadow Transport Minister Kieran Mullan said the Aslef strike was “a taste of what is to come: a nationalised train service seeing Labour-backing unions staging walkouts despite a bumper pay deal”.
Other Conservative members accused Labour of losing control of public sector pay and said the party was “being played by its union paymasters”.
They added that by kowtowing to train drivers, all trade unions would now demand “double-digit pay rises”.
Nick Thomas-Symonds, a Cabinet Office minister, said the Government was “sticking to the promises we made in opposition” and that “we would sit down and find solutions”.
Despite the threat of further strike action by LNER, Thomas-Symonds told Times Radio: “We are absolutely looking to deliver a better service for passengers.”
Writing an Op-Ed for GB News, former editor of The Sun, Kelvin MacKenzie, wrote: “We are going to see a lot of this from this Government over the years ahead.
“After all it was only half an hour ago they lobbed out 22 per cent to the doctors.”
Is Britain heading back to the 1970s with people held hostage by unions? Vote now in the poll above and have your say in the comments below.
Former Reform UK Deputy Leader Ben Habib has explained he will not be defecting to the Tories, despite being demoted from his role in Reform
The party announced the parliamentary roles their MPs will be taking on last month after leader Nigel Farage claimed he was trying to "professionalise" the party.
Last week Habib tweeted that he will not be speaking at the conference in September, causing a stir online.
He penned: "I am 100 per cent committed to fighting for a proud, independent, sovereign and prosperous United Kingdom. That is the only thing which matters."
Speaking on GB News, he said: "I don't have a role in Reform UK. I was the Deputy Leader of the party.
"Richard Tice and I spearheaded the party. We took it from 6 per cent in the polls to 16 per cent when Nigel came back as leader. We created it.
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"We spearheaded the movement that created the four million votes that we got in the last election.
"I'm sure there are many millions more who would have voted for us, but for the fact that they were scared of a Starmer Government and that narrative about splitting the vote.
"My obligation and what I feel is critical, that people like me and Richard who marched these people to the top of the hill don't let them down.
"They've been let down so many times before, in the vote for Brexit in the general election in 2019, when Boris promised he'd deliver Brexit and then deliver the terrible storm into which the country was delivered by him and his cabinet.
"The leadership and whether or not I'm in the leadership is academic.
"I will be fighting for the protection and promotion of the promises that we've made to those 4.1 million people who voted for us and the many millions more who will support us if we keep those promises. That's what my aim is."
GB News host Bev Turner then asked him if he has any intention of defecting to the Conservatives and he said he "will not be defecting".
Habib explained: "I will not be defecting to the Tories. I think the Tory leadership, by the way, is of critical importance to the country.
"Even though I wanted to obliterate the Tories, even though there isn't a single Tory MP that isn't tainted by the failure of the last Government.
"We've got to get the right leader for them. They've got 124 MPs and my goodness, we don't want a one nation wet in charge of 124 MPs.
"We need someone close to Reform's values. That's what we need."
The Conservative leadership campaign has just got interesting.
When I asked Dame Priti Patel about record net migration during her party's time in office today, I did not expect her to mount a defence of the hundreds of thousands who arrived in the UK.
But that is what the former Home Secretary chose to do on today's Chopper's Political Podcast, telling me it was "too lazy" to criticise high numbers arriving without adding context.
Patel pointed out that the recent numbers surged after the borders were closed for months during the pandemic, asking whether GB News viewers and listeners would rather we had fewer doctors and nurses.
Patel's point is that large net migration figures were the symptom of failures in the labour market, which had to be remedied. Other factors such as the arrival of Ukrainians and British nationals from Hong Kong were relevant too.
Patel would not even say she wanted net migration to be under 100,000 a year if she wins the leadership when I interviewed her on my podcast.
It was all in contrast to my other podcast interview this week with her leadership rival Mel Stride, who is said he wanted net migration to run at tens of thousands a year, as David Cameron had first promised in 2010.
That came after another rival Tom Tugendhat opened the door to leaving the European Convention of Human Rights, something which Patel would not say in her interview with me.
What's going on? It seems to me that the two centrist candidates Tugendhat and Stride are keen to demonstrate their right wing credentials to Tory MPs and members.
And in the same way Patel - the most right wing of the six candidates to succeed Rishi Sunak - is keen to show her softer side, with comments on immigration which will be well received by moderate Tory MPs and members.
We have months of this to run with Bob Blackman, the 1922 committee chairman and the contest's returning officer, telling me today the date of the announcement of a new Tory leader is not going to be brought forward from Nov 2.
It's going to be fascinating, watching the candidates tack this way and that as they try to appeal to MPs and members. Make sure you follow it all on GB News.
Reform UK MP Rupert Lowe fears “Britain isn’t Britain anymore” after years of mass migration.
He joined Steve Edginton on GB News to discuss the concerns of Britons as insurgent party Reform UK enjoy success by winning seats and picking up votes across the country.
The former Southampton FC owner joined Steve before the unrest that saw furious Britons taking to the streets to violently make their feelings clear about mass immigration.
Asked if he agrees with the notion that “Britain isn’t Britain”, the Great Yarmouth MP said: “I think that’s certainly true.
“There was a reason why Reform have had three MPs elected on the east coast. Obviously myself in Great Yarmouth, Richard Tice in Boston and Skegness and Nigel Farage in Clacton.
“I don’t think Great Yarmouth is plagued by it, it’s still fortunate to have its own identity, I think people know each other.
“If they don’t know each other, they know somebody who does know each other. It’s still a tight knit community.
“I don’t think this is the case for those cities with some near London, if you take the Berkshires, the Hampshires, the Gloucestershires, those counties are not full of people who come from London at the weekend as they are of their own market towns and local communities.
“You have to go to the rural areas, areas which basically have been left behind by the post-war elite, where they still have their identity.
“I don’t think a lot of the urban areas do, I think there is a schism growing between those two parts of Britain.”
He added: “I want to live in a country where people do have a community, they do have an identity. And actually, if people want to come here, they should come here on our terms.
“They should adopt our language, they should adopt our culture, and they should fully sign up to what we stand up for and the libertarian values that make us what we are.”
Lowe was one of five Reform MPs elected to Parliament in what was an unprecedented success for the populist party.
Nigel Farage took over as leader weeks ahead of the vote and continued the party’s laser focus on immigration.
The divisive nature of the political issue was on full display in recent weeks as many took to the streets to voice their anti-immigration sentiments in the wake of three killings in Southport.
A crazed knife rampage at a Taylor Swift-themed dance class led to riots on the streets of Britain with many targeting mosques and hotels housing asylum seekers.
Latest statistics show that Sadiq Khan is on track to miss his affordable housing target of 3,000 homes per quarter.
In the last three months, only 150 homes have started getting built according to the Greater London Authority Affordable Housing Statistics.
Recently, the City Hall Conservatives Housing Spokesman, Shaun Bailey, mentioned that the Mayor of London and Labour have “consistently missed” their housing targets.
He added: “Given the serious housing shortage the city is facing, Londoners will be astonished that this new Labour government have reduced housing targets in the capital by 20 per cent - leaving more families and first-time buyers struggling to find a home.
“Sadiq Khan has consistently missed existing housing targets as Mayor, with the number of new affordable homes built falling to a record low as a result.
“Labour's biggest obstacle in London on housing and planning is their own Mayor, so the government must push Sadiq Khan hard to start building and actually meet these revised targets.”
Due to the housing shortage that London is facing, the latest statistics are damning for first time buyers and families who seek to own homes in the capital.
A spokesman for the Mayor of London responded to the City Hall Conservatives and stated that the previous government is to blame and that the city is “recovering from the disastrous inheritance.”
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He continued: “The Mayor has hit every Affordable Homes Programme target he has been set, including the landmark target of building 116,000 new genuinely affordable homes in the capital through the last Affordable Homes Programme, while the previous Government failed to hit its national target.
“Despite a doubling of affordable housing completions in 2023-2024 compared to when Sadiq was first elected, these latest figures underline the major challenges currently facing the sector, including high construction costs, increased borrowing costs and the need to address building safety issues.
“The fact remains that London is still recovering from the disastrous inheritance from the last Government, which scrapped housing targets and brought housebuilding to its knees through a combination of underinvestment, policy uncertainty and indifference.
“The Mayor is determined to build the genuinely affordable homes that London needs and is already working hand-in-hand with the new pro-home building Government to ensure London’s affordable housing delivery target is met, helping to build a fairer London for all.”
Under the 2021-2026 Affordable Housing Programme, Sadiq Khan and Labour need to build 3,000 homes in every quarter in order to hit their targets.
London was given £4billion in grants in order to hit their housing targets for 2026 and are currently on track to miss this target.
Nigel Farage's comments about the Southport attacker put police officers in danger because they contributed to the riots, one of the contenders to be the next Conservative leader has said.
Mel Stride ruled out any deal with Farage to restore his party's fortunes after last month's election landslide.
Stride also said that if he were to replace Rishi Sunak as party leader he would commit to cutting net immigration to tens of thousands of people a year.
Farage was criticised for a post on his X account in the aftermath of the killings of three young children in Southport and before riots stared, when he questioning the accuracy of the police's assessment that the attack was not terror related.
Farage said in a video he posted on X: "I wonder whether the truth is being held from us, I don't know."
In an interview with GB News' podcast Chopper's Political Podcast, Stride said that these remarks were "likely to lead to more police officers ending up getting in more trouble than they would otherwise."
Asked if Farage's remarks put the safety of police at risk, he added: "I think his remarks about the police not being truthful, potentially around what happened.
"Let me put it like this, were deeply unhelpful to those officers that were then having to go out and deal with the consequence of the rioting."
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Asked if he would let Farage could be a Tory member if he were to become leader, Stride said: "No, I made that very clear.
"Look Nigel Farage wants to destroy the Conservative Party. This is one of the things that he that he says reasonably frequently. There's no question of that."
In the interview Stride said he wanted to commit his party to cutting net immigration to tens of thousands a year, as then-Prime Minister David Cameron had first proposed in 2010.
Asked by presenter Christopher Hope if net migration be under 100,000 per year, Stride replied: "Almost certainly, we need to work that through with the parliamentary party. But yes that's the ball park."
Stride, the rank outsider of the six Conservative MPs running to succeed Sunak as Tory leader, said he was coming up the on rails to win.
He said: "I'm in this to win it, I'm coming up on the rails. And this is a contest that is not yet concluded."
Yesterday Tom Tugendhat, a rival of Stride for the centre ground of the Tory party, said he would not allow Farage to join and would not work with Reform UK in Parliament if he became leader.
Listen and subscribe to Chopper's Political Podcast on Spotify or Apple Podcasts or watch it on GB News YouTube channel.
A new YouGov poll has shown that the British public does not think that Labour's election victory gives Starmer a mandate to take Britain back into the EU.
Prior to the July 4 vote, the now-Prime Minister was very clear in ruling out the possibility of rejoining the EU.
Starmer insisted that the UK would not rejoin the EU, the single market, or the customs union within his lifetime.
On the whole, he largely avoided talking about relations with the EU, in order to avoid alienating potential Labour voters that also voted Leave in the 2016 referendum.
In the YouGov poll, 51 per cent of those polled said that Labour's victory in the polls does not give them a mandate to get Britain to rejoin the EU.
On the other hand, 21 per cent of those polled believe it does.
Meanwhile, 67 per cent of Leave voters deny that the new government has a mandate to join the EU.
Amongst Remain voters, 48 per cent also do not believe Labour have the mandate, while 28 per cent think they do.
When asked if Labour have a mandate to bring Britain into a closer relationship with the EU, without rejoining the bloc, the single market or the customs union, 45 per cent of the public agreed, while 21 per cent did not.
This is in line with what Labour pledged to do in their 2024 election manifesto and is also the option which garners the most public support.
More than six in 10 Britons (63 per cent) say they would want a closer relationship with the EU, without rejoining its major institutions.
There is also support for Britain rejoining the Customs Union (49 per cent to 20 per cent) and the Single Market (48 per cent to 25 per cent).
When asked how Britons would vote if there was a new EU referendum, Britons would vote to rejoin by 59 per cent to 41 per cent.
Furthermore, while the UK voted to leave the EU by 52 per cent to 48 per cent, in hindsight, 55 per cent of Britons think it was wrong to leave and only 34 per cent think it was right.
With that in mind, do you trust Labour not to take Britain back into the EU? Have your say.
Home Office civil servants have accused the government of not going far enough in calling out Islamophobia following the deadly Southport attacks, GB News can reveal.
Leaked messages from Home Office staff show they attacked senior bosses and the government’s response to the Southport knife attack and subsequent anti-immigration protests.
One message, posted on a Home Office intranet forum for civil servants last week, accused “senior managers” and “the Government” of not acknowledging “the Islamophobic part” of the recent protests.
The message was written in response to a blog post written by Daniel Hobbs, the Home Office Director of the Migration and Borders Group, which addressed the Southport attacks.
Robert Bates, Director of Research at the Centre for Migration Control (CMC), told GB News: “In the face of the Southport tragedy civil servants’ impulses were to bang on about ‘community conversations’ and the need to ‘celebrate diversity’.”
“These are the wittering policy levers that the Home Office now reaches for as default, and have brought about the extremist policy of mass migration that has transformed Britain almost beyond recognition.”
“Civil servants are now attempting to surpass the government’s own rhetoric on Islamophobia.”
“Despite Starmer embracing a controversial definition of the concept, going far further than common sense dictates, it doesn’t stop radically Left wing Home Office civil servants clamouring for more.”
“They are so bereft of common sense and drunk on the Kool Aid of multiculturalism, they would never be interested in the priorities of the British people, such as shutting Britain’s borders, ending the small boats invasion, or highlighting some of the huge societal problems that are being caused by certain visitors to this country.”
Hobbs’ blog, first revealed by GB News, told civil servants to celebrate diversity, be proud of their work housing refugees and become allies.
It was criticised by Reform Party MP Rupert Lowe as being “tone deaf”.
Several civil servants commented on Mr Hobbs memo, with one post reading: “Sorry - I am going to be honest. I do not feel encouraged by this statement and not well said at all.”
“Like all the statements that I have seen coming from senior management this last day or two it is weak, insincere and lacks empathy.”
“I think it is quite clear the groups that are being targeted.”
The civil servant continued: “The rioters have also said it themselves with their racist anti migrant and anti Islam chants but it is very sad when the HO senior managers, like the Government and media will not acknowledge the Islamophobic part.”
Hobbs responded to the comment by saying: “I'm sorry if you feel that my statement lacked empathy and was insincere.”
“What I was trying to emphasise was that the behaviour we are seeing is an attack on the values we all hold dear, irrespective of our beliefs - and the way that communities are coming together all around the country bears this out.”
The civil servant then doubled down on his attack, writing: “What I am trying to highlight is that the violence is not just regular thuggery that you would see from football hooligans.”
The official claimed that “establishments such as immigration centres and solicitors could now be targeted because they serve migrants”.
He continued: “So that is why I am sad to see that the current disorder and violence has not been acknowledged for what they are - attacks on mainly Muslims, Asylum Seekers and migrants in my opinion.”
Mr Bates of the CMC said: “The British public have been put at risk, and our society sacrificed, because the likes of Dan Hobbs and his colleagues have chosen to ignore our concerns.”
“Many of the messages in this forum amount to conspiracy theories.”
“Peddling fake news about phantom events that never actually took place, such as attacks on immigration lawyer offices, is dangerous and has made it easier for the Home Office to demonise the tens of millions in this country who want our borders controlled.”
Connor Tomlinson, a political commentator , said: “While all right-thinking persons condemn indiscriminate violence and criminal damage, the unrest following the Southport stabbings was caused by this exact sort of attitude by civil servants.”
“Islam is not exempt from criticism; nor is world-historical levels of immigration something the betrayed voting public should be expected to accept.”
“Keir Starmer has unilaterally declared the Far Right at fault, but it is clear that - whether assaulting GB News' camera crews outside Downing Street, or embedded within the institutions tasked with administering the state - vitriolic revolutionary leftism is just as culpable for bringing Britain to a boiling point.”
“For these spontaneous outbursts of disorder to cease, Keir Starmer must do the unthinkable for his colleagues: end mass migration, deport the criminals exploiting Britain's generous asylum system, and apply the law equally to socialist, pro-Palestine mobs.”
The Home Office were approached for comment.
Nigel Farage has predicted Reform UK will “boom” after footage resurfaced showing Kemi Badenoch hailing the liberalisation of legal migration rules.
The Clacton MP, who is keeping a close eye on the race to replace Rishi Sunak, said: “If Kemi becomes leader Reform will boom.”
Badenoch is the frontrunner to win the Tory leadership race, with the Saffron Walden MP opening up leads in a number of grassroots opinion polls.
However, the former Business Secretary’s critics suggest she might have shot herself in the foot over the unearthed footage.
“Either she misled the Commons in 2018 or Kemi is misleading the public now with any claim she would reduce migration numbers,” a Tory source told The Sun.
Addressing MPs in 2018, Badenoch “welcomed” the scrapping of the cap on visas for skilled workers and students, claiming: “I lobbied for both on behalf of the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Anglia Ruskin University, which serve my constituency.”
Former Tory MP Rachel MacLean, who lost her seat after Britons went to the polls on July 4, leapt to Badenoch’s defence last night.
She said: “It is shameful that this 2018 clip is being used to attack Kemi - the leadership candidate who has never been in the Home Office and responsible for controlling our borders.
“Every Conservative MP stood in 2019 on a platform of a points-based system, exactly what Kemi is advocating.
“As leader, Kemi will ensure that when we say we’ll bring the numbers down, we will.”
The revelation does not make Badenoch the first Tory leadership contender to back-peddle on previous policy positions.
GB News exclusively revealed Tory concerns about Tom Tugendhat’s ECHR pivot.
Tugendhat, who will use a speech today to plea for an “end to the inconsistent application of the law” amid a spate of riots, recently voiced support for withdrawing from the Strasbourg court.
However, the ex-Security Minister unequivocally opposed severing ties with the ECHR while campaigning for leader in 2022.
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Sir Keir Starmer has directly warned Iran against attacking Israel.
In a rare phone call with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian last night, the Prime Minister claimed there was a "serious risk of miscalculation".
A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister said that he was deeply concerned by the situation in the region and called on all parties to de-escalate and avoid further regional confrontation.
“There was a serious risk of miscalculation and now was the time for calm and careful consideration, the Prime Minister said.
“He called on Iran to refrain from attacking Israel, adding that war was not in anyone’s interests.
“The Prime Minister underlined his commitment to an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and increasing humanitarian aid to Gaza.
"He added the focus should be on diplomatic negotiations, to achieve those outcomes.”
Angela Rayner has axed Conservative-era plans to prioritise British citizens over migrants in social housing applications.
The previous Tory Government had proposed reforms which would have barred recent arrivals from applying for council homes - which Labour's new Housing Secretary has now formally shelved.
Michael Gove's proposals had included a "UK connection test", which would have meant only people who had lived in the country for 10 years or more were eligible to join the 1.3million-household-long queue for council properties.
Said test would have applied to people already in the queue - potentially turfing out prospective foreign tenants.
When queried by Shadow Housing Secretary Kemi Badenoch, housing minister Matthew Pennycook - who serves in Rayner's department - confirmed the proposals had been canned.
He replied: "The Government does not intend to enact the policy proposals set out in the consultation."
Rayner immediately came under fire for the move, not least by Reform's Lee Anderson, who said it prioritised people "who have just arrived in our country".
Anderson said: "If you were born in this country, worked hard, paid your taxes and obeyed our laws, then not only will Labour steal your winter fuel payment - but they will also put your family at the bottom of the housing list in favour of people who have just arrived in our country. Why?"
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And former Conservative minister Dame Andrea Jenkyns joined in the criticism, saying: "This is so wrong, I had a lot of former constituents waiting for years to get a house."
Amid the axing of Tory plans, the Labour Government is set to fast-track some 90,000 asylum applications from illegal migrants who had been facing deportation to Rwanda.
Two-thirds of migrants are expected to be granted the right to remain, which would enable them to qualify to apply for social housing.
Though, as a Housing Ministry spokesman highlighted, most councils already use "local connection tests" on their waiting lists.
The spokesman said: "The vast majority of councils have already adopted local connection tests, and 90 per cent of social homes go to UK nationals.
"Those who do not have a right to stay in the UK are already not eligible for social housing."
But Dr Mike Jones, executive director of Migration Watch UK, slated the Government's move, saying: "Labour isn't putting the 'national interest' first - they're putting non-citizens ahead of British people."
While a Conservative spokesman said: "It just goes to show that Labour will always put cosying up to the EU ahead of protecting British values like common decency and fairness."
A power struggle has broken out in No10 between Sue Gray and Sir Keir Starmer's top adviser Morgan McSweeney.
Gray, who was brought in by Starmer after her stint as a senior civil servant, is at loggerheads with McSweeney after reportedly blocking the Prime Minister from receiving security updates.
A Whitehall source claimed Gray thinks "she runs the country".
A source told The Mail on Sunday: "It has got to the point where we have said that the PM needs to be given an intelligence briefing and Gray has said ‘tell me’. But we need to know that it has reached him."
However, Downing Street dismissed the accusations against Gray as "noises off from people who don’t know what they’re talking about".
McSweeney also disputes all the claims made about him.
However, Gray reportedly twice moved McSweeney's desk within No10 to move him further away from the Prime Minister's office.
GB News has approached No10 and the Labour Party for comment.
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Sir Keir Starmer has released a joint statement warning Iran against attacking Israel.
The Prime Minister, who penned the statement alongside French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, made the intervention amid growing tensions in the Middle East.
Despite war between Israel and Hamas raging on, Iran vowed to seek revenge for the assassination of October 7 mastermind Ismail Haniyeh.
The statement said:"We, the leaders of France, Germany and the United Kingdom, welcome the tireless work of our partners in Qatar, Egypt and the United States towards an agreement on a ceasefire and the release of hostages.
"We endorse the joint statement of HH Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al Thani, President Sisi and President Biden calling for the immediate resumption of negotiations.
"We agree that there can be no further delay. We have been working with all parties to prevent escalation and will spare no effort to reduce tensions and find a path to stability.
"The fighting must end now, and all hostages still detained by Hamas must be released.
"The people of Gaza need urgent and unfettered delivery and distribution of aid.
"We are deeply concerned by the heightened tensions in the region, and united in our commitment to de-escalation and regional stability.
"In this context, and in particular, we call on Iran and its allies to refrain from attacks that would further escalate regional tensions and jeopardise the opportunity to agree a ceasefire and the release of hostages.
"They will bear responsibility for actions that jeopardise this opportunity for peace and stability.
"No country or nation stands to gain from a further escalation in the Middle East."
Education Secretary Bridget Phillipson said last month that the Government is to stop further commencement of the Higher Education Freedom of Speech Act.
The bill ensures that higher education providers and student unions protect freedom of speech and academic freedom and allows individuals to bring a legal case against their institution if it fails to protect their right to free speech.
However, Phillipson says Labour may repeal the bill, which was given Royal Assent in May last year.
Speaking on GB News, Baroness Claire Fox, who is a huge advocate for the bill, said it would have given greater powers to lecturers.
She said: “I think just having a piece of legislation that gave greater power to lecturers, students, people who've been cancelled who are external speakers just to be able to say no, the law says that you must give us free speech.
“That was a great boost for free speech activism. And the thing is, it was a done-and-dusted bill. I mean I've gone through it was months of argument and debate.
“It was watered down. There were attempts at stopping it, there were amendments, all this went on and on and on. And eventually with a great sigh of relief last May, it got royal assent.
“And I can safely tell you it never dawned on me that the Labour Party would cancel it. I mean, I was naive, you know, I just thought that they would accept it. They might not honour it entirely, but it didn't.
“This is a really duplicitous and cowardly act because it was done via a memo, a communique, a written communique at the end of last week, when in fact Bridget Phillipson could have done it in the Commons at the dispatch Box, but she didn't.”
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China has resurrected a controversial plan to erect a "super-embassy" in the heart of London.
Beijing had its approach to build the megastructure - on the site of what used to be the Royal Mint - rebuffed in 2022 by Tower Hamlets Council, but has revived its big idea just weeks after Labour's July 5 election victory.
Back then, Chinese planners had slated the council's rejection as being "without merit" and having "no basis in planning policy" - but the country has brought the original schematics back to the table in a bid to change officials' minds.
The plans with which it is pushing ahead are the same as the ones originally submitted, but the two-year gap between their rejection and revival has sparked speculation Xi Jinping's men waited for the arrival of a Labour Government to have another go.
Their approach may not be without merit - the Starmer Government has already pushed for international relations resets with France and Europe as a whole, while Foreign Secretary David Lammy has pledged to carry out a "full audit" of UK-China ties.
China had accused the former Tory Government of not meeting diplomatic obligations when the plans were first rejected, despite the embassy's construction being a council matter, so another rebuttal could see Lammy's reset plans come under pressure within weeks of taking on the job.
Ex-Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith said: "China doesn't do anything by coincidence. China are now going to try it on with the Labour government, to see if it can be persuaded into giving them the embassy it wants.
"If [China] wants an embassy it should be away from the main part of the city, as the US has done and others are doing."
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The "super-embassy", which would overlook the Tower of London and sit within striking distance of London's business hubs in the City and Canary Wharf, would sprawl over 620,000 square feet, and include hundreds of offices, homes and a "cultural exchange" outpost.
The Royal Mint site - already owned by the Chinese government - sits some three miles east of Westminster, and would dwarf the country's existing setup in Marylebone, in the capital's west.
Ex-Tory MP Tobias Ellwood said: "There is no justification for any embassy to jump in size ten-fold unless they were attempting to expand competences well beyond the norms of routine diplomacy, which no doubt would include clandestine activity."
The plans have come under fire from locals, too. Tower Hamlets Council fielded more than 50 objections to China's initial plan, which cited concerns over safety, security and potential protests at the embassy's gates.
And residents' concerns appear not without merit - in 2022, pro-democracy protesters outside the Chinese consulate in Manchester were publicly beaten by a gang of men who appeared to have come from inside the building.
That incident was on the minds of some Tower Hamlets locals, who raised fears over the prospect of the "super-embassy" serving as a "secret police station" for Chinese authorities.
A Tower Hamlets Council spokesman said: "A new planning and listed building consent application has been submitted to develop an embassy on the site of Royal Mint Court.
"The planning team are reviewing the application and public consultation has commenced. At this stage we do not have a target committee date."