A leadership battle began brewing again in Westminster, with Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham being blocked by the Labour Party from running in a parliamentary bye-election that could see him return to Westminster and challenge Prime Minister Keir Starmer.

Labour’s governing body, its National Executive Council (NEC), voted 8 – 1 to deny Mr. Burnham permission to quit his post and run in the Gorton and Denton bye-election next month. Mr. Starmer, a member of the NEC, also voted with the majority.

The governing party — like the opposition Conservative Party — has had to contend with Reform UK, the anti-immigration and nativist party which has been surging at the polls. Reactions to Labour’s decision were mixed.

The Secretary of State for Scotland, Douglas Alexander, who is a Cabinet Minister, said not having a second mayoral election for Greater Manchester would save the party and public money and “months of psychodrama”.

Mr. Alexander said the decision was more about “focus than factionalism” given that Labour faced looming electoral battles for the Assemblies in Wales and Scotland and local elections in England, Scotland and Wales on May 7 this year.

“We need all our focus on those elections,” Mr. Starmer said on Monday (January 26, 2026), defending the vote to block Mr. Burnham from running in the bye-election. He said the Mayor was doing a “great” job in Manchester.

Left wing Labour MP John McDonnell called the NEC decision “disgusting”.

“If you think it strengthens you I tell you it will simply hasten your demise,” he told Mr. Starmer in a message on the social media site X.

Mr. Burnham said he was “disappointed” with the NEC decision and concerned about the elections. The media knew of the NEC decision before he did and told “you everything you need to know about the way the Labour Party is being run these days”, he said.

Former Home Secretary Suella Braverman Defects to Reform

Suella Braverman, former U.K. Home Secretary and Attorney General in the Conservative government, defected to Reform UK. Reform now has 8 MPs in the U.K. Parliament.

The news comes days after her former colleague, Robert Jenrick, the shadow Justice Secretary defected from the Conservative Party to Reform.

“I feel like I’ve come home,” Ms. Braverman, who is of Indian descent, said at a party rally, calling it the “honour of her life”. She said the Conservative Party would never take Britain out of the European Convention Human Rights, despite leaders saying they would, as she praised on Reform leader Nigel Farage.

New regulations come into force Monday (January 5, 2026) in Britain banning daytime TV and online adverts for so-called junk foods, in what the government calls a “world-leading action” to tackle childhood obesity.

The ban — targeting ads for products high in fat, salt or sugar — is expected to remove up to 7.2 billion calories from children’s diets each year, according to the Health Ministry.

Impacting ads airing before the 9 p.m. watershed and anytime online, it will reduce the number of children living with obesity by 20,000 and deliver around £2 billion ($2.7 billion) in health benefits, the Ministry added.

The implementation of the measure — first announced in December 2024 — follows other recent steps, including an extended sugar tax on pre-packaged items like milkshakes, ready-to-go coffees and sweetened yoghurt drinks.

Local authorities have also been given the power to stop fast food shops setting up outside schools.

The government argues evidence shows advertising influences what and when children eat, shaping preferences from a young age and increasing the risk of obesity and related illnesses.

It notes 22% of children starting primary schooling in England — typically aged around five — are overweight or obese, rising to more than a third by the time they progress to secondary schools aged 11.

Tooth decay is the leading cause of U.K. hospital admissions for young children, typically aged five to nine, according to officials.

“By restricting adverts for junk food before 9pm and banning paid adverts online, we can remove excessive exposure to unhealthy foods,” Health Minister Ashley Dalton said in a statement.

He added the move was part of a strategy to make the state-funded National Health Service (NHS) focus on preventing as well as treating sickness, “so people can lead healthier lives”.

Katharine Jenner, executive director of the Obesity Health Alliance, said it was “a welcome and long-awaited step towards better protecting children from unhealthy food and drink advertising that can harm their health and wellbeing”.

The charity Diabetes UK also welcomed the ads ban, with its chief executive, Colette Marshall, noting that type 2 diabetes is on the rise in young people.

“Obesity is a major risk factor for type 2 diabetes, and the condition can lead to more severe consequences in young people — leaving them at risk of serious complications like kidney failure and heart disease,” she added.

A local Labour Party politician from west London has been fined 40,000 pounds after she lost an appeal against an immigration law breach for hiring an Indian student as a nanny illegally.

Hina Mir, a councillor and a qualified solicitor, was found to have hired 22-year-old Himanshi Gongley for 1,200 pounds in cash a month despite her having no legal work rights in the U.K., according to a court report in ‘The Daily Telegraph’.

The 45-year-old former Deputy Mayor for the borough of Hounslow kept the Indian student on call “24 hours a day for six days a week” to look after her two children, the City of London County Court was told recently.

“Councillor Mir is a person of exemplary character. She is a solicitor, a councillor and is involved in the community,” the court report quotes Judge Stephen Hellman as saying.

“But the inconsistencies in the appellant’s (Mir) evidence mean I cannot place much reliance on her evidence as I normally would,” he said.

According to the newspaper, Ms. Mir nicknamed the student Ria and claimed she was a “social visitor” frequenting her home to “play video games, to watch TV and to chill” and to perform household chores.

However, the U.K. Home Office told the court the student appeared to be distressed when she “flagged down a police car for help” in August last year. She was then found to be in the country illegally since her visa expired in March 2023 and told the authorities that “physically abused” and felt “suicidal”.

Arif Rehman, representing the councillor, told the court: “This story was fabricated with an intention to claim immigration advantage and to present herself as a victim of modern-day slavery.

“Nothing was done with the allegations with the evidence of abuse because there was no evidence. This is not someone who can be trusted by the court.” However, the judge said he found it “unlikely” the student would have “concocted the quite detailed evidence she gave at short notice after she had been arrested by the police”.

After losing her appeal against an immigration ruling in January, Mir will have to pay the fine of 40,000 pounds as well as 3,620 pounds in court costs.

Meanwhile, the Opposition party representatives from her local Hounslow Council are calling for her resignation as a councillor.

“This is a serious breach of the law, and residents rightly deserve a lot better,” Conservative Party councillor Jack Emsley told the newspaper.

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin, who is on a visit to the United Kingdom, met MP Catherine West, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Indo-Pacific), at the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, where they discussed opportunities for deeper Tamil Nadu-U.K. collaboration across a range of strategic areas.

In a social media post, Mr. Stalin said they discussed opportunities in green economy, education, research, skilling, and maritime connectivity. “I highlighted Tamil Nadu’s strengths in renewables, e-mobility, IT & manufacturing, and invited deeper UK collaboration to build a sustainable and future-ready economy.”

An official release from the Tamil Nadu government, issued from London, said the meeting highlighted the State’s growing relevance as a key player in the India-U.K. partnership — not just in economic terms but also in areas such as green economy leadership, education and research, and resilient maritime connectivity.

The Chief Minister emphasised Tamil Nadu’s competitive strengths in electric mobility, renewable energy, IT services, and manufacturing, and invited greater U.K. participation in these sectors through trade and investment partnerships.

Discussions also explored strengthening the Tamil Nadu-U.K. ties in higher education, skilling, and climate cooperation. The Chief Minister underscored Tamil Nadu’s global leadership in green hydrogen, solar, and wind energy, and spoke about how the State could serve as a valuable partner in the U.K.’s climate diplomacy, it said.

“This meeting adds further depth to the Chief Minister’s UK engagements, which have already resulted in the signing of several strategic MoUs across aerospace, maritime intelligence, renewables, textiles, and design education,” the release stated.

Britain’s Green Party elected a self-styled “eco-populist” as its new leader on Tuesday (September 2, 2025), as it seeks to gain traction by exploiting dissatisfaction with the Labour government among left-wing voters.

Zack Polanski, a former actor, wants to make the Greens as noisy on the left as Nigel Farage’s anti-immigrant Reform UK party is on the right, at a time when British politics is fracturing into a multi-party system.

“My message to Labour is very clear. We are not here to be disappointed by you. We are not here to be concerned by you. We’re here to replace you,” he told supporters in central London after being elected.

Polanski, who does not sit in the U.K. parliament, was seen as the more radical candidate compared to his defeated opponents, MPs Ellie Chowns and Adrian Ramsay, who had stressed continuity.

Chowns and Ramsay said the party needed to appeal to a wide audience but Polanski’s election means the Greens will shift further to the left, where they will find competition from former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

Mr. Polanski’s pugnacious approach and savvy social media campaign saw him win more than 20,400 votes compared to just 3,700 for the joint ticket.

The Greens increased their number of MPs from one to four in the 650-seat parliament at last year’s general election, which ousted the Conservatives and propelled Labour’s Keir Starmer to the premiership.

The party has the same number as Reform but has not been able to gain the same purchase as Farage, who taps into discontent over irregular immigration, now the issue that surveys say most concerns Britons.

“We should never ape the politics of Nigel Farage and Reform. But what Nigel Farage has demonstrated is bold communications that can cut through,” Polanski told reporters.

The 42-year-old added he “also” wants to “stop the boats”, echoing Farage’s number-one pledge to halt asylum seekers crossing the Channel from northern France in rudimentary vessels.

‘Left-wing populism’

“We can stop the boats today with safe and legal routes [for asylum seekers],” Mr. Polanski said.

The Greens advocate higher taxes for the super wealthy, the nationalisation of key industries including water, and has recognised Israel’s military actions in Gaza as a “genocide”.

It hopes to steal away voters angry at Labour’s continuation of a child benefits cap, its moves to reform the welfare system and its roll-back of some environmental pledges.

But a new party recently launched by Corbyn threatens to split votes on the left.

“There’s definitely space in the U.K. for some sort of left-wing populism,” said Chris Hopkins, director of polling firm Savanta.

“(But) they almost certainly will harm each other or, at the very least, put a cap on the other’s potential,” he told AFP.

Polanski, a member of the London Assembly whose role is to hold the capital’s mayor accountable, has repeatedly apologised for a 2013 article in the tabloid The Sun in which the then-hypnotherapist promised to use the power of the mind to try to enlarge a female client’s breasts.

Unlike other parties, the Greens normally hold leadership elections every two years, meaning Mr. Polanski may not lead the party into the next general election, expected in 2029.