Foreign secretary will tell party’s conference ‘we are not here to accept the status quo but to change it’

Ed Miliband will tell campaigners and party members who raised the plight of Palestinians they were right that Labour’s approach had not been enough, saying he was heeding the calls of millions of people by imposing sanctions on Israeli settlements.

The foreign secretary will tell the Labour party conference that the government will take more explicitly progressive foreign policy positions under Andy Burnham, and that the UK will be a leader among like-minded countries in a new age of diplomacy.

Exclusive: Move by Shabana Mahmood comes after closure of Afghan scheme last year but experts say numbers too small to deter Channel crossings

Shabana Mahmood will announce a new legal route for refugees that prioritises Afghan women and girls and Palestinians, unfreezing a scheme that will put the most vulnerable refugees on a faster path to permanent status.

The change marks a shift in Mahmood’s approach to asylum seekers after the abrupt closure of the Afghan resettlement scheme last year and changes that will keep refugee status under constant review for two decades.

The deputy leader wants the party to take advantage of a split on the right and not be embarrassed to show its values

Labour must “reunite the progressive voter coalition” if it is to take advantage of a split on the right and win the next election, the party’s deputy leader has said.

Lucy Powell, who won the race to be deputy leader 12 months ago with a warning that Labour was losing the fight to be heard as Reform UK surged, said the government now had a second chance under Andy Burnham.

The PM returns to Liverpool, where he was mocked last year, with a promise that no one will be left wondering what he’s trying to do

• UK politics live – latest updates

Andy Burnham was not even in the audience for the prime minister’s speech at the Labour party conference this time last year. As Keir Starmer made the case for continuity to his restive party, Burnham was spotted slipping out over the bridge towards Liverpool’s Albert Dock.

The then Greater Manchester mayor had been vying for the spotlight throughout the party’s annual gathering, presenting the argument for change. But even he could not have envisaged the schism that would take place in the ensuing 12 months and would put him on the main stage as prime minister at this year’s conference, beginning in Merseyside on Sunday.

Government sources say legislation aimed at China poses a risk to British businesses and must be addressed

The UK government’s EU reset summit will be delayed again unless the bloc agrees to discuss legislation that could lock British business out of parts of EU industry, government sources have said.

The “Made in Europe” legislation – formally known as the Industrial Accelerator Act – is designed to curb China’s increasing presence in European industry, but was not on the reset plan agreed by the former prime minister Keir Starmer and the European Commission chief, Ursula von der Leyen, in London in May 2025.

General secretaries say union funding is ‘cleanest money in politics’ and different to that from wealthy individual donors

• UK politics live – latest updates

Trade unions have stopped short of backing a cap on political donations but called for further action on big money in politics, in a joint statement after Reform UK was given an unprecedented £72m from two donors.

General secretaries have been split on a call for unions to back a specific cap on individual donors to political parties while protecting trade union donations, which the TUC said were the “cleanest money in politics” because it came from workers’ subscriptions.

Plans to strengthen legislation already going through parliament might mean donors having to meet stricter UK residence requirements

Andy Burnham’s government could thwart Reform’s unprecedented £72m donations with retrospective restrictions on political donors that will include tough new residency requirements, ministers have announced.

In a move that is likely to set off furious complaints from Nigel Farage’s party, the government will table amendments to legislation going through the House of Lords within weeks that puts the legality of Reform’s latest donations in doubt.

UK union leaders meet on Monday to discuss possible support for a domestic cap on political donations

• UK politics live – latest updates

Trade unions are set to launch an intervention on Tuesday on political donations after the head of Britain’s trade union movement, Paul Nowak, said the government must act to “stop the super-rich corrupting our politics.”

Union leaders met on Monday to discuss possible support for a domestic cap on donations. Discussions are expected to continue but sources said general secretaries were likely to back a donations cap for individuals. They argue trade union members should be treated as individual donors.

PM has so far declined to insert curbs on UK-based donors, despite £72m donations from billionaires to Reform UK

Trade unions, MPs and donors have urged the government to look again at party funding rules, after Reform UK insisted £72m in donations from two crypto billionaires was within the law.

Andy Burnham, a previous backer of caps on domestic donations, has so far declined to insert any curbs in the elections bill that would apply to UK-based donors.

Ed Miliband announces sanctions on trade with settlements as PM says in the Guardian it is time to act

• I believe in a two-state solution in the Middle East. That’s why we’re taking action to keep that hope alive | Andy Burnham

Settler terrorists supported by Benjamin Netanyahu’s government are committing ethnic cleansing in the West Bank, Ed Miliband has said, in the UK’s starkest condemnation since the foundation of the Israeli state.

Andy Burnham, the prime minister, said he would “not stand by” as horrific suffering continued, writing in the Guardian that for too long the UK had been hesitant to act, “fearful of being accused of being anti-Israel”.

An import ban on goods from illegal settlements in the occupied territories and a new ban for arms licences and other exports that “materially contribute to the occupation”.

A comprehensive sanctions regime against providing services such as construction or financing for Israeli settlements and a ban on advertising them in the UK.

Personal sanctions against key individuals accused of promoting settler violence.

A new ban for arms licences and other exports that “materially contribute to the occupation”.

Plans would see parts of estate converted but campaigners warn it just ‘moves the crisis from one part to another’

Ministers will seriously examine converting parts of the female prison estate into cells that can safely house male prisoners, as the government looks to reduce numbers of women in prison to ease strain on the system.

The prisons minister Catherine McKinnell is to look into the practicalities of converting female spaces to male over the coming months, after warnings from governors and experts that it would pose significant challenges.

MPs applaud PM’s ambition and optimism but John Healey has yet to show he can match leader’s radical perspective

Until now, Andy Burnham has been a lucky prime minister. In office for just over six weeks, no major domestic crisis derailed his plans over the summer, Reform has been on the back foot, and he arrived back at Westminster with his personal approval ratings soaring and optimism undampened.

But underneath the sense of relief that many Labour MPs are feeling that their high-stakes gamble of ousting Keir Starmer appears – for now – to have paid off, there is an unease that Burnham’s premiership is yet to make contact with economic reality.

Prime minister promises his government will make decisions ‘grounded in fiscal responsibility’

Andy Burnham moved to calm volatile bond markets on Wednesday as surging borrowing costs threatened to wreck plans for his government’s crucial first budget next month.

After a days-long sell-off of government bonds – and with the chancellor, John Healey, facing the prospect of sharply reduced spending power, Burnham used his first appearance at prime minister’s questions to promise decisions would be “grounded in fiscal responsibility”.

In first PMQs clash with Kemi Badenoch, prime minister rejects comparison to Liz Truss’s government

• UK politics live – latest updates

Andy Burnham blamed the Conservatives’ legacy for leaving the UK vulnerable to market turmoil, in his first prime ministers’ questions clash with Kemi Badenoch, as the UK’s borrowing costs climbed further.

The Conservative leader compared the market pressure on Burnham’s second day to Liz Truss’s mini-Budget. But the prime minister said it was the Tories’ failure to address the UK’s growth and debt which meant the economy was exposed to market shocks.

The prime minister said Britain needed to be brutally honest about the mistakes of the last 40 years of UK politics

Andy Burnham has blamed Brexit and Margaret Thatcher for a decade of low growth in the UK, arguing that Britain needs to be brutally honest about having taken “a series of wrong turns” in the last 40 years.

In his first Commons appearance since he took over as prime minister about six weeks ago, Burnham told MPs he wanted to build a new sense of optimism so “we can make this next decade better than the last”.

Hinted that he would commit to spending 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, saying he had appointed John Healey as his chancellor “precisely because” of his position on military spending.

Signalled he is open to renationalising the water industry – saying he is looking at “all possible solutions”, as the sector is a “leaking monument” to the failures of privatisation.

Opened the door to looking again at electoral reform in Labour’s next manifesto. “I do believe there needs to be a mandate to make that change. There are different views in this house, but I believe we will need to get a consensus at the next election. And if there is that consensus, then a change can be made in the next parliament.”

Announced he would attend the Cop31 climate summit in Turkey and continue pursuing green energy – but that he would be “pragmatic” on supply, amid expectations he will approve the Jackdaw gasfield. “The mistake is saying it’s got to be one or the other for political purposes. The truth is, it’s going to have to be both.”

Former PM says it is right time to go, which will trigger byelection that Greens’ Zack Polanski could target

• UK politics live – latest updates

Keir Starmer is to quit as the MP for Holborn and St Pancras, saying it is the right time for him to leave the Commons.

Starmer, who resigned as prime minister in July, told the Camden New Journal he wanted to focus on international affairs and “pass the baton to a successor”.

Exclusive: Prime minister wants to ‘bring back hope’ by tackling cost of living as MPs call for electoral reform

Andy Burnham will drive home his pledge to bring more essential services back into public control, telling MPs in the Commons on Tuesday that it will be the only way to improve growth across the country.

Burnham will address the house for the first time in 16 years from the frontbench, and six weeks since he became prime minister, after spending the summer recess announcing a slew of policies that will now be put before MPs.

Conservative leader sacks shadow chancellor Mel Stride and shadow foreign secretary Priti Patel

• Conservative reshuffle: who’s who in Kemi Badenoch’s top team?

Kemi Badenoch sacked her shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, and the shadow foreign secretary, Priti Patel, in a sweeping Conservative reshuffle on Monday, replacing Stride with Andrew Griffith, and Patel with Tom Tugendhat.

Stride, who had been shadow chancellor since Badenoch became leader, was widely seen among Tories as failing to make an impression at a time when Labour had been under pressure over the economy.

As economic circumstances worsen, the PM’s commitments have left him and the chancellor in a tight spot

When Andy Burnham made his first speech after returning as an MP, he promised that as prime minister he would oversee “the most significant change moment in our politics for 40 years”. His style, direction and communication has been a big shift from Keir Starmer’s approach, but as he heads into the autumn, the new prime minister faces some very similar problems.

With an early budget in late October, and worsening economic circumstances, Burnham has made promises and commitments that put him in a tight spot. Here are some of the constraints over the coming months that Burnham and the chancellor, John Healey, must contend with in their autumn budget.

Moscow threatens retaliation after Andy Burnham says UK will help Ukraine start producing long-range missiles

Russia has said it could retaliate against the UK for its support of Kyiv by striking military targets inside and outside Ukraine, amid reports that the director of the CIA warned the Kremlin against attacking Nato during a secretive visit this week.

Andy Burnham, Britain’s prime minister, said on Monday the UK would allow Kyiv access to classified technology to start ⁠its own production of Storm Shadow ​long-range ​cruise missiles. France has also agreed to supply missile technology. Maria ⁠Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokesperson, said on Thursday Britain and France were “playing ⁠with ​fire”.