A real pleasure to interview Sir Michael Lyons for @thehousemag.bsky.social Sir Michael chaired the independent New Towns Taskforce which the government commissioned after last year's election. He tells me how ministers can make their grand plan a reality: www.politicshome.com/news/article...

My @thehousemag.bsky.social interview with Mel Stride: 🔵Is keeping the pension triple lock an example of 'living within our means'? 🔵Will Tories change PIP to voucher-led system? 🔵Would he have resigned if he'd made Reeves' rental licence error? www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Juliana Süß, from defence think tank RUSI points to China’s growing capabilities in space. “China has thrown everything they have up into space...For them, space is tied to the China dream." Story from @noahvickers.bsky.social www.politicshome.com/news/article...

EXCL: MPs in parliaments around the world tell @thehousemag.bsky.social they are concerned about China's proposed UK embassy. Lawmakers as far away as New Zealand fear that cabling beneath the site could present security risks not just for the UK but globally www.politicshome.com/news/article...

"We Are Very Exposed": How Should The UK Protect Its Economy From Cyber-Attacks?

The Home Office confirms to me that it does not keep a record of what sensitivity settings police are using when they deploy live facial recognition (LFR) cameras, despite concerns over the technology's accuracy and civil liberty impacts www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Live facial recognition cameras have been used by police for years. With a government consultation on the way, MPs and campaigners are demanding safeguards on the technology, reports @noahvickers.bsky.social

“We’re at a very low spot right now, and there’s no guarantee that things can’t get worse," admits Tory chair Kevin Hollinrake He insists Badenoch can turn it around — but signs of progress are needed by May — and says "if you want revolution, then vote Reform" He spoke to @noahvickers.bsky.social

In their search for alternative forms of asylum accommodation, ministers will be forced to balance a range of competing factors, including cost, speed of procurement and equity of dispersal. What will they choose? My piece for @thehousemag.bsky.social www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Will Labour really expand Heathrow Airport? ✈️ Expansions have already been approved at City, Luton and Gatwick, but the scheme at Heathrow is far larger - and will face significant resistance from within the party. My feature for @thehousemag.bsky.social www.politicshome.com/news/article...

👷 Housing Minister Can't Guarantee New Towns Affordable Homes Target Will Be Met www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Matthew Pennycook can't guarantee to @noahvickers.bsky.social that the government will hit its affordable homes target in the New Towns programme... www.politicshome.com/news/article...

NEW: Housing minister Matthew Pennycook refuses to guarantee that government will hit its target for 40% of New Town homes to be affordable. Comes after Chris Curtis MP admits "I don’t think anybody thinks it’s going to be always 40% across the board" www.politicshome.com/news/article...

You can keep up to date with which senior ministers and Labour-affiliated unions have announced their endorsement for either Bridget Phillipson or Lucy Powell as the next deputy leader of the Labour Party on @politicshome.bsky.social 👇 www.politicshome.com/news/article...

I didn't have Trump down as a Stansted man myself but I suppose none of us is immune to the glamour of taking a Greater Anglia train to Tottenham Hale

🚨 The latest edition of The House magazine is out now in Parliament! Sample it here: www.politicshome.com/house-magazi... If you want the latest interviews, opinion, political analysis and more sent to your door, get 25% off using the code HOUSE25 here: www.tpgroupshop.com/store/produc...

Another e.g of the risk for Reform in alienating potential voters through odd/conspiratorial/online takes. The anti-vax stuff is most shocking. But here's (h/t @noahvickers.bsky.social) some climate change scepticism, + Tice playing down species decline in his Express iview ("dinosaurs disappeared")

"I believed in going down with a sinking ship, because I was loyal to the end where that was concerned." In the @thehousemag.bsky.social, Dame Andrea Jenkyns tells me about her journey from the Tories to Reform and her plans as mayor of Lincolnshire www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Fascinating to chat with Dr James Orr, the 'intellectual architect of Britain's new right' who is chairing the advisory board of a new Reform-linked think tank - the Centre for a Better Britain. www.politicshome.com/news/article...

"It is not often possible to recommend a TV series as compelling as Adam Curtis’ Shifty" 📺 Baroness Tessa Blackstone reviews 'Shifty' | #BBCiPlayer #shifty bit.ly/4nXuNg4

Susan Hall, leader of the Conservatives in City Hall, will face no disciplinary action after sharing an AI-generated image of Sadiq Khan drowning The post sparked outrage in London Labour, @noahvickers.bsky.social reports

NEW: Former London Tory mayoral candidate Susan Hall will face no disciplinary action after sharing on X an AI-generated image of Sadiq Khan drowning. The monitoring officer found Hall did not break the GLA code of conduct and will not investigate further www.politicshome.com/news/article...

Listen carefully: How AI is changing Britain's GP surgeries

"The fact that this is happening tells you very much about the wild west that we’re in... It does feel a little bit like a free-for-all." My latest @thehousemag.bsky.social piece examines how AI is changing Britain's GP surgeries - from consultation to triage. www.politicshome.com/news/article...

💊The NHS is battling "medieval" levels of untreated illness in some of Britain's poorest communities – at a cost to the health service of about £50bn a year, or the same as the defence budget. My big read from Barrow, Blackpool, Burnley and Blackburn: www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

www.lbc.co.uk/opinion/view... First column I've written for LBC

Here's the full Lucy Powell interview, which gave people a right old fit of the vapours over the weekend

NEW: My @thehousemag.bsky.social cover interview with Commons Leader Lucy Powell. We discuss: 💬 Getting rid of 'arcane' language 🕹️ Whether the Commons needs electronic voting 💰 Are MPs paid the right amount? 🌹 Will she run for Greater Manchester mayor? www.politicshome.com/news/article...

NEW: A sneak preview in @thetimes.com of my interview with Leader of the House of Commons Lucy Powell. 📰 Full interview coming on Monday in @thehousemag.bsky.social 👇 www.thetimes.com/uk/politics/...

My latest report for @thehousemag.bsky.social explores the government's attempts at tackling school absenteeism. But are poor attendance rates, in the long shadow of the Covid lockdowns, simply a symptom of longer-term failure to properly support our children? www.politicshome.com/news/article...

🚨Applications are open for a month-long paid fellowship with Parliament’s magazine, The House. 🗞️ The scheme is open to anyone over the age of 18 🗞️You will be paid a London Living Wage & provided with accommodation 🗞️ Any questions, drop me a message! totalpoliticsgroup.bamboohr.com/careers/73?s...

Ahead of the spending review announcement, @matildamartin.bsky.social, Noah Vickers & I spoke to London Labour MPs who urged the Chancellor to not deal a "major blow" to the capital But non-London mayors pushed back, with one source close to a mayor saying London had "always had special treatment"

Two Labour MPs representing seats in London have told PoliticsHome that it would be "shocking" and a "major blow" if reported Spending Review decisions relating to the capital come to pass on Wednesday Report @matildamartin.bsky.social, @zoecrowther.bsky.social and @noahvickers.bsky.social

Wonder how many years south east Londoners will have to make do with a 'Bakerloop' bus instead of the Bakerloo line extension, in light of this morning's reporting www.standard.co.uk/news/transpo...

Pls pass this on to any aspiring political journalist- especially those that might not be able afford unpaid internships in London totalpoliticsgroup.bamboohr.com/careers/73?s...

Sadiq Khan's drug policy review is interesting because it was a 2021 manifesto pledge made in an era of endless Tory rule and it's now been published under a Labour government where.... Yvette Cooper's home office immediately rejected its main recommendation.

158!

My debut in @thehousemag.bsky.social 👇 Resisting the urge to call it a "deep dive" into reservoirs... Many thanks to @jess-n1.bsky.social, Sir Roger Gale MP and @juliabuckley.bsky.social for sharing their insights www.politicshome.com/news/article...

🚨 Today was my last day as local democracy reporter at @thelondonstandard.bsky.social, after more than two very enjoyable years covering Sadiq Khan and the London Assembly. Excited to be staying on the politics beat by joining @thehousemag.bsky.social as a staff writer, starting in June! 📝

Developer building hundreds of new properties next to Camden Market wants to provide less than half the amount of affordable housing it said it would two years ago, citing economic challenges. City Hall says it is "robustly interrogating" the evidence... www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

Horrendous findings in this research from @citizensuk.org - more than 70,000 households now living in temporary accommodation across London. Some children spend their whole childhoods there, living alongside homeless pensioners well into their 90s in some cases www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

Experts warn @londonassembly.bsky.social environment committee that climate change - in particular the periods of drought we're now seeing - is causing several London tree species to decline, damaging the capital's green canopy... www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

NEW: London’s boroughs are being forced to cut their spending on council housing by a real-terms total of £264m over the next three years, according to a new analysis by the city's local government association. www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

The Mayor of London's affordable housing target has been slashed by more than 6,000 homes, having already been reduced substantially under the last Government. My analysis on @thelondonstandard.bsky.social podcast 👇 open.spotify.com/episode/3BKX...

NEW: London's deputy mayor for planning, Jules Pipe, has granted permission for a new 46-storey student accommodation tower in Canary Wharf with almost 1,000 bedrooms. He overrules Tower Hamlets Council, who complained it would attract “anti-social activity” www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

Sadiq Khan: Labour must be 'humble' and 'reflect' after local election results I ask the mayor whether the party needs to change course on its planned cuts to disability benefits... www.standard.co.uk/news/politic...

Wandsworth becomes the latest borough to join London's e-scooter trial, meaning that the scheme now covers a third of the capital's local authorities 🛴 www.standard.co.uk/news/transpo...

Exclusive: Sadiq Khan launches £300,000 Summer Streets Fund in bid to boost al fresco dining and late-night openings. It comes not long after government announced it will give the mayor new licensing powers to 'call in' applications in nightlife hotspots www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...

NEW: Why has Sadiq Khan u-turned over development on London’s green belt? My full interview with the mayor as he unveiled his new proposals in Kidbrooke today 📰 👇 www.standard.co.uk/news/london/...