Mandelson told Epstein ‘your friends love you’ after charges as Starmer faces growing backlash: UK politics live – UK Times

Sir Keir Starmer has told the leaders of Ukraine, Poland and Italy that the UK is “ready to support Nato and Poland to continue to defend the alliance” after Russian drones entered Polish airspace.

The Prime Minister spoke to the leaders, along with Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte, in a call on Wednesday afternoon.

A Downing Street spokeswoman said: “The Prime Minister began by condemning the outrageous violation of Poland’s airspace. This highlighted Russia’s increased recklessness in recent weeks, including their attacks on the Cabinet of Ministers building, British Council and EU Delegation buildings in Kyiv, he added.”

The number of licences for companies to sponsor foreign workers that have been revoked has more than doubled in the past year, and ministers are warning employers against “shameful” abuse of the immigration system.

Home Office figures show 1,948 sponsors for skilled and temporary workers had their licences cancelled in the year to June 2025, compared to 937 in the previous 12-month-period.

The Government is seeking to crack down on rogue employers underpaying and exploiting migrant staff – who are reliant on their visa sponsor to stay in the country – while undercutting British workers.

Adult social care, hospitality, retail and construction are among the sectors seeing the highest levels of abuse, according to the Home Office.

Licences for companies have been ended for breaking rules including underpaying workers, failing to give them promised work and assisting people to the country to get around immigration rules.

Local government minister Alison McGovern said she had dropped out of the Labour deputy leadership contest to give her supporters time to back one of the remaining candidates.

Ms McGovern decided to back Bridget Phillipson, but one of her two publicly declared supporters – St Helens North MP David Baines – has given his support to Lucy Powell.

If more than one candidate secures 80 nominations by Thursday evening, they will then need to gain backing from either three of Labour’s affiliate organisations, including two trade unions, or 5% of constituency parties.

That process will continue until September 27, meaning a contested election threatens to overshadow the party’s annual conference that begins in Liverpool the next day.

Bridget Phillipson has made it to the next round of Labour’s deputy leadership contest after securing nominations from 116 of the party’s MPs.

The Education Secretary became the first candidate to cross the threshold of 80 nominations required to make it to the next stage.

Already the frontrunner, Ms Phillipson received a boost on Wednesday afternoon when one of her rivals, fellow minister Alison McGovern, dropped out of the race and pledged to support her.

Figures released on Wednesday evening showed Ms Phillipson’s main rival, Lucy Powell, had received 77 nominations, just three short of the required 80 with a day to go before nominations close.

It now appears likely that Ms Powell, who was sacked by Sir Keir Starmer as leader of the Commons last week, will reach 80 nominations by the deadline of 5pm on Thursday.

Israel’s president Isaac Herzog proposed sending a “fact-finding mission” to Gaza during “tough” talks with Sir Keir Starmer in Downing Street on Wednesday.

In the No 10 meeting, Mr Herzog “argued” with the Prime Minister over UK plans to recognise a Palestinian state and concern over the humanitarian situation in Gaza.

At an event hosted by the Chatham House think tank, Mr Herzog said he had offered “a fact-finding mission coming to Israel, sitting with us and studying the situation in Gaza on the humanitarian level”.

Adding that the pair had “argued out of respect”, he noted there were “things we agreed upon”, such as the threat from Iran and the need to end Hamas’s control of Gaza.

But he said he dismissed “out of hand” comments by Wes Streeting on Monday in which the Health Secretary had said Mr Herzog needed to answer allegations of war crimes and ethnic cleansing.

Two more Labour MPs have broken ranks to urge Sir Keir Starmer to sack Lord Mandelson immediately.

Backbenchers Richard Burgon and Nadia Whittome said Lord Mandelson should never have been appointed.

Ms Whittome said: “We either stand with victims or we don’t.”

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

While Labour typically meets Reform where they are, piling in to their anti-immigration rhetoric, this evening we’ve seen Mike Tapp in a few instances challenge some of Zia Yusuf’s claims.

While he has unsurprisingly been robust in his agreement that the government wants to stop the boats, we also saw the Home Office minister call out Mr Yusuf for his claims about sexual offences committed by illegal migrants.

“One rape, one sexual assault, is too many, but the majority of those that come over are not rapists and sexual assaulters”, Mr Tapp said, to Mr Yusuf’s outrage.

We also saw him earlier attack the Reform politician for using the word “invasion” to describe the migrant crisis, accusing him of “feeding racism”.

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Zia Yusuf was brutally called out by presenter Trevor Phillips after he claimed Reform “wouldn’t hesitate to deploy the Navy” to stop small boat crossings.

But the Sky News presenter pointed out that a week earlier, the Reform boss was much less convinced by the idea.

When the inconsistency was pointed out to him, he denied having said it.

The altercation handed an open goal to Labour’s Mike Tapp, who declared: “Reform’s head of policy doesn’t even know their own policy”.

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Mike Tapp was immediately thrown into the hot seat as this evening’s immigration debate got underway, with the new Home Office minister being urged to explain how things will be different under new home secretary Shabana Mahmood.

Perhaps for fear of undermining the work of Yvette Cooper, he struggled to outline concrete things they would be doing differently – instead resorting to the classic Home Office approach of ramping up the rhetoric.

“We’re going to go harder. We’re going to go faster. We’re going to fix this problem”, he insisted.

Pressed on what exactly would change under Ms Mahmood, he added: “What we’re going to see going forward is essentially doing what it takes. We’re starting already to explore Ministry of Defense sites to take people out of hotels. We’re looking at the ECHR to ensure we can deport and remove more people. We will make sure that the French deal improves.”

Unfortunately for the government, none of this marks a tangible shift from what was being done before.

The Independent’s political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

The Sky News immigration debate has already descended into a slanging match between Mike Tapp and Zia Yusuf, with the Labour Home Office minister accusing the Reform politician of “feeding racism” after Mr Yusuf used the word “invasion” to describe the number of people crossing the Channel.

“I used that language on the ground in Afghanistan when people were shooting at us. You’re using it to describe people looking for a better life”, Mr Tapp said.

Hitting back, Mr Yusuf claimed the majority of people arriving in the UK were “fighting age men who hate this country”.

Almost shouting over him, Mr Tapp said: “Disgraceful behaviour. This is what I mean. You wrap yourself in our flag but you will do nothing for this country. You’re plastic patriots. Disgusting”.

Responding, Mr Yusuf accused him of “betraying British people”.