Politics - Friday, May 22, 2026

Senate Republicans pulled their ICE and Border Patrol funding bill after backlash over a $1.776 billion compensation fund created without Congress.

Exclusive: Top British official presented idea in Brussels but sources say it was rebuffed The UK government pitched the creation of a single market for goods with the EU as the cornerstone of an ambitious attempt to reintegrate British trade back into Europe, the Guardian can reveal. During recent visits to Brussels, the Cabinet Office’s top official on EU relations, Michael Ellam, presented the idea to deepen the UK’s economic relationship with the bloc. Continue reading...

President Trump posthumously awards the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 9/11 hero Welles Crowther ahead of the terrorist attacks' 25th anniversary year.

The parents of slain college freshman Sheridan Gorman spoke at a Trump rally, demanding leaders fight sanctuary policies they say failed their daughter.

Kilmar Abrego Garcia's human smuggling indictment was dismissed by a federal judge who cited 'vindictive' prosecution. The DOJ says it will appeal.

NYC sanctuary city audits accuse federal immigration authorities of using misleading tactics, including posing as fire officials at city shelters.

Replacement scheme worth about 40% less than current funding greeted with scepticism by headteachers Funding for primary school sport in England is to be cut by Labour, including the abolition of a grant designed to cement the 2012 Olympic legacy, to the dismay of school leaders. The Department for Education (DfE) said that the £320m fund paid directly to primary schools each year through its PE and sports premium would be scrapped and replaced by a “sport partnerships network” worth £193m a year to cover primary and secondary schools. Continue reading...

Reform UK Makerfield team reportedly arrived as cafe run by people with special needs was holding celebration event The founder of a community group has asked Nigel Farage to apologise after the Reform UK leader and his entourage entered its cafe unannounced in what she said was an “intimidating and overwhelming” manner, and allegedly took photographs and videos without permission. Farage was campaigning in Makerfield when he and his team stopped at a cafe run by the Hamlet Wigan CIC for a cup of tea and to use the toilets. The cafe supports young adult trainees with additional needs. Continue reading...

Consumer giveaways may soften the blow from the the war on Iran. But Britain’s vulnerability demands deeper state intervention and a faster transition Rachel Reeves’s announcement of a series of cost of living measures this week shows a government trying to prove it still has agency and relevance. The VAT cuts on summer attractions such as theme parks and soft-play centres, free bus rides for the under-16s in England and reduced import tariffs on food are politically useful, but they do not fundamentally alter the UK’s exposure to imported energy shocks. This is a mini-budget, with the emphasis on the mini. The inflationary impact of the Iran crisis, however, will be substantial. That is why the chancellor is moving into crisis-management mode with industrial resilience funds and thinly veiled threats to tax profiteers . But it is unlikely to be enough. The repercussions from the closure of the strait of Hormuz are reviving the need for more radical state fiscal intervention. Ms Reeves moved pre-emptively because the energy regulator is next week expected to announce that energy bills are likely to rise by £209 to £1,850 a year for a typical dual-fuel household from July. That is ​an increase of 13% on the current £1,641 ​annual bill. It will be a direct hit to household disposable incomes – and Labour’s central political claim that the cost of living crisis is easing on its watch. Worse may still be to come. If households absorb a summer rise in bills and then face costs rising again before winter, the government risks a return to the levels of financial anxiety felt after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Do you have an opinion on the issues raised in this article? If you would like to submit a response of up to 300 words by email to be considered for publication in our letters section, please click here . Continue reading...

The divisions are clear, but there’s more common ground than one might expect within the coalition, a Times/Siena poll shows.