Andy Burnham used his first foreign visit as prime minister to promise Ukraine declassified blueprints for Storm Shadow long-range missiles, prompting the Kremlin to accuse Britain of "adding fuel to the fire". Reform UK set out plans to evict social housing tenants over unkempt gardens, Downing Street backed Ofcom action against platforms hosting dangerous-driving videos, and ministers opened a review of business rates for pubs and hotels. This is UKFCP's 24 hours in politics round-up.
Parliament remains in summer recess, with MPs due back in the Commons in September to face decisions on welfare, migration and prisons that Burnham has largely deferred during his first month in office. Chancellor John Healey's first Budget is still pending, with July borrowing already running ahead of forecasts.
Burnham in Kyiv
Burnham travelled to Kyiv on Monday for Ukraine's independence day, his first foreign trip since taking office, to announce that Britain will declassify information about Storm Shadow components so Ukraine can build its own long-range missiles. The visit coincided with a gathering of "coalition of the willing" leaders in the capital, where Volodymyr Zelenskyy pressed allies for more air defence.
Moscow, which had warned of "consequences" over the reported use of British drones by Ukraine, said the move would escalate tensions. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Britain was "methodically and regularly throwing oil on the fire". Burnham said the UK was with Ukraine "all the way" despite what he called "outrageous threats", comparing the war to Britain's fight against Nazi Germany.
Reform UK targets social housing tenants
Reform UK said social housing tenants would be evicted if they failed to keep their gardens well maintained under a Reform government, as part of a wider policy to remove foreign nationals from social homes and prioritise young British-born couples. The plans were set out by the party chair, Lee Anderson.
Labour called the policy "unserious and unworkable" and accused Reform of pushing "gimmicks and division", saying it would hit long-term UK residents including NHS staff. The housing charity Shelter said the proposals were "designed to stoke division" and would "tear communities apart".
No 10 backs Ofcom action on driving videos
The government gave its full backing to Ofcom to take "tough action" against social media platforms that fail to remove videos depicting dangerous driving, after a crash on the A66 near Middlesbrough on Saturday that killed seven people. Downing Street said glorifying dangerous driving "for clips and entertainment is utterly disgraceful" and that platforms were legally obliged to take such content down.
Burnham described the sharing of the videos as "truly reprehensible". The defence minister Luke Pollard said there was "no place" for the trend, which shows drivers travelling the wrong way down roads, while noting that police "need time" to investigate the crash.
Business rates review for pubs and hotels
Ministers promised that business rate valuations would be "made fairer" for pubs and hotels in England and Wales, launching a review of how rates are calculated ahead of the next revaluation date in 2029. The government said the work could lead to reform of the system.
The announcement came as Burnham faced growing calls to do more for the struggling hospitality sector, with the Budget still to come.
Also in the last 24 hours
- Rupert Lowe, the leader of Restore Britain, is on course to earn as much from posting on X as from his MP's salary, at rates of up to £1,476 an hour, according to the Guardian; critics said the platform was financially incentivising inflammatory content.
- Survivors of violent crime and victims' families accused the Ministry of Justice of announcing "world first" restriction zones for freed offenders before a working system was ready.
- Britain and Ukraine struck a deal to train AI models on Ukrainian battlefield data to protect UK defence sites, railways and energy plants from hostile states and protesters.
- A woman legally settled in the UK was stranded at a Spanish airport after the Home Office's eVisa system confused her with her twin sister, a problem officials have described as a known issue.
- A freedom of information request found 65 items from parliament's publicly owned art collection have gone missing since 2024, including a photograph of Benjamin Disraeli and an engraved portrait of William Wilberforce.
- The Resolution Foundation said UK productivity is growing faster than official figures suggest, indicating the economy may be emerging from the shadow of the 2008 financial crisis.
- Graduate job vacancies have fallen by almost 50% in a year to their lowest level since 2016, according to the jobs site Adzuna.
- Michael Gove attacked the scrapping of compulsory GCSE resits in England as "bringing back stupid", a decision defended in the Guardian by Polly Toynbee.
- Pro-Palestine activists from the group People Against Genocide occupied a Martin-Baker aircraft parts factory over the company's links to Israel.
- Creditors seeking to take control of Thames Water named three proposed directors with water, infrastructure and Whitehall experience as they try to win government approval for a bailout.
MPs return to the Commons in September, when the government's decisions on welfare, migration and prisons — and the Budget timetable — come back into view.
Join the Discussion
Have something to say? Join the conversation!
Sign in to share your thoughts and engage with other readers.
Sign In Create AccountNo comments yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this article!