The Green party may be close to overtaking Labour’s membership figures, after Labour suffered a 20% drop in 2025, according to its latest accounts.
The return by the Labour party shows its number of members had fallen from 333,235 to 264,754 at the end of 2025 compared with a year earlier.
In May, the Green party claimed its membership total was 230,000, which would put it within 34,000 members of overtaking Labour.
A spokesperson said figures had “quadrupled” in the last year since Zack Polanski became leader. Its membership stood at 186,441 at the end of December.
Key events
Closing summary
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The Green party may be close to overtaking Labour’s membership figures, after Labour suffered a 20% drop in 2025, according to its latest accounts. The return by the Labour party shows its number of members had fallen from 333,235 to 264,754 at the end of 2025 compared with a year earlier. In May, the Green party claimed its membership total was 230,000, which would put it within 34,000 members of overtaking Labour.
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Andy Burnham’s government is “urgently” identifying any grooming gang perpetrators who may still be eligible for early prison release as concerns were raised about a potential loophole in the system. The prime minister has “personally intervened” to ensure that “everything possible is being done so that vile groomers are dealt with in the way their victims deserve”, a spokesperson said on Thursday.
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Nearly 10,000 people were reported to the government’s anti-terror programme as referrals topped a 10-year high. A record 10,293 referrals were made to Prevent for 9,957 people in the year to September, figures show. The scheme which aims to stop people turning to terrorism saw referrals rise 39% from 7,408 in the previous 12 months.
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Reform UK says it will fine firms 10% of their global revenues and imprison bosses who employ illegal migrant workers under the party’s latest plans to bring down immigration. Employers would be held responsible even if they were unaware of the worker’s immigration status, Reform’s home affairs spokesman Zia Yusuf announced in a speech today, with the policy being dubbed the ‘Deliveroo law’.
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The UK culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has said she will not intervene in Paramount’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, removing one of the remaining obstacles to the blockbuster deal. However, Paramount has made significant concessions to secure the UK government’s backing for the $110bn (£85bn) takeover, which will create a global media powerhouse and effectively bolster the influence of Paramount’s CEO, David Ellison.
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Reform UK has said it would cap the number of vape shops across the country to 1,000 in an effort to “reclaim our high streets”. The party’s home affairs spokesman, Zia Yusuf, claimed that limiting operating licences would “instantly reduce” the number of vape shops by 70%.
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Almost 50 asylum seekers deported using the “one in one out” scheme have been recorded as returning to the UK a second time, the Guardian has learned. It is believed that in addition to the 49 returnees detained by the Home Office, an unknown number are likely to have arrived in the UK undetected.
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Council home sales have surged by a record 90% as tenants rushed to buy homes before government plans to scale back discounts, though replacement builds have dropped. The housing secretary Angela Rayner said the surge was temporary and would generate £1.6bn for local councils to build more homes, after changes by the government to allow authorities to keep all of the income generated from sales.
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The SNP has written off the value of the motorhome bought by former chief executive Peter Murrell with party funds from its accounts, the documents show. The party’s balance sheet, published on Thursday by the Electoral Commission, shows the value of the £100,000 vehicle has been removed from its books.
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Green Party leader Zack Polanski has defended a black university professor who resigned amid a plagiarism row, saying that people of colour can “be held by higher standards” in society. Professor Jason Arday quit his high-profile role at the University of Cambridge on Wednesday after it launched an investigation into his “academic qualifications and honorary appointments”.
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The NHS has been warned to prepare for potential annual summer crises caused by extreme heat with the same pressures as winter, as heatwaves caused by the climate crisis become routine in the UK. The health secretary, Yvette Cooper, said NHS staff were feeling A&E pressures that would normally be expected only during flu season – and said the government would use major investment in NHS infrastructure to tackle the health service’s resilience to high summer temperatures.
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Foreign secretary Ed Miliband has announced a package of new sanctions against Russia. Among the 19 targets sanctioned are six Russian banks, six newly acquired shadow fleet tankers and four Russian companies importing tantalum and niobium – rare metals critical for producing military kit, the Foreign Office said.
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Restore Britain leader Rupert Lowe has declined to say, when asked, whether he thinks the King is a “white Briton”. It comes after Lowe said “white Britons will become a minority by 2063” in a video in which he offered to work with Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
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Health secretary Yvette Cooper has urged the Conservatives to “think again” after Kemi Badenoch appointed a former antisemite as a party adviser. It came after Joshua Bonehill-Paine, who had been selected by the Tories to contest a council election next year, withdrew his candidacy.
Michael Savage
The UK culture secretary, Lisa Nandy, has said she will not intervene in Paramount’s proposed acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery, removing one of the remaining obstacles to the blockbuster deal.
However, Paramount has made significant concessions to secure the UK government’s backing for the $110bn (£85bn) takeover, which will create a global media powerhouse and effectively bolster the influence of Paramount’s CEO, David Ellison.
Nandy’s decision to order Britain’s media and competition watchdogs to examine the deal in June came as a shock. However, she has now approved the deal, with conditions attached around protecting UK-based content.
The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority has also cleared the deal, which has already been approved by the EU.
Under the UK guarantees, Paramount’s Channel 5 will continue to operate as a public service broadcaster until the end of 2034. Channel 5 News will retain its editorial independence and will remain separate from other news operations covered by the merger, CBS News and CNN International.
Andy Burnham’s government is “urgently” identifying any grooming gang perpetrators who may still be eligible for early prison release as concerns were raised about a potential loophole in the system.
The prime minister has “personally intervened” to ensure that “everything possible is being done so that vile groomers are dealt with in the way their victims deserve”, a spokesperson said on Thursday.
Some 5,000 people are expected to be released early under sentencing changes, down from 6,000 after ministers excluded rapists and “serious” child sex offenders from the scheme designed to tackle overcrowding in jails, PA reported.
But critics have questioned the scope of exemptions after The Times reported that some men convicted in relation to historical grooming gang cases could be among those freed under the plans.
Some of the offending took place before sexual abuse laws were changed in 2003 and the perpetrators were charged with crimes including indecent assault, which does not fall within the exclusions to the scheme starting in October.
The Green party may be close to overtaking Labour’s membership figures, after Labour suffered a 20% drop in 2025, according to its latest accounts.
The return by the Labour party shows its number of members had fallen from 333,235 to 264,754 at the end of 2025 compared with a year earlier.
In May, the Green party claimed its membership total was 230,000, which would put it within 34,000 members of overtaking Labour.
A spokesperson said figures had “quadrupled” in the last year since Zack Polanski became leader. Its membership stood at 186,441 at the end of December.
Nearly 50 asylum seekers deported under ‘one in one out’ scheme have returned to the UK
Diane Taylor
Almost 50 asylum seekers deported using the “one in one out” scheme have been recorded as returning to the UK a second time, the Guardian has learned.
It is believed that in addition to the 49 returnees detained by the Home Office, an unknown number are likely to have arrived in the UK undetected.
The scheme, which began last September, allows the UK government to return people arriving on small boats to France, in exchange for a similar number of asylum seekers being brought to the UK legally. The aim is to deter asylum seekers from crossing the Channel in small boats.
The Guardian previously revealed that the first asylum seeker who returned to the UK a second time did so last October, a few weeks after being forcibly returned to France. But until now the number of people returning to the UK after forced return was not known.
So far this year small boat crossings have reduced by about 43%. This fall is likely to be due to a variety of factors, including bad weather and a reduction in migrants arriving in Europe overall by about a third, as well as efforts by UK and French authorities to disrupt people smugglers.
Nearly 10,000 people were reported to the government’s anti-terror programme as referrals topped a 10-year high.
A record 10,293 referrals were made to Prevent for 9,957 people in the year to September, figures show.
The scheme which aims to stop people turning to terrorism saw referrals rise 39% from 7,408 in the previous 12 months.
This is the highest number of referrals in a single year since records began in 2015, according to Home Office data.
Actors Benedict Cumberbatch, Alan Cumming and Benedict Wong had last month penned an oped for the Guardian opposing the Paramount deal:
We have spent our lives working in this industry. We know what it looks like from the inside: the sound stages at Leavesden, the crews who move from production to production, the editors and camera operators and costume designers whose names scroll past in the credits at the end of a film. These are our cherished friends and colleagues, who create the shows we all love, who produce the news that educates the public and film the sport events we enjoy together. UK film and television are not just images on your screens; they are the lives and livelihoods of thousands of workers and families, whose work supports local economies. The industry supports more than 180,000 jobs, generated £6.8bn in production spend last year alone and adds roughly £12bn a year in value to our economy. It is one of the things the UK still does better than almost anyone, and a cultural heritage we must protect.
We have watched, with growing alarm, what consolidation does to the breadth and depth of the work we produce: independent film acquisitions at the leading independent film festival Sundance fell by half between 2019 and 2025. Award-winning documentaries – films that won Oscars and topped festival juries – have struggled to find commercial distribution because they touched subjects the remaining handful of buyers found inconvenient. Every merger of this kind narrows the funnel through which stories can reach audiences.
That is precisely what makes the Paramount-WBD merger so dangerous. It’s why the intervention of Nandy and her department matters so much.
Culture secretary will not intervene in Paramount’s proposed Warner Bros acquisition
Culture secretary Lisa Nandy on Thursday said that she will not intervene in the proposed acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery by Paramount, the Press Association reports – a reversal of her comments in June in which she said she “minded to intervene” on the merger, given how its impact on media plurality.
Nandy said in a statement that Paramount “put forward a set of assurances seeking to address the issues raised”.
She added: “These assurances included a range of commitments on future investment in the UK, maintaining the distinct editorial identities of key services and the editorial independence of news.
“Following further discussions with DCMS officials, Paramount offered to strengthen those assurances and turn them into legally-binding commitments by way of a ‘deed of undertaking’ made in the Secretary of State’s favour.”
Paramount’s $110bn (£85bn) acquisition of Warner Bros Discovery will create a media powerhouse controlling assets ranging from: the Hollywood studios behind franchises including Superman, Batman and Top Gun; the UK’s Channel 5; the news channel CNN; TNT Sports, which broadcasts Champions League, Premier League and the Olympics; and the Paramount+ and HBO Max streaming services.
“I am conscious that the proposed acquisition is global in nature. In reaching this decision, my focus has been, and will remain, on the UK public interest and the range of services available to UK audiences, including Channel 5, TNT Sports, Cartoon Network, Nickelodeon, and CNN International, as well as Paramount+ and HBO Max,” Nandy said in June.
On Thursday, Nandy said that the Secretary of State “has decided not to issue a public interest intervention notice (PIIN) on the basis that the assurances and further legally-binding commitments she has secured at this point from Paramount provide a set of protections that will help safeguard the continued availability of a diverse range of broadcasting and on-demand services in the UK.”
Paramount will provide Ms Nandy with annual statements of compliance under the deed, while the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will “closely monitor their implementation”.
Kalyeena Makortoff
The UK housebuilder Persimmon has lifted its outlook for the full year, saying it is “well-placed” to benefit from the prime minister Andy Burnham’s policy agenda, despite growing costs linked to the Iran war.
Despite rising cost pressures, the company now plans to complete 12,500 new homes by year-end, which would be at the upper reach of its previous guidance.
The housebuilder is now hoping to benefit from Burnham’s policy programme, including plans to increase housing and slash costs for cash-strapped consumers.
The SNP has written off the value of the motorhome bought by former chief executive Peter Murrell with party funds from its accounts, the documents show.
The party’s balance sheet, published on Thursday by the Electoral Commission, shows the value of the £100,000 vehicle has been removed from its books.
Murrell – the estranged husband of former first minister Nicola Sturgeon – pled guilty to embezzling more than £400,000 from the SNP earlier this year and was sentenced to more than five years in prison.
Jessica Elgot
Council home sales have surged by a record 90% as tenants rushed to buy homes before government plans to scale back discounts, though replacement builds have dropped.
The housing secretary Angela Rayner said the surge was temporary and would generate £1.6bn for local councils to build more homes, after changes by the government to allow authorities to keep all of the income generated from sales.
She said the changes to right-to-buy would reverse the expected decline in council housing, previously expected to be a net loss of 26,000 over the next decade.
Rayner said councils must use the new powers to build more council housing to reverse the shrinking council house stock. “The changes we’ve made mean councils can now keep every single penny of this money to support the Prime Minister’s ambition to build more homes.
“As we rebalance Right to Buy, we’re urging councils to step up, make good use of these funds, and build homes to help get families off waiting lists. By changing the law and overhauling Right to Buy we will see more social homes built than sold over the next decade.
“Together we will reverse the decline in much-needed council housing and make a decisive shift towards repairing our public housing stock.”
New government statistics showed local authorities selling 14,275 properties, a 90% increase, fuelled by imminent changes announced in the 2024 budget which meant subsidies were heavily scaled back
Councils received an average of £112,900 per home but only 3,452 replacement homes were funded through receipts, a 7% decline year-on-year though the previous year was a record high.
Helena Horton
Waiting at the bar and trying to catch the bartender’s eye so you can order a pint, before going to stand with your friends and have a catchup, has been how British people have experienced going to the pub for centuries.
But Westminster council has been accused of trying to put a stop to it. The council, which has jurisdiction over one of the busiest nightlife districts in Europe – Soho and the West End – has recommended not allowing “vertical drinking” or ordering at the bar in its new draft licensing policy.
Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has criticised these “restrictive and anti-growth policies” and said he hoped to use new powers to be granted to him by government to stop councils from overreaching in this way.
This policy, which is out for consultation and comments from residents of and visitors to Westminster, says pubs should: “Discourage excessive drunkenness and encourage the provision of more seating in premises that serve alcohol for people to sit and enjoy a drink and order food by table service in place of open bar space that caters for high volume vertical drinking.”
It goes on to recommend that sales of alcohol and food should be “by waiter or waitress service only”.
NHS must prepare for annual summer heat pressures, says Cooper
Jessica Elgot
The NHS has been warned to prepare for potential annual summer crises caused by extreme heat with the same pressures as winter, as heatwaves caused by the climate crisis become routine in the UK.
The health secretary, Yvette Cooper, said NHS staff were feeling A&E pressures that would normally be expected only during flu season – and said the government would use major investment in NHS infrastructure to tackle the health service’s resilience to high summer temperatures.
Doctors and other medical professionals have warned of the impact that repeated heatwaves are having on the NHS in England, including advice from the Royal College of GPs to cancel surgeries in extreme weather. Radiotherapy machines and MRI scanners have failed in hot weather, wards have overheated and cooling units serving hospitals have broken down.
England is on track to record its highest number of heat-related deaths this summer, with an estimated 2,877 people dying in the May and June heatwaves.
Summers are likely to become increasingly hot in the future, with temperatures topping 40C likely to become more frequent instead of being outliers as the climate crisis takes further hold.
If company’s refuse to pay the fines or are unable to, they could face dissolution, says Yusuf.
It would equate to the same as not paying taxes to HMRC, he says.
Asked what extra checks businesses of all sizes would have to take, Yusuf says Reform would bring about a big reduction in red tape for small and medium sized businesses.
Sky News asks Yusuf if he uses Deliveroo, one of the company’s that would be targeted by the prospective law. He says that is “not relevant”.
GB News poses the first question of the Q&A, asking Yusuf how Reform plans to put multinational firm directors in prison when nobody has been jailed over the Post Office scandal, the financial crisis or Grenfell.
Yusuf says “the catastrophic failures of the Tory and Labour governments” should not give people cause to doubt what Reform would do in power.
He says they would allow agencies to keep the cost of the fines they bring in to help fund the scheme.
