Yvette Cooper to chair meeting of taskforce considering ‘alarming rise’ in candidate intimidation – as it happened

• Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has said she will chair a meeting of the government’s Defending Democracy taskforce next week in response to the “alarming rise” in harassment, intimidation and abuse towards candidates and campaigners. (See 3.57pm.)

• Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, said this morning that the government wants “far more light, far less heat” in political debate in the UK. (See 9.50am.)

• Ben Houchen, the Conservative Tees Valley mayor, has urged potential leadership candidates not to copy Reform UK. (See 1.49pm.) A major report into the views of people voting in the general election has backed this analysis, suggesting that adopting Reform UK policies would not attract enough voters for the Tories to win an election. (See 2.12pm.)

• Israeli air and naval strikes continued to pummel Gaza as the UK foreign secretary, David Lammy, reiterated his demand for a ceasefire during a visit to Jerusalem.

Jeremy Corbyn, and the four other independent MPs pushing for Labour to be more pro-Palestinian, have written an open letter to David Lammy, the foreign secretary, demanding 11 steps “as a matter of urgency”.

They are demanding an assurance that the new Labour government will not carry on with the last government’s policy of objecting to the application by the chief prosecutor at the International Criminal Court for arrest warrants for Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli PM, and Yoav Gallant, the Israeli defence minister, as well as Hamas leaders. It has been reported that the Labour will not withdraw the UK’s objection.

I have joined other independent MPs in writing to the Foreign Secretary, reminding him of the government’s obligations under international law.

That involves dropping any legal challenge over the ICC’s application for an arrest warrant of Israeli’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu.

Among other demands, the MPs also want the UK to resume funding Unrwa, the UN relief agency which lost support from some countries after some of its staff were accused of being involved in the Hamas attack on Israel on 7 October.

During his visit to Israel today, Lammy told ITV that he would make an announcement about Unrwa to parliament shortly “in the appropriate way”. The government has said that it wants to abide by the convention that important announcements are made to parliament first.

The Foreign Office has not responded to the report claiming Lammy will stick with the previous government’s stance on the ICC arrest warrant applications. In May, speaking in the Commons, he criticised the then government’s position, saying “Labour’s position is that the decision by the international criminal court chief prosecutor to apply for arrest warrants is an independent matter for the court and the prosecutor”.

The other four MPs who have signed the letter are: Adnan Hussain, Ayoub Khan, Iqbal Mohamed and Shockat Adam. They all defeated Labour candidates, in seats with many Muslim voters that Labour was expected to win, by campaigning primarily on Gaza. Corbyn, the former Labour leader, also won as an indepedent, but he was re-elected in a seat he has represented since 1983, and Gaza was probably not the main reason why he was successful.

Nigel Farage and Liz Truss are among the UK politicians set to attend the US Republican national convention this week, Ben Quinn reports.

In the comments some readers have been pointing out that the political news is a little thin today. You could argue that this is Keir Starmer keeping a promise. In his first speech as PM he said the government would “end the era of noisy performance [and] tread more lightly on your lives”.

This was not a casual remark. In his speech to the Labour conference last year he said “politics should tread lightly on people’s lives” and, when he elaborated on this in a speech in January, he said he wanted to make politics “less colourful”, with “fewer clicks on social media”.

That might be good for the country at large – but not so helpful to the news industry.

Yvette Cooper, the home secretary, has said she will chair a meeting of the government’s Defending Democracy taskforce next week in response to the “alarming rise” in harassment, intimidation and abuse towards candidates and campaigners.

In a statement, Cooper said:

Political violence, intimidation and harassment have no place in our democracy.

The recent general election campaign demonstrated some of the great strengths of our democratic traditions, including a smooth and peaceful transition of power from one party to another, but during this campaign we also saw an alarming rise in intimidation, harassment and abuse towards candidates, campaigners and volunteers from all parties which simply cannot be tolerated. Some of those incidents are now being investigated by the police.

In our democracy we must be able to passionately debate and disagree on issues without ever resorting to intimidating tactics designed to silence voices, suppress votes or prevent free and full participation in our democratic processes.

The disgraceful scenes we saw in some areas during this election campaign must not be repeated. That’s why I am convening and chairing a meeting of the Defending Democracy taskforce next week to make sure public safety, security and standards in our democracy can be upheld.

Cooper said she also intended to speak to MPs and candidates about the aggression they experienced while campaigning.

The Defending Democracy taskforce was set up in 2022 when the Conservatives were in office. At the time its main focus was on preventing foreign interference in elections and the democratic process.

View image in fullscreen

David Lammy, the foreign secretary, today visited Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial centre in Jerusalem. According to a news release about his visit issued by Yad Vashem, Lammy laid a wreath in the Hall of Remembrance and wrote a message in the guest book. It said:

It’s one of the great honors of my life to visit the Yad Vashem as the UK foreign secretary, particularly because in the UK parliament I represent the historic area of Stamford Hill in North London, one of the historic homes of the Jewish community in London- escaping a series of problems in the 19th century and, of course the Holocaust. We honor all that were murdered and we remember the evils of genocide in that period of history.

View image in fullscreen

Labour received more than twice as much in donations as the Conservatives in the final week of the general election campaign, PA Media reports. PA says:

Labour raised £465,600 in private donations in the last week before polling day, bringing its total raised for the whole election to £9.5m, new figures from the Electoral Commission show.

The Conservatives raised just £225,587 in private donations over the same period, bringing their total for the whole election to £1.8m.

Figures released today show former professional poker player Derek Webb donated £250,000 to Labour in the final week while trade unions GMB and the Fire Brigades Union each gave £100,000.

The largest donation to the Conservatives was £50,000 from Westminster Development Services, a property company set up by a consortium led by the Hinduja family.

Two women have been arrested after staging a protest against the government’s Gaza policy at the Cenotaph in central London, PA Media reports. The women, from the protest group Youth Demand, put flowers and a Palestinian flag in front of the Cenotaph before spray-painting “180,000 killed” on the pavement in front of the memorial.

The Metropolitan police said the two women had been “quickly” arrested on suspicion of criminal damage “caused to the road and not the Cenotaph”.

In a post on X with a video of the two protesters, Youth Demand said:

Never again means never again. Everything that the cenotaph stands for is contrary to the Labour government allowing companies to profit from genocide.

Al Carns, the veterans minister, condemned the protest in his own message on social media.

The Cenotaph is special for all of us!
“The act of vandalism is abhorrent. No matter what is happening in the world, the Cenotaph must be respected. It stands in memory of those who made the ultimate sacrifice to protect the freedoms we enjoy today.”

The “180,000 dead” claim is a reference to a letter published recently by the Lancet arguing that, if 38,000 people have been directly killed in Gaza as a result of the war, experience from other conflicts suggests that, if indirect deaths are included, “it is not implausible to estimate” that 186,000 people have been killed. Mona Chalabi assessed that claim for the Guardian here.

View image in fullscreen

The More in Common report published today (see 1.49pm) supports the Ben Houchen argument (see 1.49pm) that it would be a mistake for the Tories to chase Reform UK voters. It says:

The Conservatives should resist the temptation to simply try to outflank Reform UK on the right, as the number of Reform voters willing to return to the Conservatives will not be enough to form a majority, while aping the politics of Nigel Farage is likely to cost the Party further votes in the centre.

Less than a third (31 per cent) of those who voted for Reform UK say they might otherwise have voted Conservative. The remaining two-thirds say they would have backed other parties – including almost as many who say they would have backed some combination of Labour, the Liberal Democrats or Greens. Others would not have voted at all. Taken together this implies that in the absence of Reform standing the Conservative’s would still have ended up with well under 200 seats in this election.

What’s more, those who abandoned the Conservative party for Reform UK are the most likely to say that they would never vote Conservative again of all those who voted switched from the Conservative party at this election.

If the Conservative party is to recover it will have to start with restoring its reputation for economic competence and selecting a leader who can bring back voters who deserted the party to the left and the right. Rather than either or, voters who would back the Conservatives suggest a preference for a leader who can merge the appeal of both David Cameron and Boris Johnson.

And this is from More in Common’s Luke Tryl, with a chart showing that former Conservative voters who voted Reform UK at the election are more likely to say they would never vote for the Tories again than former Conservative voters who backed Labour or the Liberal Democrats this time.

Wes Streeting has defended his decision to make permanent a ban on puberty blockers being prescribed to children for gender-based reasons after the move was criticised by a series of Labour MPs, Peter Walker reports.

Ben Houchen, the Conservative Tees Valley mayor, who after the general election is probably the most powerful Tory in the country in terms of being able to take executive decisions, has urged potential leadership candidates not to copy Reform UK.

In an article for the ConservativeHome website, in which he also advises candidates to look to the future in the leadership contest and to avoid ‘blue on blue’ attacks, he says they should:

Publicly pledge to reject the simplistic and shallow politics of Reform UK and commit to building a Conservative party rooted in core conservative values. Additionally, pledge not to form any electoral pact with Reform.

Houchen says the Conservatives lost the general election not because they were not sufficiently rightwing but because they were seen as not sufficiently competent. He goes on:

A campaign that descends into chaos or infighting risks not only our internal unity but also our public image, extending our time in opposition. By contrast, a dignified, positive leadership contest will rebuild our credibility and appeal to the broader electorate, showing them that we are prepared to lead with integrity and foresight.

What I have seen from the three elections I have fought and won in Teesside is that most voters are not wedded to a political colour, and they are certainly not versed in the historic ideological debates of the Conservative party. They are hardworking pragmatists, who simply ask that their leaders are competent, attached to reality, and are able to deliver tangible things that improve their day to day lives.

At the Downing Street lobby briefing this morning the PM’s spokesperson declined to be drawn on whether Gareth Southgate deserved a knighthood after leading England to the final of Euro 2024.

Asked whether Keir Starmer had spoken to Southgate, the spokesperson replied:

I don’t know if he had a word with the England manager, but as he said in his letter to the team yesterday, the whole country is proud of what the team have delivered and getting to a second consecutive European Championship final is quite a feat.

Gareth and the team have brought us some great moments to remember over the last few weeks.

As PA Media reports, asked if the prime minister thought Southgate deserved a knighthood, the spokesperson replied: “He has provided great leadership, he has done the country proud, but I wouldn’t get into commentary around honours.”