For today's NS Morning Call, I wrote about Alan Milburn's landmark report on Neets and what this means for the govt. Ft references to my epic colleague @anooshc.bsky.social's not to be missed report on the subject from earlier this year. @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

My colleague @anooshc.bsky.social spoke to Alan Milburn while he was conducting his review into youth unemployment, and to some of the people affected: www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Lots of Today prog focus on young grads failing to get their first jobs, which is of course a problem - but here's the real Neet story, about the majority who are not only not working, but are now not applying to:

The debate over how the Green Party should play the Makerfield by-election intensified again this weekend. I offered my two cents in today's morning call (@newstatesman1913.bsky.social) www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Just spotted some discourse about the lanyard class, so I'm using that as an excuse to plug my visit to LanyardFest '26 www.newstatesman.com/politics/eco...

I wrote about the Green Party’s campaign in Makerfield after a turbulent 24 hrs in which its candidate selections had to be re-opened & also looked at whether the Greens standing aside would make that much difference to Burnham’s changes of success. @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

Superb piece from @meganekenyon.bsky.social at the Labour left's fury at the idea that they might accidentally have made Wes Streeting PM www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Scoop: Left-wing Labour MPs Chris Hinchliff and Neil Duncan-Jordan are launching a new "programme for change inside the Labour Party", called "Socialism 2026". @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/wes...

Our tracker is now on 40 MPs - latest is Rachael Maskell who said the Prime Minister "cannot continue" but urged caution about triggering a contest too quickly. @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Cat Eccles becomes the latest MP to be added to the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social s list of MPs calling for Keir Starmer to go. Brings our total up to 39 MPs. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

How would a Labour leadership election work? Here’s a handy guide by me for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social. After Catherine West’s unexpected intervention this weekend, read it if you want to understand what might come next!

Our tracker is on 29 MPs so far, who have called on Keir Starmer to resign follow this damaging set of results for Labour: www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Greens seeming to do v well in Manchester City Council elections - expected to take around 15 of the 32 seats up for grabs (they have currently taken 14). Labour, meanwhile, have lost 17 seats.

Soft-left sources denying that there are no safe-Labour seats left for Burnham: "It might be true that there are no safe Labour seats, but there are safe Burnham seats. His personal popularity and brand is strong enough to return him to parliament - anyone who denies this is denying reality."

Garbett elected with 47.2 per cent of the vote

NEW: Zoe Garbett has been elected mayor of Hackney in a big win for the Greens in one of their main target areas. The party has never had a mayor before.

New: Understand Zack Polanski will be attending the Hackney count later today. Green Party clearly confident they will win there.

A fiery take from a soft-left source who texts: "Rejected by the public. Increasingly rejected by his own party. If Keir truly listens to these results he will set out a date for his departure. If he doesn’t, he’ll go down in history as the man whose hubris killed the Labour Party."

Green target results not expected till later today but party sources sounding predictably confident. One tells me the party is feeling good about taking Hackney Mayor - though not complacent - and is still confident of a breakthrough in the Senedd but perhaps not with multiple seats.

Reform has taken its first London borough - Havering. The @newstatesman1913.bsky.social ran an on-the-ground report from Havering by Maya Sall this weekend - read it here. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

“Margaret Thatcher ruined my life. I moved from south Wales to south London, and it’s still shit.” Great report from Lambeth by @meganekenyon.bsky.social - England's 2nd most-complained-about council, where Morgan McSweeney cut his teeth + local Labour figures admit “the energy is with the Greens”

A century of Labour hegemony in Wales could be ended in one night - brilliant report around the country on perhaps the most symbolic election coming up on polling day by @meganekenyon.bsky.social:

An interesting development that could happen after 7 May is the Welsh Green Party seeking independence from the central party. This would mean Welsh Greens forming a similar arrangement to Scottish Greens, who split in 1990. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Statements that have now come to light from a handful of @TheGreenParty candidates are totally unacceptable & require immediate action. There’s no place for anti-semitism or any hate speech in the party. This is a society-wide problem & needs to be rooted out wherever it’s found

This is a great on-the-ground dispatch from Stevenage by our @anooshc.bsky.social in the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social today. Read it ahead of the vote on Thursday! A big week for British politics. www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

“This was a quiet neighbourhood, I never heard of any terrorist attacks or murders when I was growing up here as a kid. Sadiq Khan says this is the safest city in the world. Well, where’s the safety for us?” My report from Golders Green on how terror came to suburbia:

🚨Excl: In an interview with @NewStatesman, climate minister Katie White has said “Labour is the greenest party in terms of the climate agenda” and accused Zack Polanski of “greenwashing”. @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Featuring a trip to the pub with Neil Kinnock and more than one manifesto launch. Could 100 years of Labour hegemony in Wales be about to be brought to a close? @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

“Welsh Labour has been in power in the Senedd for 27 years. Yet in 2026, the air of quiet confidence that once defined Cardiff Bay has become stagnant” My report from Wales - Port Talbot, Cardiff, Swansea, Cwmbran, and Wrexham (among other places) - ahead of a historic Senedd election.

My piece on today's session of PMQs featuring two calls for the PM to resign, some sidestepping about whether Matthew Doyle was ever in line for an ambassadorial post and Labour MPs losing patience.

Interesting insights from @keiranpedley.bsky.social in this great @meganekenyon.bsky.social piece - “The Greens have got great potential, but there is a bit of a ceiling… they’ve got a way to go with older voters, part of that is a values thing.”

Excl: Half of Londoners are considering voting for Zack Polanski's Green Party in the upcoming local elections according to new polling by @ipsosintheuk.bsky.social, shared with the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

The government will unveil plans later today to de-link gas and electricity prices. I wrote about what that actually means and why it’s politically important for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/mil...

Over the weekend, I wrote about the mood among Labour MPs over the Mandelson affair. Things aren't much better this morning. One MP texts: "It's over. Even supporters want Keir to go." Read all about it in my piece for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social here: www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

I wrote about the resignation en masse of Your Party’s Interim Scottish Executive Committee and what this could reveal about the party’s future for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Excl: Around 200 Green councillors and candidates have signed a pledge promising to “oppose austerity” in local government ahead of 7 May.

New @newstatesman1913.bsky.social pod! @meganekenyon.bsky.social and I unpick how green the Green Party actually is:

New: Tensions have been brewing between Plaid Cymru and the Welsh Green Party in recent days after the latter described the former as "not a left-wing party". But if the polls are to be believed the two could be working together in the Senedd after 7 May. @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

"a pro-PR campaign is building within the Parliamentary Labour Party. Each MP involved is convinced that it won’t be long until something has to give." ✍️ @meganekenyon.bsky.social @newstatesman1913.bsky.social #Labour4PR #ElectoralReform #Democracy #Westminster www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Will Labour embrace electoral reform? The party has an uneasy relationship with the idea of changing voting systems. But looking at the path set by staying with FPTP, a growing section of the PLP is beginning to agitate for change. My start of the week report for @newstatesman1913.bsky.social

Yes I think! Maybe self-serving as an example think tanker, but Westminster think tanks are much smaller and lower capacity than I expect many people imagine. And the Greens especially poorly served relative to their potential influence.

Does Westminster need another new think tank? Verdant - a new Green Party adjacent think tank set up by James Meadway and Deborah Doane - will launch later today. Read my preview of what we might expect from this new Green policy factory for the @newstatesman1913.bsky.social to find out.

from Fraser Nelson:

A piece to start the week on what the Labour left is up to: from hosting receptions in the basement of Whitehall Pubs to forming alliances ahead of September's NEC elections and anxiety over possible trigger ballots.... @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/202...

What happens next for Your Party? With the party’s first electoral test coming up on 7 May, I interviewed Jeremy Corbyn and Your Party chair, Jenifer Forbes to find out For @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

For this week's @newstatesman1913.bsky.social, I took a look at the British right using the pretext of falling birth rates to suddenly get very interested in what goes on in people's bedrooms, and why we should be wary www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Is Unite’s relationship with Labour coming to an end? One Labour MP told me the news that Unite had cut its affiliation budget by 40 per cent was "very bad". @newstatesman1913.bsky.social www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...

Labour MPs weigh up rebellion over jury trials Frustration with the government could encourage the backbenches to oppose the reforms @meganekenyon.bsky.social

This was an interesting one to dig into - my report looking at how Zack Polanski and the Green Party are thinking about their position on defence and, in particular, on Nato.

Super interesting reporting from @meganekenyon.bsky.social on Zack Polanski's Nato position, and whether the issue could yet split the Green party www.newstatesman.com/politics/uk-...