Day: April 29, 2025

Labour chair Ellie Reeves says the Tories are doing nothing in local election campaigning as Kemi Badenoch defends approach

Good morning. There are two days left until the local elections in England and, conveniently perhaps for Labour campaigners, the government’s main announcement is about a plan to stop sex offenders claiming asylum in the UK. Rajeev Syal has the details here.

The government is announcing this now because it will change the law via an amendment to the border security, asylum and immigration bill, which has already finished its committee stage in the Commons and will soon get its report stage (the last chance for an amendment before the bill goes to the Lords). Immigration policy is not a matter for local authorities, but Labour will still be hoping that today’s headlines might be at least marginally helpful as people think about how to vote.

No, I don’t. We had a historic defeat last year, and it’s going to take some time for us to get back on track. I am working to rebuild public trust, letting the country know that the Conservative party is under new leadership. But as we saw with previous oppositions, it took 14 years, 13 years and 18 years to come back. I’ve only been leader for six months. It’s going to take a while to fix the problems which we had from last year.

The Tories aren’t doing anything. [Tory MP] Esther McVey basically said the Tories should sit it out and let Reform win, and we’re seeing that on the ground.

They’re not doing any work on the ground at all, it looks like they’re just gifting it to Reform.

Continue reading…