Excl: Angela Rayner’s allies are urging her to move against Starmer the moment local election results land - warning any delay hands Wes Streeting time to lock up MPs. www.thetimes.com/article/a9d3...

EXCL: Angela Rayner will use a speech this week to call for “bolder action” from Sir Keir Starmer’s government, echoing a challenge from Labour MPs who have warned the prime minister’s “caution & incrementalism” is paving the way for a populist takeover of Britain. www.thetimes.com/article/4c74...

Excl: Angela Rayner will back the government on controversial reforms to special educational needs as the former deputy prime minister seeks to put on a united front with Sir Keir Starmer before the local elections. www.thetimes.com/article/ee41...

Excl: AI apps such as Grok will be banned if they can be used to “nudify” women online, as part of a package of concessions designed to quell the anger of female Labour MPs www.thetimes.com/article/ccb6...

Excl: Ministers have rejected calls for a new legal power that would allow the government to ban groups such as Palestine Action without designating them as terrorist organisations www.thetimes.com/article/fa4b...

Excl: Angela Rayner will show her strengths as a “political street fighter” before any challenge to Sir Keir Starmer, allies have said, as she spends the next month campaigning around the country in the run-up to the local elections. www.thetimes.com/article/70eb...

Excl: Dame Antonia Romeo has tightened her grip on No 10 and Whitehall as she became the first cabinet secretary in a decade to publish her personal objectives. www.thetimes.com/article/fa65...

Breaking: Ministers have BANNED Kanye West from travelling to the UK. He applied yesterday for an electronic travel authorisation (ETA) but the government has blocked his permission to travel on the grounds that his presence in the UK would not be conducive to the public good.

Freeze on income tax thresholds ‘will wipe out energy bill cut’ www.thetimes.com/article/9531...

Excl: A London council has been accused of “marginalising the Jewish community” after it quietly signed a twinning agreement with a Palestinian city whose officials have been accused of praising terrorists and celebrating the October 7 attacks on Israel. www.thetimes.com/article/e82d...

Excl: Small businesses face a £181 million hit from plans that require them to allow paid trade union recruitment meetings in the workplace. www.thetimes.com/article/67f1...

Trigger warning: lame, emotional and overdone. I don’t really do humble, but I do do grateful. All because of my nanny, my mum, and every woman who refused to believe where you start is where you have to end up. #WiW100

NEW: Britain will impose visa bans on four countries after ministers concluded that student and work visas were being systematically exploited to gain entry to the asylum system. www.thetimes.com/article/b1e2...

Excl: Ban London march linked to Iranian regime, MPs demand www.thetimes.com/article/c238...

Excl: Ministers will ban online pornography which depicts violent and degrading acts such as rape and incest, The Times understands. Websites will be held to the same standard as pornographic videos sold in sex shops, and will be forced to remove illegal, harmful or abusive content.

Excl: @Keir_Starmer writes how his late brother’s struggle “just to be seen, to count” inspired Send overhaul. The PM says his brother Nick, who died the Christmas before last, “belonged in mainstream society … these children also belong in mainstream schooling.” www.thetimes.com/article/0d3c...

Excl: Bosses could be forced by law to let employees work from home www.thetimes.com/article/e255...

Islamophobia definition ‘could stifle free speech’ www.thetimes.com/article/2315...

Excl: Ministers ‘rely on secret note to approve Chinese mega-embassy’ www.thetimes.com/article/ff4c...

Excl: Britain is facing “post-modern total warfare” as intimidation of politicians intensifies before the next general election, while hostile states, Islamist groups and activist movements are accused of exploiting weaknesses in the country’s democratic system. www.thetimes.com/article/358d...

Single-sex spaces guidance delayed as Phillipson waits for costings www.thetimes.com/article/6d5e...

Excl: Taxpayers to be kept in dark over cost of public sector union duties www.thetimes.com/article/d4ae...

Excl: Doctors’ strike left abused women in danger, says government adviser www.thetimes.com/article/48b7...

Boiling live lobsters to be banned under animal rights reforms www.thetimes.com/article/c994...

Excl: Prosecutors will attempt to overturn the acquittal of a man who was convicted for burning the Quran, reigniting fears Britain could introduce “blasphemy laws by the back door”. www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/art...

Excl: Bosses who indulge in “banter” or turn a blind eye to staff doing the same could be guilty of harassment under sweeping new equalities guidance. buff.ly/IhdQBT2

Bridget Phillipson to ‘take her time’ to publish trans guidance www.thetimes.com/article/03bb...

Excl: Trans people can be questioned over their bio sex & ultimately banned from single-sex spaces based on how they look, guidance submitted to ministers says. The Times has been leaked the final EHRC guidance submitted to the govt almost three months ago. www.thetimes.com/article/82ee...

New: If the goal had been to puncture Wes Streeting’s growing appeal, the last 24hrs has done exactly the opposite. My read on the (actual lack of) organising to topple Starmer, and what those in Labour think now 👇🏻 www.thetimes.com/article/1cd8...

Excl: Tory frontbencher apologises after police called to guest’s drunken Parliament bar row www.thetimes.com/article/3bd9...

One million more people claim benefits without need to look for job www.thetimes.com/article/46aa...

Excl: Angela Rayner could be ‘kingmaker’ in picking next Labour leader www.thetimes.com/article/27c2...

David Lammy has been accused by Cabinet ministers of “cowardice” and incompetence over his handling of the accidental release of a second convicted sex offender, with some saying his Commons response showed poor judgement. www.thetimes.com/article/a734...

EXCL: A north London Islamic education centre has been banned from hosting Scouts amid fears it was a front to expose children to Iran-linked extremism. The Scouts suspended meetings after being alerted by The Times. www.thetimes.com/article/e794...

Excl w/ @georgiamay.bsky.social: Sheffield Hallam, accused of dropping slave labour research after pressure from China, ignored repeated calls to report foreign interference. www.thetimes.com/article/34e7...

Excl: Reform councils to raise tax for 2m households despite pledging cuts www.thetimes.com/article/0296...

EXCL: Counterterrorism police officers are examining claims that a British university broke national security laws by halting an academic’s research into forced labour in China after facing pressure from Beijing. www.thetimes.com/article/5640...

Nigel Farage: We’re the workers’ party but can’t promise tax cuts www.thetimes.com/article/11c2...

Rachel Reeves is considering more than one hundred separate tax and spending measures as she barters with the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) over the size of the financial shortfall. www.thetimes.com/article/0d69...

Excl: Rules that would ban transgender people from using facilities that do not match their biological sex could be delayed for more than a year, it has emerged, as ministers were accused of “undermining the law” by demanding extra checks. www.thetimes.com/article/d7cd...

Excl: Home sec Shabana Mahmood says the grooming gangs inquiry won’t be “watered down on my watch” and is determined ethnicity and religion will be examined. Comes after four victims quit the process and minister Jess Phillips was accused of lying. www.thetimes.com/article/7703...

Intervention from Europe's human rights watchdog has gone down *badly* with some in govt, amid push to reform the ECHR from the inside. Shabana Mahmood especially is said to take a "dim view" & allies say issue of trans rights after Supreme Court's judgement is "beyond reproach". buff.ly/boX2dUz

Excl: Bridget Phillipson has been accused of delaying guidance on single-sex spaces until after Labour’s deputy leadership race over concerns that she could lose support from some MPs www.thetimes.com/article/c72c...

Excl: UN Refugee Convention ‘is next target’ in fight to deport migrants www.thetimes.com/article/7627...

Excl: Keir Starmer’s security adviser ‘too close to China’ and should go, ministers warn www.thetimes.com/article/0e8a...

Angela Rayner unlikely to face investigation over car use www.thetimes.com/article/cf8b...

Women’s rights campaigners banned from Green Party conference www.thetimes.com/article/771e...

The meteoric rise and spectacular fall of Angela Rayner www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

What now? Labour figures are already speculating about how vulnerable this leaves Starmer to a leadership challenge. One source says it leaves him "significantly" exposed because anyone who would have challenged Starmer, but didn't want to go up against Rayner, would feel more confident.

As I reported last night, the EHRC has submitted its revised code. Baroness Falkner said this AM: "If people are expecting us to do something outwit the law, I'm afraid they're going to be terribly disappointed with us." buff.ly/pQudWX3