The SNP has named John Swinney as its new leader to replace Humza Yousaf. Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak has insisted the general election is “not a foregone conclusion” despite the Tories taking a hammering in last week’s local polls. While you scroll, listen to a new Politics At Jack And Sam’s.
Monday 6 May 2024 20:00, UK
Despite it being a bank holiday, the Politics Hub has kept on trucking today with more fallout from last week’s local elections and the SNP naming its new leader.
Here’s what you need to know to catch up:
Good night – we’ll be back tomorrow.
Rishi Sunak’s internal critics have abandoned their attempt to unseat him because they have run out of time and do not believe Penny Mordaunt would do what is necessary to save the party.
The Politics At Jack And Sam’s podcast discusses how the PM is unlikely to face a challenge but will be confronted by an exhausted, sceptical and in parts broken Tory party when parliament returns tomorrow.
He faces legislative challenges in the coming weeks, with revolts on the criminal justice bill and sentencing bill, that could be aggravated by the party’s poor performance.
But efforts by plotters to oust Mr Sunak have been abandoned.
Read more – and listen to the podcast – below:
Train drivers begin a fresh wave of strikes tomorrow.
They are part of a long-running dispute over pay.
Members of Aslef union at 16 rail companies will walk out on different days from tomorrow to Thursday.
Additionally, all members will refuse to work any overtime until Saturday.
Here is a full list of the services affected by strikes and when…
The Foreign Office has denied the UK’s ambassador to Russia was “summoned” by officials in Moscow over military support for Ukraine.
It comes after Russia warned Ukrainian strikes on its territory with UK-supplied weapons could bring retaliatory attacks against British military facilities and equipment on Ukrainian soil or elsewhere.
Russia’s foreign ministry said the UK’s ambassador to Moscow, Nigel Casey, had been “summoned” to make him “reflect on the inevitable catastrophic consequences of such hostile steps by London”.
But the Foreign Office said he had just taken part in a diplomatic meeting with ministry officials.
“The ambassador reiterated the UK’s support for Ukraine in the face of unprovoked Russian aggression, and restated the UK’s position on providing support to Ukraine,” said a statement.
Read more below:
John Swinney is preparing to take over the SNP, and the role of Scotland’s first minister, after days of Holyrood drama.
There is no doubt this is a proud moment for Mr Swinney, his wife and son. He was Nicola Sturgeon’s deputy for the best part of a decade – and can now stand out from her shadow and set his own agenda.
His previous days as SNP leader in the early 2000s were described as a disaster – but everything is different now.
There are questions about how much of a fresh perspective he will be able to inject into the party he has been part of for 40 years.
He has the hangover of being education secretary during the COVID crisis when children’s learning was harmed, overseeing Scotland’s finances for a long time, and wiping his COVID WhatsApps.
And now, there are two major issues sitting in his in-tray that will shape the future of this party.
Read Connor’s full analysis below:
Labour shadow minister Lisa Nandy has said the party “absolutely” supports people’s right to peaceful protest after Oxford and Cambridge university students set up pro-Palestinian encampments on campus.
The scenes have echoed those seen at major US universities recently, though some of those have led to tense and sometimes violent stand-offs with police and security personnel.
Ms Nandy backed the policing of the UK protests so far, saying they have “broadly speaking, got the balance right”.
“We absolutely support the right of people to peaceful protest and support the police in being able to make operational decisions about when peaceful protest spills into intimidation,” she said.
You can read more on this from our reporter Niamh Lynch:
Here in the Politics Hub, we’ve been reporting on Israel’s seemingly imminent military incursion into the Gazan city of Rafah today, as both Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have advised against it.
They have expressed concern about the number of citizens – many of whom have already evacuated their homes in other parts of Gaza – sheltering there.
Our Middle East blog team are now reporting a potentially major development, with Hamas saying it has accepted a ceasefire deal proposed by Egypt and Qatar.
However, Israel has indicated it doesn’t agree with the terms.
Follow live updates in our Middle East blog:
Aside from the local elections, the prime minister has today been questioned about Israel’s seemingly imminent ground offensive in Rafah.
The country’s military is telling Palestinians sheltering in Gaza’s southernmost city to evacuate, even though many have already had to flee their homes.
Labour’s Keir Starmer and David Lammy, the shadow foreign secretary, have today urged Israel not to carry out the incursion (see 17.00 post).
Rishi Sunak said he is “deeply concerned” about the prospect of the offensive because of the number of civilians sheltering in Rafah.
He said he had raised his concerns “repeatedly” with Israel’s prime minister but also said Hamas had a role to play in ending the conflict.
Mr Sunak said: “The priority right now should be on all parties, but particularly Hamas, to agree to a deal, to release hostages and allow more aid to go in as part of a temporary pause which will allow us to build a sustainable ceasefire.”
The Sky News live poll tracker – collated and updated by our Data and Forensics team – aggregates various surveys to indicate how voters feel about the different political parties.
With the local elections complete, Labour is still sitting comfortably ahead, with the Tories trailing behind.
See the latest update below – and you can read more about the methodology behind the tracker here.
The results of the local elections made for grim reading for the Conservative Party.
Last Thursday, polls opened in 107 English councils, with thousands of seats up for grabs. Ultimately, the Tories lost 474 seats and 12 councils, while Labour gained 186 and eight respectively.
You can see the results in full below:
There were also a number of mayoral elections.
In total, 11 mayors were elected. Here are the results in full:
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