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In today’s newsletter: A good night for Keir Starmer and a bad one for Rishi Sunak – who now has more to worry about from Reform UK
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Good morning. While you were sleeping, the Conservative party was having another meltdown. As was widely predicted, it lost two previously safe seats to Labour after yesterday’s byelections, with thumping majorities overturned in Wellingborough and Kingswood and an ominous showing from the Tories’ rightwing challengers, Reform UK.
Byelection defeats for governing parties are pretty normal – but it is the scale of the swing away from the Conservatives that makes such bleak reading for Rishi Sunak: in Wellingborough, the biggest such swing since the second world war. You can follow live coverage of the reaction here. For today’s newsletter, with the help of political correspondent Kiran Stacey and on-the-ground reporters Steven Morris and Sammy Gecsoyler, we’ll run through the results and what they mean. Here are the headlines.
Economy | Rishi Sunak has been warned against a fresh austerity drive after official figures confirmed Britain’s economy is in recession. With the government scrambling to restore economic credibility, Jeremy Hunt is considering a controversial squeeze on public spending to finance pre-election tax cuts.
Israel-Gaza war | Israeli forces have raided the largest hospital in the Gaza Strip that is still functioning, amid warnings from the UN aid chief that a threatened ground offensive in Rafah could trigger an exodus of refugees fleeing into Egypt.
Security | The White House has confirmed that it is monitoring a new Russian anti-satellite weapon which it said was being developed but not yet deployed, calling it “troubling” but not an immediate threat. An official would not directly confirm or deny reports that the new Russian weapon was nuclear.
Greece | Greece has become the world’s first Christian Orthodox nation to legalise same-sex marriage after the Athens parliament passed the landmark reform amid scenes of both jubilation and fury. In a rare display of parliamentary consensus, the bill was passed by 176 votes to 76.
US news | Donald Trump’s hush-money criminal case in Manhattan involving the adult film star Stormy Daniels and the playboy model Karen McDougal will proceed to trial on 25 March. The trial date means the Manhattan case will be the first of four criminal cases against Trump to go before a jury.
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