Closing summary
That’s all from us on the UK politics blog, here is a summary of today’s headlines:
Green Party leader Zack Polanski has apologised for sharing a social media post critical of police after the Golders Green stabbings, after Mark Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, posted an open letter on social media accusing Polanski of fuelling “rising tensions”.
Rowley has denied he was “intervening in politics” with his open letter and said that Polanski was “was intervening in operational policing and I need to defend my officers’ ability to do that”.
Police are assessing if nationwide marches can go ahead, as ministers are pressed on the timing and details of the prime minister’s additional measures on protests. Yesterday, Keir Starmer vowed to crack down on those “venerating the murder of Jews” at protest marches as the UK terror threat level was raised to “severe”.
Rowley said he was “concerned” about the scale of upcoming protests in London. He said police were “looking hard at what conditions and powers” they should use in respect of those events.
Alex Davies-Jones, the minister for victims, said pro-Palestine marches have been “hijacked” by people looking to sow division in the UK. “We have seen chants of death, calls for global intifada, and that is wrong,” she said.
The UK elections watchdog is considering whether to investigate an undisclosed £5m gift received by Nigel Farage before he announced his candidacy at the last general election. The move comes after the Guardian revealed this week that the Reform UK leader was given the money by the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.
Research has revealed that almost twice as many men as women are standing as candidates across the local, mayoral and devolved elections next week. Across all elections taking place on 7 May, a third of candidates are women and two-thirds are men, with no party achieving gender parity, according to analysis by 50:50 Parliament and Democracy Club shared exclusively with the Guardian.
Starmer calls Polanski retweet 'disgraceful'
Keir Starmer had harsh words about Zack Polanski and his decision to share a social media post critical of the police officers who arrested the suspect in the Golders Green attack.
Before Polanski apologised on Friday for the repost, Starmer said in an interview with BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “When I then see Zack Polanski come out and retweet or support a criticism of that, I think it’s disgraceful.”
The prime minister said police “have to make a decision in that split moment according to the situation as you understand it to be”.
“And for politicians to wade in, as Zack Polanski did, is disgraceful. He’s not fit to lead any political party,” Starmer said.
Zack Polanski apologises for sharing tweet criticising police at Golders Green stabbings
Zack Polanski has apologised for sharing a social media post critical of police after the Golders Green stabbings, after the head of the Metropolitan police said the Green leader risked undermining public confidence in his officers.
Polanski, who leads the Greens in England and Wales, said he was sorry for having shared someone else’s post “in haste”.
Police were filmed detaining the suspect after two Jewish people were stabbed in the north-west London suburb on Wednesday.
Green party's Zack Polanski apologises for sharing criticism of police response to Golders Green attack
Zack Polanski, leader of the Green party, has apologised for sharing a social media post about the police officers who arrested the suspect in the Golders Green attack.
‘Everyone in leadership has a responsibility for lowering the temperature at a time of such tension, and I apologise for sharing a tweet in haste,” Polanski said in a statement.
He continued: “Police responses to emergency situations such as these do need later reflection in the right forums, but I accept that social media is not the appropriate channel for doing so.
“I have invited Mark Rowley to meet with me to discuss the police response and the wider issues raised in his letter.”
Polanski had reshared a post on X that alleged that the officers who arrested the Golders Green attack suspect “were repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by Taser.”
Rowley, the Metropolitan police commissioner, responded by accusing Polanski of fuelling “rising tensions”.
“London’s Jewish communities are scared. They have experienced a series of targeted attacks on the community, and they expect our officers to act, protect them,” Rowley
“That is exactly what our officers did yesterday. Your decision to criticise these officers, using your public profile and reach, will have a chilling effect.”
Updated
End of Trump tariffs on whisky sparks row between Scottish parties over claiming credit
Donald Trump’s announcement that he will lift punishing US tariffs on scotch whisky has been overshadowed by a row between rival Scottish party leaders over claiming credit for the decision.
The decision sparked a bitter dispute between the Scottish Labour party, UK government ministers and John Swinney, over the first minister’s insistence that his meeting with Trump at the White House last September played a significant part in it.
Labour and the Scottish National party, which Swinney leads, are in the final week of a lacklustre Scottish parliament election campaign in which Labour is fighting to prevent the SNP winning a fifth successive term in office.
More here:
A man has appeared in court charged with the attempted murders of three people during two knife attacks in London.
Essa Suleiman, 45, is accused of stabbing two Jewish men in Golders Green on Wednesday, having already attacked another man over a personal dispute in south London.
The prosecutor Emma Harraway told the court Suleiman had attacked Ishmail Hussein at his home in Southwark. He had then travelled to Golders Green, in north-west London, arriving shortly after 11am, and attacked two Jewish men.
Suleiman appeared in the dock at Westminster magistrates court on Friday to face the charges for the first time. He wore a grey tracksuit and spoke only to confirm his name and address.
The chief magistrate, Paul Goldspring, remanded him in custody and sent the case to the Old Bailey. The next hearing is set for 15 May.
While the Green party has been dealing with the backlash to Zack Polanski’s social media post, they will have been hoping to talk about the party’s policy of introducing a £15-an-hour minimum wage.
Polanski will address a rally in Manchester on Friday evening where he will say Labour’s Employment Rights Act – which the party see as one of their major achievements in government – has been “watered down after pressure from corporate lobbyists”.
The Greens would introduce day-one rights on unfair dismissal as part of a new Employment Rights Act, and full-bans on fire-and-rehire, and zero-hours contracts.
Polanski said his party are the “new workers’ party”. He said: “We will address the massive imbalance in our workplaces and give control back to workers.”
As the May elections creep closer, the leadership speculation at Westminster grows more intense. Is Keir Starmer safe and, if so, for how long?
In her analysis piece below, the Guardian’s political editor Pippa Crerar explores the state of prime minister’s leadership, why discontent is building within Labour and who the most likely challengers could be.
Solicitors report late flood of no-fault evictions before ban in England
Labour’s flagship rental reforms came into effect in England today, but solicitors say they have been inundated with requests to serve last-minute section 21 no-fault eviction notices before a ban on the practice became law, Jessica Murray reports.
The Renters’ Rights Act, which has been hailed as the biggest change to renting in a generation, bans no-fault evictions, limits rent increases and abolishes fixed-term tenancies.
On the eve of the new rules, solicitors said they were working long hours to keep up with the sudden demand for eviction notices.
Read the full report here:
Reform UK leader Nigel Farage and Suella Braverman, the former Tory home secretary who is now Reform’s education spokesperson, are on the campaign trail in Hampshire this morning, where they visited the town of Waterlooville.
Farage is facing allegations that he broke parliamentary rules after the Guardian revealed he received a previously undeclared £5m from crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne. The Electoral Commission said it is considering whether to investigate the donation, which Farage insisted was a gift that was given at a time when he had not yet committed to standing as an MP. Braverman has come out to defend him, saying the money was a “private” gift for personal protection.
You can find more on that story here:
Nearly twice as many men as women standing in May elections in UK
Women will be massively underrepresented on ballot papers across the UK next week, campaigners say, with research revealing that almost twice as many men as women are standing as candidates across the local, mayoral and devolved elections.
Democracy campaigners say men of all political stripes are likely to dominate local government, with women’s views on issues from social care to bin collections sidelined by the huge gap between the numbers of male and female candidates.
Across all elections taking place on 7 May, a third of candidates are women and two-thirds are men, with no party achieving gender parity, according to analysis by 50:50 Parliament and Democracy Club shared exclusively with the Guardian.
In local elections in England, which account for the largest number of candidates out of all elections next Thursday, 34% of candidates are female and no party is fielding an equal number of men and women. In the six mayoral elections taking place, 18% of candidates are women; in the Senedd elections, the figure is 38%; and in the Scottish parliament elections it is 36%.
Read the full report here:
In other news, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said the rise in fuel prices amid the conflict in the Middle East has been driven by wider cost pressures, particularly higher oil prices, rather than retailers increasing prices.
In a monitoring report today, the competition watchdog said it found the difference between the price retailers pay for fuel and the price they sell it at – known as fuel margins – has been “broadly unchanged” since the start of the war on 28 February.
The CMA said there were some increases in fuel margins during March for a minority of retailers and that this would be investigated further.
Oil prices remains above $111 per barrel, with little sign that the US and Iran would reach an agreement to reopen the strait of Hormuz, a key export route for a fifth of the world’s oil.
For more financial updates and other related news, you can follow our business live blog here:
On the Golders Green attack, the Press Association has reported that the man charged with attempted murder following the stabbings in north London on Wednesday had been under the care of South London and Maudsley Trust’s mental health services.
Essa Suleiman, 45, has been charged with two counts of attempted murder and one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place over the incident which left two Jewish men in hospital. He is scheduled to appear at Westminster magistrates court today.
A spokesperson for South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust said: “We are aware of the police investigation taking place across London following the incident at Golders Green.
“This is an ongoing investigation and it would be inappropriate to comment any further at this time.”
Updated
Watchdog weighs investigation into Farage’s undisclosed £5m gift
The UK elections watchdog is considering whether to investigate an undisclosed £5m gift received by Nigel Farage before he announced his candidacy at the last general election.
The move comes after the Guardian revealed this week that the Reform UK leader was given the money by the crypto billionaire Christopher Harborne.
In a written response to the Conservative party, the Electoral Commission said it was “aware of this matter and are considering it under our regulatory remit. We will consider all the available relevant information and recommend what, if any, next steps the commission will take.”
Farage had previously stated he did not intend to stand as an MP but reversed his position in June 2024, within weeks of receiving the personal gift from the Thailand-based businessman.
Read the full report here:
Updated
The Metropolitan police commissioner Mark Rowley said he was “concerned” about the scale of upcoming protests in London.
“There’s some big marches planned for two weeks, tomorrow and the 16th,” he told LBC.
“I’m sort of concerned about the scale of those in this context and we’re looking hard at what conditions and powers we should use in respect of those events.
“Protests can’t be banned, parliament has made it clear, but they can’t be.
While police lack the power to ban demonstrations outright, they can place conditions on marches or, in extreme cases, restrict them to a static event. Keir Starmer said yesterday that the government was “looking at what further measures we can take on protests, particularly in relation to chants, to banners and the repeated nature of protests”.
Jonathan Hall, the independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, has called for a temporary ban on pro-Palestine marches, saying it was impossible for them not to “incubate” antisemitism.
The minister for victims, Alex Davies-Jones, said pro-Palestine marches have been “hijacked” by people looking to sow division in the UK.
“We have seen chants of death, calls for global intifada, and that is wrong,” she told Times Radio.
There have been regular pro-Palestine marches in the UK since the latest Israel-Hamas war began in Gaza in 2023, with further demonstrations planned for 16 May. The government has faced calls to ban the marches in light of recent attacks against the Jewish population, with demonstrators accused of antisemitic chanting or holding antisemitic signs.
Davies-Jones said she acknowledged people had “the right to protest the actions of Israel” and that “not everybody on these marches is antisemitic”, but she suggested some protests have been “hijacked by certain individuals who are seeking to cause division and hatred in our country”.
Updated
Met commissioner denies he was 'intervening in politics' with Polanski letter
Morning, welcome to our UK politics blog.
The Metropolitan police commissioner Mark Rowley has denied he was “intervening in politics” after he wrote an open letter to Zack Polanski over the way officers arrested the Golders Green attack suspect.
He accused Polanski of fuelling “rising tensions” after the Green party leader reshared a post on X which said: “Essentially his officers were repeatedly and violently kicking a mentally ill man in the head when he was already incapacitated by Taser.”
In the open letter published on social media, Rowley said he was “disappointed” that the politician had amplified “inaccurate and misinformed commentary” that “undermines officer confidence to act”.
The public spat comes days before the local elections, with commentators questioning whether Rowley’s letter breached regulations that prohibit police from engaging in political activity.
Rowley denied the letter to Polanski meant he was “intervening in politics”.
“When somebody influential puts something out there which is incorrect and can undermine the confidence of my officers to protect Londoners, they need to see that I’m supporting them to give them that confidence to carry on and do their job,’ he told Times Radio.
“I’m not intervening in politics. He was intervening in operational policing and I need to defend my officers’ ability to do that.”
A Green party source said: “Zack has seen the video like everyone else, and doesn’t know the full picture and knows it was a very difficult situation for the authorities, but we do need to understand more about the response.”
You can read more on that story here:
In other news, police are assessing if nationwide marches can go ahead, as ministers are pressed on the timing and details of the prime minister’s additional measures on protests.
Yesterday, Keir Starmer vowed to crack down on those “venerating the murder of Jews” at protest marches as the UK terror threat level was raised to “severe” in the wake of the Golders Green attack.
Rowley told broadcasters this morning that he was “concerned” about the scale of upcoming protests, and that his force was “looking hard at what conditions and powers we should use”, while justice minister Alex Davies-Jones claimed it was “a fact” that pro-Palestine marches had seen “antisemitic activity”.
Updated
