Labour faces a difficult set of elections in May in English local authorities and the Scottish and Welsh parliaments.

Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said: ‘What we have been seeing online in recent days has been absolutely appalling.’

Reform UK’s election war chest was bolstered by a £9 million donation in August from businessman Christopher Harborne.

The Countryside Alliance pressure group said the Government had ‘alienated rural people’.

Imran Ahmed, who leads the Centre for Countering Digital Hate and has close links to the Labour Party, has been hit by US sanctions.

Former Labour adviser Imran Ahmed and the chief of UK-based Global Disinformation Index Clare Melford were targeted by the US administration.

Lance Corporal George Hooley was killed in an accident while observing Ukrainian forces testing a new defensive weapon.

The former chancellor is leaving his job with investment bank Evercore to take up the role.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer was addressing a No 10 Hanukkah reception in the aftermath of the Bondi Beach attack in Australia.

Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Richard Knighton said ‘more people’ needed to be ready to fight to protect the UK.

US President Donald Trump is being ‘anti-UK’, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said.

Sir Keir Starmer, Emmanuel Macron and Friedrich Merz spoke to Donald Trump about the Ukraine crisis.

Sir Keir Starmer and David Lammy are leading the UK push for changes to the way the European Convention on Human Rights is interpreted.

The Tory leader said the system was not designed to handle ‘the age of diagnosis which we now live in’.

Sir Keir Starmer set out plans to boost the number of apprenticeships on offer.

The Prime Minister is hosting the leaders of Ukraine, France and Germany as Volodymyr Zelensky comes under pressure from Washington to agree a deal.

The Prime Minister said action to tackle child poverty could help the economy in the long-term and ease pressure on public services.

Nigel Farage had called for an investigation into whether the Chancellor mispresented the state of the public finances ahead of her fiscal statement.

A decision on the proposed new Chinese embassy has been delayed until January 20 but Dan Jarvis told MPs security concerns had been addressed.