Suella Braverman has defected to Reform UK, becoming the third sitting Conservative MP to join Nigel Farage's party in just over a week. Her move brings the total number of Reform MPs in the Commons to eight.
Braverman said she stopped believing in the Conservative Party when she first walked into a Rishi Sunak cabinet meeting, describing Sunak, Jeremy Hunt, and Mel Stride as “so many people really on the left of the party dominating that cabinet”. She felt she did not fit.
Meanwhile, Keir Starmer has defended Labour's decision to block Andy Burnham from standing for parliament, a move that has triggered a major backlash from sections of his own party. Farage claimed Reform UK's chances of winning the Gorton and Denton by-election are now higher without Burnham as a candidate, saying “only a Reform victory can get rid of Starmer as prime minister”.
Reform UK has also announced plans to slash what it calls “highly dubious” environmental protection measures to help fund a £2bn cut to income tax in Scotland if it wins May's Holyrood elections.
Separately, development minister Jenny Chapman is drawing up plans to scrap the UK's aid watchdog, prompting concerns that the government is attempting to escape scrutiny while implementing “brutal” cuts.
