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

We are handing over to the US now where the Republicans are meeting to confirm Donald Trump as the candidate for the presidential election, just days after an assassination attempt on his life.

Follow all the news from the massive convention in Milwaukee with our colleagues by clicking here.

We will be back tomorrow to bring you all the latest from Westminster. For now though, have a good evening!

Now to the SNP's Stephen Gethins, who is calling on the new government to scrap the two-child benefit cap.

The measure was brought in by the Conservatives in 2017, preventing parents claiming Universal Credit or child tax credits for a third child, except in very limited circ*mstances.

It means families cannot claim about £3,200 a year per extra child, the Resolution Foundation has said.

But scrapping it would be estimated to cost £1.7bn. So how do you pay for it?

"You can increase borrowing," suggests Mr Gethins. "You could also, like Scotland, have a slightly more progressive taxation system where those with lower wages in Scotland, pay less tax bills and those with higher wages pay more tax.

"We're not just talking about a Westminster game here. We're talking about the way in which, you know, kids that will go hungry, how do you heat your house going into the winter time?"

He also points to what the government has already spent money on.

Mr Gethins says: "Let's put it this into perspective, you know, leaving the EU has already cost us £140bn. A replacement for Trident will cost £200bn. And you're talking about £1.5bn in terms of child poverty.

"Politics is about choices. It's about priorities. And we think child poverty should be a priority."

Labour MP Dawn Butler says she faced intimidation during the election, and there was "definitely more aggression in the air".

But she tells Sophy there has been "been a build up of sort of violent talk and rhetoric" for years, pointing back to the days of Brexit.

Ms Butler said in the last campaign there "seemed to be a strategy to film and follow, especially female MPs", and to abuse them.

"I had somebody following me and being very aggressive and shouting and recording," she adds. "But that's with the police so I don't want to talk too much about that.

"But just today, we had to report somebody to the police who was trying to, you know, advocate violence against me, and so I think social media has a huge role to play with that."

Former special adviser James Starkie agreed with the social media issue, as it is "dehumanising".

"When I walk into Conservative Party conference this year... there'll be someone screaming in my face 'you're scum' as I walk in," he said.

"Now, if I walk down the street and someone started screaming in my face... and there was a police officer, that person would be arrested. But they won't be at conference.

"So there is a kind of weird acceptance that you're allowed to treat politicians in a way that actually we wouldn't expect say, a chief executive to be treated."

Lord Walney has written to the home secretary calling for an inquiry into the intimidation of MPs after what Sophy Ridge calls one of the "ugliest" election campaigns we have seen in the UK - and, of course, after an assassination attempt on former US president Donald Trump.

The peer tells Sophy the incident this weekend was "a shocking reminder of the vulnerability that everyone who puts themselves in the front line to serve ultimately faces".

He says politicians are "blessed in to be here in the UK where there is not the same gun culture" as across the Atlantic.

But he says the fact the shooter came within "less than an inch" of killing Mr Trump showed all politicians face "some level of threat".

Lord Walney adds: "There is no way of reducing that to zero. MPs who go put themselves forward to serve their communities, none of them will accept being sealed away behind bulletproof glass. They they are there to be part of their communities to listen."

He praises Home Secretary Yvette Cooper, who has announced she is chairing a taskforce to look into the "alarming" intimidation of candidates.

But he said there should be "a much needed review of security around Whitehall", and different elements, including police and government, need to work together to address the issue.

It's time for the Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge, and tonight the guests include the SNP's Stephen Gethings and Lord Walney, the government's adviser on political violence.

Our panel is made up of returning Labour MP Dawn Butler and former chief of staff to Priti Patel, James Starkie.

Make sure you tune in on the video stream above, and we will bring you updates too.

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.