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Polanski faces challenge to be Greens’ candidate for Holborn and St Pancras, as most Greens on local council back rival
Peter Walker
Peter Walker is a senior Guardian political correspondent.
Zack Polanski is facing unexpected internal opposition in his bid to fight the Holborn and St Pancras byelection for the Greens, with a local councillor saying he is also seeking the nomination and that the seat needs a local MP, not “a politician you’ll only see on a leaflet”.
Hamza Chowdhury, a Green councillor on Camden council in north London, said in a post that he had received nomination from six other Greens, meaning seven of the 10 Greens on the council oppose Polanski being selected.
Among those backing him is Lorna Russell, the group leader in Camden for the Greens, who are the official opposition to Labour.
Polanski, the leader of the Greens in England and Wales, announced on Thursday that he would seek the nomination to fight the seat vacated by Keir Starmer, setting up a high-stakes byelection against Labour.
Local party members will vote later this week to select a candidate, and the Guardian has been told that they are broadly supportive of Polanski standing.
But such high-profile opposition is notable, especially given Chowdhury argued that Polanski, who currently lives in east London, would be unable to properly represent the area if he won.
Chowdhury wrote on Instagram:
I know Camden because I live it every day. I know the challenges facing our communities, our estates, our broken lifts, our unpicked bins, our unclean roads and endless housing register waiting list because these are the places I have grown up and continue to call home.
We don’t need another MP who arrives during an election campaign, puts out a few leaflets, makes a few promises and disappears once the votes are counted. We need an MP who is present, accessible and visibly part of the community all year round.
I am asking Green party members for the opportunity to represent your home truly and properly. I’m not asking you to vote for a politician you’ll only see on a leaflet. I’m asking you to choose someone who is already here.
Key events
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Labour moves writ for Holborn and St Pancras byelection to be held on Thursday 8 October
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Rayner cancels some local government reorganisation plans for England, and delays others, after Burnham requested rethink
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MP calls for circumcisions by non-health professionals to be banned, as Commons debates amendments to health bill
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Polanski faces challenge to be Greens’ candidate for Holborn and St Pancras, as most Greens on local council back rival
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Policing minister Sarah Jones to make statement to MPs on Portsmouth anti-migrant disruption
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No 10 hits back at US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, after he accuses UK government of ‘Jew hate’
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Opposition parties accuse Healey of offering ‘more of the same’ in his first major speech as chancellor
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Healey’s speech – snap verdict
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Ministers told to axe many consultations, and tolerate more legal risk, so they can drive through change more quickly
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Healey says he cannot comment on budget be because responding to speculation will ‘only fuel more speculation’
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Healey declines to rule out tax rises in budget
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Healey says he wants to cut burden of business regulation by 25%
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Healey says changes to Treasury’s green book rules will ‘skew investment to projects with more long-term potential’
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Healey allocates £150m from British Business Bank for start-ups in north of England
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Healey says he will set out ‘roadmap to fiscal devolution’ in budget
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Healey says he wants to ‘draw the line’ under ever-rising costs for business
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Healey says making ‘Great Britain growth Britain again’ is ‘central’ to his mission as chancellor
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Healey says there’s ‘nothing progressive’ about paying debt interest, and being ‘true to our values’ means controlling spending
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‘Even Reeves had more vision’ – opposition parties not impressed by advance briefing on Healey’s speech
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Healey says he wants growth story ‘written in more places’
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Minister condemns ‘thuggish’ far-right, anti-migrant protesters in Portsmouth
Lucy Powell, the deputy Labour leader, has issued this statement following the moving of the writ for the Holborn and St Pancras byelection. (See 2.41pm.)
Labour has hit the ground running in Holborn and St Pancras. We’ve been out every day speaking to local residents about their priorities and it’s clear that Andy Burnham’s message of hope is really cutting through. Since this byelection was announced we’ve had thousands of conversations on the doorstep right across the constituency and Labour activists and supporters will be speaking to thousands more in the coming days.
While others talk, Labour is delivering the progressive change people in Holborn and St Pancras want to see. We’ve taken early action to give people vital breathing space on the cost of living, and we’re taking on the long term challenges people really care about, like ending rough sleeping, tackling youth unemployment and making sure we finally fix our social care system.
In the Commons Rishi Sunak, the former prime minister, has just asked a question during questions to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. Florence Eshalomi, the homelessness minister, was replying and, in a pointed jibe about Keir Starmer, she said it was good to see a former PM still playing an active role in the Commons.
Labour moves writ for Holborn and St Pancras byelection to be held on Thursday 8 October
In the Commons Anneliese Midgley, the Labour chief whip, has just moved the writ for the Hoborn and St Pancras byelection. That means it will be held on Thursday 8 October.
Rayner cancels some local government reorganisation plans for England, and delays others, after Burnham requested rethink
Decisions on flagship local government reorganisation have been withdrawn as the government launches a review of the plans following new legal advice, the Press Association reports. PA says:
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) said the review is to ensure the process is robust and aligns with the new government’s aim to “rewire the state”, and follows “updated and privileged legal advice”.
At least eight councils have launched legal challenges or were considering to do so due to opposition to the government’s choice of footprints for new councils.
Reform UK-led Kent county council is set to consider a judicial review at a meeting on Tuesday after it did not receive a response from the government to a letter setting out concerns.
Plans for reorganisation in Essex, Hampshire, Norfolk and Suffolk have been withdrawn in the light of new legal advice.
Decisions on 14 further areas will be reviewed and paused alongside the cases of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and West Sussex, which are yet to have a decision confirmed.
The government will also confirm that local elections in May 2027 will go ahead on existing council boundaries, saying it remains committed to effective and sustainable local government and simplifying these structures.
Communities secretary Angela Rayner is expected to tell parliament on later: “As we are now more determined than ever to devolve power closer to the people we represent, it’s only right that as a new secretary of state I make sure that everything we do is working towards that plan to change Britain, without delay.
“The prime minister told the House last week he was ‘prepared to look at local government reorganisation’ and he asked me as his communities secretary to ‘do that’.
“In that context, in light of legal advice, I want to satisfy myself firstly that the right process is in place, that it is robust, and of course complies with the law.
“And, secondly, I want to fully test whether our proposals for local government reorganisation meet the priorities of a new administration and a new prime minister, and any additional considerations.
“I do not take this lightly. I recognise the huge amount of work that has already gone into progressing reorganisation in each of these areas and I am very grateful for it.”
MHCLG said reorganisation in Surrey will not be affected by the review and the two new unitary authorities, East and West Surrey, will go live in April 2027.
MP calls for circumcisions by non-health professionals to be banned, as Commons debates amendments to health bill
Chris Osuh
Chris Osuh is a Guardian community affairs correspondent.
A proposal to ban anyone who is not a healthcare professional from performing circumcisions has been launched in parliament after the deaths of baby boys in the UK.
Sam Carling, Labour MP for North West Cambridgeshire, has tabled an amendment to the government’s health bill.
At present, anyone can legally circumcise in the UK. The amendment calls for non-therapeutic male circumcision to become a “regulated activity,” and follows coroner’s inquests and criminal prosecutions drawing attention to the risk of unregulated circumcisers.
Circumcision is routinely performed for religious and cultural reasons in some Black, Jewish and Muslim communities in Britain. Community organisations have been warning of the risks of the lack of regulation.
In a prevention of future deaths report published in January, the government was urged by a coroner to take action to avoid similar tragedies to the death of Mohamed Abdisamad, a baby who died of a streptococcus infection in February 2023, a week after being circumcised.
Since 2001, circumcision has been a factor in the deaths of seven boys.
Carling said:
The need to strengthen the regulation of non-therapeutic male circumcision could not be clearer. The tragic death of Mohamed Abdisamad in 2023, and other tragic deaths and serious injuries in recent years, have shown that the legal framework in this space is simply not good enough.
My amendment would enact the recommendations of the coroner in Mohamed’s case, who was clear that the status quo, in which anyone can perform a circumcision with no requirements on infection control measures or aftercare, would lead to future deaths.
Carling’s amendment would require circumcision to come under the inspection regime of the Care Quality Commission, and for integrated care boards to produce annual data on prevalence and complications of non- therapeutic male circumcision.
MPs will be debating report stage amendments to the health bill this evening, and it will get its third reading tomorrow.
Yvette Cooper, the new health secretary, is tabling a series of government amendments to the bill intended to strengthen local accountability and increase support for maternity services. Explaining the changes, a government source said:
Mandatory local government representation will be restored on the integrated care boards which manage health services around the country, reflecting Andy Burnham’s devolution agenda.
And a new role of maternity and neonatal commissioner will be created by the bill, reflecting Cooper’s personal prioritisation of maternity services and developed alongside the government’s maternity advisor Michelle Welsh (MP for Sherwood Forest).
Polanski faces challenge to be Greens’ candidate for Holborn and St Pancras, as most Greens on local council back rival
Peter Walker
Peter Walker is a senior Guardian political correspondent.
Zack Polanski is facing unexpected internal opposition in his bid to fight the Holborn and St Pancras byelection for the Greens, with a local councillor saying he is also seeking the nomination and that the seat needs a local MP, not “a politician you’ll only see on a leaflet”.
Hamza Chowdhury, a Green councillor on Camden council in north London, said in a post that he had received nomination from six other Greens, meaning seven of the 10 Greens on the council oppose Polanski being selected.
Among those backing him is Lorna Russell, the group leader in Camden for the Greens, who are the official opposition to Labour.
Polanski, the leader of the Greens in England and Wales, announced on Thursday that he would seek the nomination to fight the seat vacated by Keir Starmer, setting up a high-stakes byelection against Labour.
Local party members will vote later this week to select a candidate, and the Guardian has been told that they are broadly supportive of Polanski standing.
But such high-profile opposition is notable, especially given Chowdhury argued that Polanski, who currently lives in east London, would be unable to properly represent the area if he won.
Chowdhury wrote on Instagram:
I know Camden because I live it every day. I know the challenges facing our communities, our estates, our broken lifts, our unpicked bins, our unclean roads and endless housing register waiting list because these are the places I have grown up and continue to call home.
We don’t need another MP who arrives during an election campaign, puts out a few leaflets, makes a few promises and disappears once the votes are counted. We need an MP who is present, accessible and visibly part of the community all year round.
I am asking Green party members for the opportunity to represent your home truly and properly. I’m not asking you to vote for a politician you’ll only see on a leaflet. I’m asking you to choose someone who is already here.
The Sarah Jones statement about Portsmouth (see 1.18pm) will be the second of three ministerial statements this afternoon. There are no urgent questions.
At 3.30pm, before Jones, Angela Rayner, the communities secretary, will make a statement about local government reorganisation. That should last about an hour, and after Jones finishes, at about 5.30pm, Emma Reynolds, the chief secretary to the Treasury, will make a statement about economic growth.
Policing minister Sarah Jones to make statement to MPs on Portsmouth anti-migrant disruption
At the Downing Street lobby briefing the PM’s spokesperson condemned the behaviour of anti-migrant protesters who blocked roads in Portsmouth yesterday. He said: “Thuggish behaviour is unacceptable, we condemn it unreservedly.”
This was stronger than the initial response released by the Home Office yesterday, but in line with what Emma Reynolds, the chief secretary to the Treasury, said in interviews this morning. (See 8.59am.)
Sarah Jones, the policing minister, will give a statement to MPs on the disruption later this afternoon.
Asked if the government regarded the protests as “far-right”, the PM’s spokesperson said that dealing with them was an operational matter for the police, but that “any behaviour that is intimidatory and a cause of disruption to passengers and travellers is unacceptable”.
No 10 hits back at US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, after he accuses UK government of ‘Jew hate’
At the weekend Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, posted this on social media about the UK.
The Brits have lost it. The Jew hate of their government knows no boundaries and knows no facts
Huckabee was commenting on a tweet from the Israeli government criticising Ed Miliband, the foreign secretary, for comments about Israel’s record in Gaza.
Asked about Huckabee’s comment at the Downing Street lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson said:
We completely reject that assertion. We’re committed to protecting Jewish communities in the UK and continue to engage with community leaders and groups.
The government is investing almost £380m over three years, to protect Jewish communities, crack down on antisemitic extremism and hostile state activity, and tackle antisemitism in schools, universities and local communities.
The spokesperson would not say if the government had formally complained to the US authorities about Huckabee’s remark.
Jaguar Land Rover has announced thousands of job cuts in a “body blow for workers” as it grapples with tough trading conditions, Donald Trump’s tariff wars and the fallout from a cyber-attack. Rob Davies and Alex Daniel have the story.
Asked about this at the No 10 lobby briefing, the PM’s spokesperson said:
We understand that this will be an uncertain and concerning time for affected workers, their families and the wider communities.
And we know that current market conditions are challenging for the automotive sector globally. That’s why we’ve taken significant action to back the UK’s automotive industry by lowering electricity bills for manufacturers, providing £4bn of capital R and D funding to manufacture zero-emission vehicles and launching a £2bn electric car grant to encourage people to buy Evs.
The business secretary [Jonathan Reynolds] is in close contact with JLR and he will be meeting them early this week.
The spokesperson also confirmed that Reynolds has been “clear on his ruling out of any form of bailout”.
Hamish Falconer, appointed by Andy Burnham as minister for EU relations, has had his first official meeting with his EU opposite number, Maroš Šefčovič. In a social media post, Falconer says he wants “a more ambitious partnership”.
