NEW: Safeguarding minister Jess Phillips resigns from government. "The desire not to have an argument means we rarely make an argument, leaving opportunities for progress stalled and delayed."

"Keir Starmer realises that this would be the seventh PM since Brexit - it is 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘥. "It makes us a national joke if we cannot, as a nation, hold on to a PM more than 18 months." Is Starmer's refusal to go a sign of arrogance, or an attempt to avoid another psychodrama?

10 GAINS in Huntingdonshire make the Lib Dems the largest party, winning 20 Councillors. 🔶

West Sussex county elections have gone well for LibDems 🔶🔶🔶🔶 www.horshamlibdems.org.uk/news/article...

Liberal Democrats GAIN East Surrey 🔶 40 Councillors 💪 34 gains

Liberal Democrats GAIN West Surrey 🔶 56 Councillors 💪 34 gains

Lib Dems WIN 13 Councillors in East Sussex 🔶

8 sets of gains in a row - it's our best ever winning streak at local elections. We are the party for those who want to build Britain up, not burn it all down.

#RefUK already dismantling the mechanisms for democratic scrutiny and accountability at Kent County Council. The @libdems.org.uk - Opposition Leader, @antonyhook.bsky.social is not standing for any of their shenanigans. www.maidstonelibdems.co.uk/news/article...

Certainly hope so. #RefUK’s funding must be thoroughly scrutinised. Eg “personal,” £5m donation to Farage.

Nobody believed my bullshit story about security so I'm going to say my computer was hacked. Anything's better than being honest and just admitting that I should have declared the £5 million.

Lib Dems WIN 20 Councillors in West Oxfordshire and are the biggest party on the council 🔶

Lib Dems make a fantastic 13 GAINS in West Sussex 🔶

Well done Team West Sussex 🔶

If Labour is going to spend the next few months arguing about who should be PM, they should at least agree on one thing: these damaging red lines on Europe have to go. A customs union is vital to grow our economy and to tackle the cost-of-living crisis.

Liberal Democrats WIN 8 Councillors in Barnsley 🗳️

🔶 Wokingham - RESULT DECLARED (19 out of 54 seats up) 🔶LDM: 29 (+1) 🔵CON: 19 (-) 🔴LAB: 5 (-1) 🟢GRN: 1 (-) LIB DEM HOLD🎉 Many congratulations to Wokingham Lib Dems 🥳

Well done Team Wokingham 🔶

We all know the best way to deliver desperately needed economic growth: a closer relationship with Europe. Yet the PM's reset plan is far too unambitious. Leading Labour leadership contenders must put the country first and commit to fixing our broken relationship with Europe if they enter No. 10.

You won't hear it from the media, but the Liberal Democrats just had an incredible set of results. We held off Reform, won more councillors than the Greens and trounced the Conservatives Right cross the country people are backing us to deliver the real change they deserve. 🔶

Lib Dems HOLD Tunbridge Wells 🔶

Well done Team Tunbridge Wells 🔶

#RefUK Leader promoting tax avoidance for the super wealthy, whilst whinging and whining about the cost to society of refugees. Is there a bigger populist policy position of hypocrisy?

I am disgusted by this motion, containing many false claims, that the ruling Reform Group have put down for full council next Thursday. I'll have 3 mins to speak against it. It's so bad I don't know where to begin. 1. Reform UK Group - Illegal Migration Emergency.pdf share.google/jdeiVw9XC2eo...

Delighted that Reform's motion has been pulled from Thursday's agenda. I registered a number of objections with the Monitoring Officer, that several of the factual assertions are demonstrably, objectively untrue and arguably amount to Islamaphobia.

In Putin’s Orbit: The Crypto Politics of Jeffrey Epstein and Peter Thiel  – Byline Times bylinetimes.com/2026/02/03/i...

Over 80% of 16 to 24-year-olds would vote to rejoin the EU in a new referendum, an exclusive poll for ITV has found. - Brexit is suffering a generational death. Good riddance! www.itv.com/news/2026-02...

The government is consulting the public on the future of @bbcnews-uk-rss.bsky.social Complete the form online to have your views heard. www.gov.uk/government/c...

The United Kingdom is at its best when we’re true to our values: tolerance, decency, respect for individual freedom and the rule of law. We can't let Nigel Farage throw that all away by turning Britain into Trump’s America. Choose a brighter future with the Liberal Democrats.

Its no surprise that centrist, moderate people who once voted Conservative are now supporting the Liberal Democrats. www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Call on your MP to support @werahobhouse.org.uk’s call for safer infrastructure, and to support @cyclinguk.bsky.social’s #MyRideOurRight campaign,

@timfarron.bsky.social is correct. Illegal waste sites avoiding landfill tax has become as big a scourge of post #Brexit Britain as unlimited #RawSewage disposals in water courses. Local sites: Hoads Wood (Ashford), Basser Hill (Sittingbourne), Raspberry Hill Park Farm, Borstal (Rochester).

Reform’s candidate for Redcar, Mike Manning, has hurled sickening insults at Jewish and Muslim communities. Farage must kick his candidate out and make clear these kinds of awful views have no place in British politics.

We cannot allow #RefUK’s mini-Trump to turn the UK into mini-ICE UK.

Nigel Farage wants every police officer in the UK to carry a gun. Don't let him turn Britain into his version of Trump's America.

Post Monday’s @ukhouseofcommons.bsky.social petitions C’ttee debate, the problem of #Russia’s interference in UK democracy and politics could not be more urgent or important. We need the judicial public inquiry, ASAP. petition.parliament.uk/petitions/74... www.youtube.com/live/BXlk5uf...

Trump is a vile racist bully We should all condemn this without hesitation. But something tells me Farage will find a way to make excuses for his best mate Trump. I hope I’m wrong.

Trump is a vile racist bully. His actions should be condemned without hesitation.

“I've experienced racial abuse in all different kinds of pockets, and that’s the reality comments like Sarah’s help create.” Watch @JoshBabarinde.bsky.social directly call out the harmful, racist rhetoric pushed by members of Reform.

To fund Byline Times' independent, investigative, thought-provoking journalism, we rely on the support of our subscribers. If you believe in the work we do, and can afford to, do consider joining us with a subscription – subscribe.bylinetimes.com – or buy a copy from the news stands 👇

Well said, thank you @libdemcam.bsky.social - thank you for your own and party colleagues’ contributions during yesterday’s petition debate. Now to build momentum for the judicial public inquiry. Useful report from @rusi.bsky.social on political money laundering: www.rusi.org/explore-our-...

Gavin Newsom on Trump's video depicting the Obamas as monkeys, "It's disgraceful, racist, abhorrent, in any other circumstance, person fired" "The President of the US, Donald Trump, sending out a racist trope, it should disgust every human being in this room"

In the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron, the steelmaker confirmed the construction of its largest electric furnace in Europe at its Dunkirk plant in northern France. #EuropeNews

The Epstein files reveal the role of Brexit in a global network which stands to gain from undermining democracy itself | Stephen McNair

This must be investigated.

A year ago I asked the government to release the full, unredacted Russia Report. Security Minister Dan Jarvis declined. Could Mandelson be the reason why?

We're delighted to welcome Councillor Manu Singh who has joined the Liberal Democrats from the Green Party in Surrey!

More people are realising that First-Past-The-Post leads to unpredictable and volatile politics - if a party gets 34% of the vote, they should get 34% of the seats. We are campaigning with cross-party allies and other parties to change our politics for the better with Proportional Representation.

I am deeply suspicious of parties which court cryptocurrency donations, given the potential for money laundering, by organised criminal gangs and malign foreign governments. Yesterday in Parliament, I rang the alarm bell at Farage's continuing closeness to wire fraud convict George Cottrell.