Politics latest: Voters ousted Conservative Party over 'incompetence', survey finds (2024)

Yvette Cooper has announced she will chair a meeting of the government's "Defending Democracy" taskforce next week.

The home secretary this was following an “alarming rise” in harassment towards political candidates and campaigners.

In a statement this afternoon, Cooper said she would be speaking to MPs about their experience of the election campaign.

"Political violence, intimidation and harassment have no place in our democracy," she said.

"In our democracy we must be able to passionately debate and disagree on issues without ever resorting to intimidating tactics designed to silence voices, suppress votes or prevent free and full participation in our democratic processes.

Cooper added: “The disgraceful scenes we saw in some areas during this election campaign must not be repeated."

ByTomos Evans, Wales reporter

The Welsh first minister's former leadership rival has refused to say he has confidence in his leader.

Wales's economy secretary Jeremy Miles failed to back Vaughan Gething four times.

In an interview with ITV Wales on Monday, Mr Miles said it wasn't "helpful to give a running commentary".

But Mr Miles, who lost out to Mr Gething in March, acknowledged it had been "a difficult few weeks".

Last week, former government minister Hannah Blythyn, who was sacked by the first minister for allegedly leaking to the media, spoke out.

She denied having leaked a series of iMessages, in which Mr Gething appeared to say he would be "deleting" messages which could be "captured in an FOI".

News website Nation.Cymru, which first broke the story, last week confirmed Ms Blythyn was not its source for the story.

A motion has been tabled in the Senedd for Wednesday, calling on the government to publish the evidence upon which Ms Blythyn was sacked.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) has released its latest migration stats for the year to mid-2023.

It has found that, for England and Wales, the population grew by the greatest amount since 1948 - when soldiers were returning from the Second World War and birth rates were very high.

The net increase of people in the two nations was 610,000, to a total of 60.9 million.

This was mostly down to 1,084,000 people immigrating into England and Wales from outside the UK - while 462,000 left.

In terms of births and deaths, only 400 more people were born in the UK than died in the 12-month period - the lowest figure since 1978.

Some 598,000 people died in the year to mid-2023, while 598,400 were born.

Deaths were up 24,000 compared to the previous 12 months, while births were down 21,900.

Head of population estimates for the ONS, Neil Park, said: "High levels of international migration seen in recent years are the main driver of population growth.

"But the year to mid-2023 also saw an increased number of deaths, as well as the lowest number of births since 2002.

"In fact, in the most recent year, births outnumbered deaths by just 400, the lowest reported figure for natural change since the late 1970s. And, interestingly, there were more deaths than births in every region, with the exception of London and the West Midlands."

By Faye Brown, political reporter

Rishi Sunak has been urged to stay on as Conservative leader until November amid divisions within the party over how long the contest to replace him should take.

Shadow foreign secretary Andrew Mitchell said the former prime minister's instinct "is almost certainly to go" but more time was needed for potential successors to make their case.

The view is at odds with other senior figures who fear a protracted contest would leave a vacuum for Labour and Reform UK to capitalise on.

Mr Mitchell told Times Radio on Monday: "An interim leader is not, in my view, the best option.

"The best option is to seek to persuade Rishi to remain. It's not an enormously long time in the scope of things. It's probably 'til mid to end November."

He added: "I think his instinct is almost certainly to go. I hope that he won't."

Read the full story here:

Here's a little bit more from the massive More in Common analysis that came out earlier today.

The work relied on surveys and interviews with more than 10,000 people.

The group found that - by a huge margin - voters of every persuasion attributed the Conservative Party's loss to incompetence,rather than being too right wing or left.

The report said that Mr Sunak's U-turn on net zero went down badly - as did axing the northern leg of HS2.

This compounded with the former PM failing to stop the boats or cut NHS waiting lists, as he pledged to do.

By Tomos Evans, Wales reporter

Drink refills could be banned in Wales, under plans currently the subject of a consultation.

The regulations, if approved, would prohibit retailers from offering free refills or top-ups of sugary drinks.

Multi-buy offers, such as buy-one-get-one-free, will also be prohibited under the proposals.

But there will be a 12-month window for the packaging of products to be updated, before the restrictions come into force next year.

The Welsh government says it wants to help people in Wales "make the healthy choice" when shopping and dining out.

If businesses do not comply, they would face an improvement notice and failure to act could lead to a criminal penalty under the Food Safety Act.

Enforcement would be down to local councils, the Welsh government confirmed.

Read the full story here:

Sky News' deputy political editor Sam Coates and Politico's Jack Blanchard are here with their guide to the day ahead in politics.

On day 10 of the new Labour government,Jack and Sam cover the fallout from the attempted assassination of Donald Trump, preparations for the King's Speech, and if one Tory beast has ambitions to be interim leader.

Email Jack and Sam: jackandsam@sky.uk

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This morning's More in Common report - which we reported on earlier - looked into the attitudes of voters and why they switched.

One area they examined was who went to Reform UK - and the implications of the switching.

According to the research, less than a third (31%) of people who voted Reform said they would have chosen the Tories otherwise.

Some 33% of people said they would not have voted for another party, while the rest said they would have picked Labour (12%), Lib Dem (9%), Green (6%), another party (9%), and then the don't knows were on 6%.

The research also found that Conservatives who left to vote Reform are the most likely to never want to vote Tory again.

The report said: "If the Conservative Party is to recover, it will have to start with restoring its reputation for economic competence and selecting a leader who can bring back voters who deserted the party to the left and the right.

"Rather than either or, voters who would back the Conservatives suggest a preference for a leader who can merge the appeal of both David Cameron and Boris Johnson."

The report suggested that if Reform had not stood, the Tories would only have won an extra 40 seats - leaving Labour still with a majority of more than 100.

In our previous post, we reported on how people want to see change from Labour quickly - with a "honeymoon" period unlikely.

Well a separate piece of research - this time from More in Common and UCL - has shown what issues are the key tests for Labour.

The surveyors asked more than 10,000 people for their opinions.

The most important issue people will judge the new government on is how much they reduce NHS waiting - with the second issue being how much the cost of living goes down.

In third place is lowering immigration, followed by tax cuts.

You can see the full survey in the chart below.

When a new government is elected, it is usually thought they can enjoy a "honeymoon" period where the public gives them time to enact change.

However, a survey of 20,000 people byIPPR and Persuasion shows this may not be the case for Sir Keir Starmer.

According to the research, voters expect most policy areas to improve in the next two or three years.

The survey also found that most constituencies think Labour should borrow extra money to invest in the economy and public services.

There is also broad support for improving workers' rights, accelerating housebuilding and a closer relationship with Europe.

And most areas of the UK also want to see greater action on climate change.

Harry Quilter-Pinner, director of policy and politics at IPPR, said: "This coalition that came together to give Labour its landslide expects bold and tangible change.

"The good news for Labour is that this coalition is more united than many think, and they are clear they want to see action on the economy, climate change and workers' rights.

"If the government can deliver on the things that matter the most, it will have a better chance of turning this temporary coalition into a permanent one, and winning a second term."