The Latest Breaking News from Morgan McSweeney

COMMENT: Nigel Farage’s party may have been the main threat to a continued Labour government – but the split in his own ranks, combined with Starmer’s newfound popularity, means he’s on shaky ground, writes John Rentoul

Instead of bowing to rightwing populism, Starmer should take it on by rebuilding towns – and giving people the security they crave, says Guardian columnist John Harris

It was a by-election that caused a political earthquake. In 1981, Shirley Williams changed the temperature in Westminster when the new Social Democratic Party triumphed in the once true blue seat of Crosby. Months before, her fellow Gang of Four member Roy Jenkins had come tantalisingly close to winning a…

COMMENT: The prime minister has set out a restrictive approach to immigration in a memo to cabinet ministers – making clear that he sees Reform, not the Conservatives, as the threat at the next election, writes John Rentoul