Closing summary

That’s all from me, Tom Ambrose, and the UK live politics blog for today. Thanks for following along.

Here is a round-up of the day’s headlines:

  • Zack Polanski claimed Green party electoral victories push Labour towards a more progressive governing agenda, as he called for controls to hold down the costs of rent across the country. In his speech to the Green conference in Brighton, Polanski claimed his party made a difference to Labour’s political outlook.

  • Polanski used his address to set out a new Green policy to control rises in private sector rents, modelled on the pensions triple lock. He called for a “a three-year emergency brake on private rents”, adding: “No rent rises above CPI, wage growth or 2% – whichever is lower. No sudden hikes. No evictions under the guise of rent rises. No more uncertainty, no more fear.”

  • Polanski also insisted today that his authority as leader of the Green party of England and Wales does not depend on winning next week’s Holborn and St Pancras byelection, amid suggestions that the party’s popularity has peaked. Polanski, who is trying to take Keir Starmer’s former seat from Labour, described the contest as “probably 50/50 right now” and “really on a knife edge”.

  • A recent lobbyist for the controversial $450bn US tech company Palantir played a senior role in helping Andy Burnham become prime minister, it has emerged. Martha Dalton, whose company Lodestone worked for Palantir in 2024 and 2025, campaigned for Burnham in the Makerfield byelection that secured his return to parliament. She worked closely with his team on strategic communications and rebuttals, and was among supporters who clapped him into Downing Street in July.

  • An online crowdfunder to raise money for the UK supreme court challenge to the ban on Palestine Action has been blocked as a result of US sanctions against the direct action group. CrowdJustice, a UK company, has declined to host a fundraiser for legal fees to fight proscription because the platform uses the US company Stripe as its payment processor.

  • Andy Burnham is facing calls from the Liberal Democrats to publish details of all his meetings with Manchester City’s owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), and declare all hospitality he has accepted at the Etihad Stadium. The prime minister was widely criticised this week for saying he would be “really concerned” if ADUG were forced to sell City after being found guilty of breaching the Premier League’s financial regulations, which led to Downing Street issuing two clarifications of his position on Thursday.

  • Kemi Badenoch has declined to explicitly condemn groups of masked far-right agitators, who have blocked roads in places like Dover and Portsmouth, in what they said was a protest against asylum seekers arriving by sea, saying this was only an issue if laws were broken. “I believe in the right to protest,” she told ITV Meridian as part of a series of interviews with ITV regions ahead of the Conservative party conference, which starts on Sunday.

  • Badenoch also said Labour is preparing for a general election as early as May 2027, despite the prime minister ruling out an early contest. Just last week Andy Burnham said he would not call a national vote before 2029, despite speculation that Labour’s revival in the polls could tempt him to go early. But Badenoch said the fact that so many of the pledges in his conference speech would not come into place until after the next general election points to a spring vote. Ahead of the Conservative party conference next week, the leader of the opposition said: “We could be having a general election next May.”

  • Rows over potholes and a viral story about a garden gate have led to Reform UK’s latest confrontation with local media, after one of its councils announced it would refuse to engage with a reporter behind the stories. Reform-run Derbyshire county council has been accused of setting a “dangerous precedent” after withdrawing all cooperation with Eddie Bisknell, a Derbyshire Live journalist who is publicly funded to cover local democracy.

  • Restrictions placed on prisoners who have been released early from jail are sufficient, a government minister has said, as he was pressed on how effective they are. Transport minister Keir Mather said the government’s responsibility is to “protect the public” as he emphasised the conditions placed on people being released are robust. He also denied the early release scheme would be indefinite.

  • People should not worry about diesel shortages, the government has said, amid pressure from the US for European countries to use their reserves. Keir Mather said Britain’s supply of diesel was “robust” and “resilient” and the country had a wide range of sources. Britain joined crisis talks with Brussels on Thursday, as they discussed whether to release fuel stocks amid rocketing prices.

Kemi Badenoch has declined to explicitly condemn groups of masked far-right agitators, who have blocked roads in places like Dover and Portsmouth, in what they said was a protest against asylum seekers arriving by sea, saying this was only an issue if laws were broken.

“I believe in the right to protest,” she told ITV Meridian as part of a series of interviews with ITV regions ahead of the Conservative party conference, which starts on Sunday.

She said:

This is something that is an ancient right for this country. We should always respect that. However, I do not condone violent behaviour, violent activity and intimidation. And where that is going on, then yes, I do condemn that.

Asked if, unlike people such as Andy Burnham and Ed Davey, she was not condemning the groups for being intimidating, just any violence, she replied:

I think that we need to be clear – if people behave in an illegal fashion, we should condemn them. But if people aren’t doing something illegal, then what are we condemning them for?

The fact is that there is a problem with the boats. People are worried, the government needs to stop the boats. That’s the fundamental issue.

Palestine Action crowdfunder for UK supreme court challenge blocked due to US sanctions

An online crowdfunder to raise money for the UK supreme court challenge to the ban on Palestine Action has been blocked as a result of US sanctions against the direct action group.

CrowdJustice, a UK company, has declined to host a fundraiser for legal fees to fight proscription because the platform uses the US company Stripe as its payment processor.

In an email seen by the Guardian, CrowdJustice said Stripe had confirmed “that it cannot support accounts or transactions linked to, or for the benefit of, Palestine Action. This includes circumstances where funds are being raised for legal proceedings.”

The US sanctions were imposed last month by Donald Trump, using powers introduced by President George W Bush in 2001 shortly after the 9/11 attacks by al-Qaida on the twin towers in New York.

Huda Ammori, a co-founder of Palestine Action, who has brought the legal challenge against the UK ban, said:

Due to CrowdJustice’s and other platforms’ reliance on US services, we are unable to fundraise for legal fees needed for our supreme court challenge.

On the other hand, the state continues to spend millions of pounds to cover their legal costs to defend the disproportionate and draconian ban, which has led to more than 3,700 arrests for holding signs [allegedly supporting a proscribed organisation].

The British government and the US are putting every possible obstacle in our way, in order to stack the odds against us.

Andy Burnham urged by Lib Dems to reveal all meetings with owners of Manchester City

Andy Burnham is facing calls from the Liberal Democrats to publish details of all his meetings with Manchester City’s owners, the Abu Dhabi United Group (ADUG), and declare all hospitality he has accepted at the Etihad Stadium.

The prime minister was widely criticised this week for saying he would be “really concerned” if ADUG were forced to sell City after being found guilty of breaching the Premier League’s financial regulations, which led to Downing Street issuing two clarifications of his position on Thursday.

Burnham also praised ADUG’s investment in Manchester, having had close relations with the company, through which Sheikh Mansour bought City in 2008, during nine years as the mayor of Greater Manchester which ended when he returned to parliament this summer.

In a strongly-worded letter to Burnham the Lib Dems’ spokesperson for culture, media and sport, Anna Sabine, criticised his apparent defence of City as “extraordinary” and invoked Gianni Infantino’s aborted World Cup sell-off scheme in what she described as a difficult year for football.

“As you will know, an independent commission has found Manchester City guilty of 114 charges of breaching financial rules over a timeframe of nearly a decade, including the use of ‘sham contracts’ and schemes to disguise more than £830m of funding,” Sabine writes in a letter seen by the Guardian.

“Despite this, your response was to thank the club’s owners for their work and describe the findings as ‘contested’ and that it was ‘wrong to jump to a conclusion’. It is extraordinary that a prime minister would use his position to call into question the findings of the independent investigation, and risk undermining trust in the Premier League’s processes.

“This has been a difficult year for football’s reputation. Fifa’s conduct around the World Cup has already raised serious questions about integrity in the game we love. At a moment like this, fans expect their prime minister to stand up for the rules in place, not to appear to side with a club found guilty of breaking them.”

Sabine also told the Guardian that Burnham’s ties to ADUG should be scrutinised and is planning to write to Downing Street and the Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) to demand details of their meetings.

Related: Andy Burnham urged by Lib Dems to reveal all meetings with owners of Manchester City

Rows over potholes and a viral story about a garden gate have led to Reform UK’s latest confrontation with local media, after one of its councils announced it would refuse to engage with a reporter behind the stories.

Reform-run Derbyshire county council has been accused of setting a “dangerous precedent” after withdrawing all cooperation with Eddie Bisknell, a Derbyshire Live journalist who is publicly funded to cover local democracy.

Stephen Reed, the Reform council’s deputy leader, said the reporter would now have to work “twice as hard” to do his job after confirming that Bisknell’s inquiries would be ignored.

It comes after a neighbouring Reform council last year banned journalists from a major local newspaper. Nottinghamshire county council eventually ended its ban on the Nottingham Post and its website, Nottinghamshire Live, after being threatened with legal action.

In the Derbyshire case, Reform said its decision had been made after a “prolonged period of concerns”, which culminated in a story about potholes.

Councillors had hoped to produce positive headlines with a press release stating that the number of potholes in the county had been slashed from 12,000 in April to less than 700 – a figure it described as the lowest recorded in over a year.

However, an article by Bisknell, one of a group of local democracy reporters funded by the BBC, reported that questions had been raised about statistics used in the release.

Related: Reform UK-run council boycotts reporter after row over potholes

Updated

Polanski: Burnham's Labour 'bending to the whims of fossil fuel giants'

Zack Polanski uses the conclusion of his keynote speech to set out the differences between the Greens and Andy Burnham’s Labour party.

He says:

Our differences with this Labour government could not be clearer. While they play politics with our planet, we stick to the science. While Andy Burnham barely whispers a word about climate, we seek urgent action.

While they bend to the whims of fossil fuel giants, we take the only credible principled stand that exists. Keep oil and gas in the ground.

He goes on:

One of my political heroes, Tony Benn, he once said ‘hope is the fuel of progress and fear is the prison in which you put yourself’.

Over the last year, we’ve seen just how powerful hope with a plan can be. It has fuelled our membership to record levels, propelled our party to amazing electoral success but more importantly, it’s changed our country for the better. But we in this room all know we are just getting started.

Polanski concludes:

And so when times get tough, when our opponents attack us, or smear us, or try to put obstacles in our way, we remember that fear will get us nowhere. Only being brave – being bold – will take us where we need to go.

And when I’m in need of hope all I need to think of is what is in front of me right now … The movement that has brought us so far already because only with real hope and real change can we build the country and the world we can be so proud of.

That brings his speech to a close, to rapturous applause from the delegates in the audience.

Updated

“The sight of pensioners being put in handcuffs and bundled into police vans for holding up cardboard signs has been a stain and a shame on this country’s reputation for far too long,” Polanski says in reference to the Palestine Action arrests.

The Green leader says that those scenes are “the awful symptom of a rot that runs much deeper”, adding:

To a Labour government so determined to crush dissent that it labels those with views it doesn’t want to hear as terrorists. Terrorists. Terrorists.

Hundreds of Labour MPs who were willing to label people terrorists to troop through the voting lobbies to approve it.

You know something? Our MPs didn’t troop through the yes lobby. Our MPs were cowed by fear or malicious attacks in the press. They stood up for the principles we all hold so dear.

Those principles? Free speech. Civil liberties. The right to dissent, which has won us our most precious freedoms. And Greens? We stand with one voice now as we say: Drop the charges, end the genocide, deproscribe Palestine Action.

Polanski makes the case for the electorate to back the Greens in elections by suggesting only the Greens can guarantee affordable rents.

He says:

And that’s why we are needed, people need an alternative. Only by voting Green can voters be sure that they will back a real plan for shaking up the housing market.

Only by voting Green can they put an end to the rental rip-off and guarantee affordable rents.

And only by voting Green can they choose a future where houses don’t sit empty as mere investment assets but as the safe place to rest our heads at night that we all need. That’s what a Green vote gets.

Polanski calls for triple lock-style guarantee to limit rent rises

The Greens leader calls for a triple lock-style guarantee to ease young adults’ housing costs.

Polanski says:

Today we are calling on this government to put in place a three-year emergency brake on private rents. No rent rises above CPI, wage growth or 2% – whichever is lower. No sudden hikes. No evictions under the guise of rent rises. No more uncertainty, no more fear.

That emergency brake would give renters vital breathing space. Let wages begin to catch up with the rents that have outstripped them for far too long.

And in the long term, we’ll put in place a national Fair Rents Guarantee – to keep rents affordable for everyone, forever. That doesn’t just mean cheaper homes, it doesn’t just mean government savings.

It will mean that people can stay in the places they love, close to their family and friends. It will mean young people can take those first amazing, exhilarating steps into independence and have full lives waiting for them on the other side.

Young families able to live around the corner from the in-laws, not crammed into their spare room.

Updated

Polanski says the Greens main priorities are to “tax the very richest, bring our public services back into public hands and end rip-off Britain”.

Speaking in Brighton, he says:

I am always guided by three essential questions: how do we make life more affordable? How do we back the caring majority over a tiny wealthy elite? And how do we protect our planet for generations to come?

Now, I’ve been knocking on lots of doors lately for some reason. Particularly in an area I’ve known for a long time. Lived there, worked there, seen it change.

Some of the changes are really visible. Luxury high-rises springing up on spots that used to be green space for council estates. Porches out the front of what used to be family homes – stuck all over with lock boxes for Airbnb keys.

But some of these changes are subtler. Many of the doors I’m knocking on look the same as they did ten or twenty years ago.

He goes on:

But behind those doors something has shifted. It doesn’t matter whether it’s council homes, or terraced houses – I hear one thing again and again. Mums answer the door, and tell me ‘I’ve still got my kids living at home with me.’

Nineteen year olds who can’t afford student housing, so they’re living with their parents and commuting to uni. But they’re missing lectures because they can’t afford the train in and out. Missing out on living with strangers who could have become friends for life.

Or there’s the twenty five year olds who can’t find a job, no matter how many tens or hundreds of applications they send. Who can’t imagine ever being able to afford to rent even a room of their own, never mind having a whole place of their own. That feels like an impossible dream.

Polanski delivers speech at Green party conference

We are about to hear from Green party leader Zack Polanski at the Brighton conference. You can watch live here:

A group of Jewish community organisations have written to the Green leadership with their concerns about the ‘Zionism is racism’ motion.

The party is set to debate on the motion at its annual conference this weekend.

The Board of Deputies of British Jews has published a joint letter with the Community Security Trust and the Jewish Leadership Council, saying:

This motion’s call for the elimination of Israel, including through violence, shows utter disregard for the security of Israeli Jews, who account for around half of all Jews in the world. In adopting this policy, the Green Party has placed itself on the extreme margins of democratic politics in relation to this issue.”

They added:

That the leadership of the Green Party have not opposed this motion shows a staggering indifference to the welfare of British Jews.”

Updated

As a reminder, Green members will vote on a motion this weekend that calls for the party to define Zionism as racism. Our senior political correspondent, Peter Walker, has the latest in this report:

An organisation pushing the Green party to equate Zionism with racism has encouraged people to join the party specifically to support that agenda, and has links to activists who say that pro-Israel “infiltrators” must be rooted out of the UK, the Guardian has learned.

Some Green members are increasingly concerned that the party risks being manipulated by extremist outsiders over a motion to be voted on at the party’s annual conference this weekend, which states that “Zionism is racism”.

Some Jewish members have said privately they fear it will be difficult for them to remain in the party if the policy passes.

Zack Polanski, who leads the Green party in England and Wales, has come under pressure to take a definitive stance on the motion amid worries the controversy will harm the party in next week’s key Holborn and St Pancras byelection, where Polanski is seeking to win Keir Starmer’s former seat.

The motion came top of a members’ ballot of policy issues to be debated at the event in Brighton. It calls for a single Palestinian state and, if passed, it would mean members who support Zionism – the movement for a Jewish state – could be disciplined for racism.

The controversy reflects a longstanding debate about the definition of Zionism, the political movement whose supporters see it as the necessary struggle for a Jewish homeland, and whose critics see it as a colonial project that has inevitably led to the dispossession of Palestinians. The term Zionist is, meanwhile, sometimes used as a synonym for Jew by antisemites.

Read more:

Related: Group encouraging people to join Green party to back ‘Zionism is racism’ agenda

Updated

Here are some pictures from inside the Green party conference in Brighton:

UK diesel price hits record high of £2 a litre

Over on our business live blog, Graeme Wearden reports that the average price of a litre of diesel in the UK has hit £2 for the first time, in the latest example of how the cost of living has sharply gone up since the start of the Iran war.

New data from the RAC shows that diesel hit an average price of 200.01p a litre this morning.

That means diesel prices have surged by 40.5% since the start of the Iran war at the end of February, when diesel cost 142.38p a litre.

A 55-litre tank of diesel now costs £110.01 – £31.70 more than 28 February, the RAC says.

Related: Diesel hits £2 a litre for first time; eurozone inflation rate surges to 3.8% – business live

Zack Polanski also insisted his authority as leader of the Green party of England and Wales does not depend on winning next week’s Holborn and St Pancras byelection, amid suggestions that the party’s popularity has peaked.

Polanski, who is trying to take Keir Starmer’s former seat from Labour, described the contest as “probably 50/50 right now” and “really on a knife edge”.

Asked in an interview with the Guardian how much his position as leader depended on victory, Polanski said: “It doesn’t depend on it whatsoever.”

He added that the election had ramifications for politics nationally but “not for my leadership”.

“I’ll be completely honest, it won’t surprise you to know that I want to win the seat,” Polanski said. “I think the seat is winnable, and I think it’s probably 50-50 right now. It’s really, really on a knife edge.”

Senior Green party figures privately fear defeat in Holborn and St Pancras could severely damage Polanski’s leadership, amid concerns the party’s rapid rise in membership and polling hasn’t translated into strong campaigning strength on the ground.

Related: Polanski says he doesn’t need to win ‘50/50’ byelection to stay Green leader

Polanski says Greens transforming political landscape ahead of conference speech

Zack Polanski has said his Green party is transforming the political landscape as it kicks off what is expected to be its largest-ever conference.

The three-day annual gathering starting today in Brighton comes just days before the Holborn and St Pancras by-election, where Polanski faces an uphill battle to win the seat vacated by former prime minister Keir Starmer.

The party had considered postponing its conference while its leader campaigns for the 8 October vote, triggered by Starmer’s departure from parliament last month. But it decided to press ahead with the event, which Polanski will address at 1.30pm today.

In a statement on Thursday, he said:

This will be our biggest and most exciting Green party conference ever, coming on the back of a year of unprecedented membership growth and extraordinary electoral success.

Greens have turned hope into electoral wins – in councils, boroughs, in mayoral elections and with our exciting breakthrough in Gorton and Denton.

We have shown that Greens can win in places where Labour has traditionally taken voters for granted. And we have shown that when Greens win, the Labour government listens – whether that’s finally banning trade with illegal settlements or starting to open safe routes for refugees.

Polanksi added:

But our work is just beginning. Rising bills, insecure work, pressure on public services and communities that feel forgotten have left many people wondering whether politics can actually make their lives better.

The last year has shown that the Green party can transform the political landscape – now our task is to step up our wins and keep the pressure on this government to secure genuine change in people’s everyday lives.

We will bring you all the top lines from Polanski’s conference speech at 1.30pm so stay tuned for that.

Robert Jenrick has confronted an alleged shoplifter in a video posted on social media, telling him prices rise when people steal from shops.

Reform UK’s Treasury spokesman on Friday vowed to confront shoplifters, writing on X that “parts of the country are feral”, PA reported. In the video, filmed in Brixton, south London, Mr Jenrick approached a man carrying a Dr Pepper bottle, telling him: “I think you just nicked that, didn’t you?”

The man denied stealing the drink but handed the bottle to Jenrick, who asked: “Why do you think you’re above the law?”

The alleged thief replied: “Because they always give us drinks.”

Jenrick continued to challenge the man, asking him questions such as:

Why do you think you don’t have to pay for things? The effect of what you’re doing is that everyone else’s food and drink just goes up in price, and do you think other people can afford that round here?

Everyone’s finding life tough at the moment. You’re nicking stuff, sounds like all the time, and [it] just makes everyone else’s lives more expensive.

The video ended with Jenrick taking the bottle to a bakery. He told the shop assistant it was stolen and put the Dr Pepper in a drinks fridge.

Ministers are working up sweeping plans for welfare changes including scrapping a key disability benefit for under-25s and replacing it with a multibillion-pound package of support to get into work, the Guardian has learned.

Whitehall sources said the package of changes under debate was much bigger than previously thought, as Andy Burnham’s government hopes to persuade more people on benefits back into work.

The move could be fraught with political danger after last year’s dramatic welfare rebellion by Labour MPs. But ministers have spent weeks trying to persuade them the plans are about reform, and feel confident opposition has waned.

The plans are still awaiting the conclusions of reviews by Alan Milburn, who is looking at young people’s employment, and the Timms panel, which is examining the personal independence payment (Pip), a non-means-tested benefit that helps sick and disabled people with support costs.

However, a central option under consideration for young people is removing the health element of universal credit for claimants under 25, which has already been almost halved to £217 a month, and offering intensive support for people to get into work. The possibility of removing it for existing claimants – not just new ones – is being looked at.

Related: Key disability benefit for young people may be axed under major welfare changes

Senior Labour figures are privately voicing unease about John Healey’s approach to his crucial first budget this month, against the backdrop of volatile global markets and soaring energy costs.

The chancellor’s work has been made significantly harder by the global bond sell-off, which continues to raise the cost of government borrowing, and ever increasing energy prices as Donald Trump continues the US war with Iran.

The yield – in effect the interest rate – on 30-year UK government bonds hit 6% on Thursday for the first time since 1998. Barclays raised some of its mortgage rates for the second time in a week, underlining the impact of these market moves on UK borrowers.

The chancellor’s party conference speech, which centred on the theme of reindustrialisation, was warmly received by Labour members in Liverpool. But government insiders and other Labour figures cast doubt over the lack of detail about policy on investment and growth or any pitch-rolling for possible tax rises.

One senior Labour politician said: “I missed any real sense of growth and investment, which Rachel [Reeves, the former chancellor] often emphasised, despite her faults – when business leaders speak to me, that’s what they were waiting to hear, and we got nothing.”

A Labour MP lamented the fact that on tax and spending Healey had gone little further than reiterating the fiscal rules. “It was Rachel’s speech delivered by John,” they said.

One senior Labour insider said they believed the chancellor was risking a fresh market shock on 28 October if he was not willing to be clearer about his approach to taxation, headroom and spending.

Related: Labour figures uneasy about Healey’s ‘underpowered’ approach to budget

Restrictions placed on prisoners released early from jail are 'sufficient', says minister

Restrictions placed on prisoners who have been released early from jail are sufficient, a government minister has said, as he was pressed on how effective they are.

Transport minister Keir Mather said the government’s responsibility is to “protect the public” as he emphasised the conditions placed on people being released are robust. He also denied the early release scheme would be indefinite.

He told Times Radio:

What we’re trying to do at the moment is build a system where we respond to the shortage of prison places on the prison estate, whilst making sure that when these people are released they do not have their freedom.

There are very robust processes to ensure that once these prisoners are released they are tagged, work closely with victims and their families to consult them directly to draw exclusion zones, there are restrictions on where prisoners who are released can go.

Yesterday prisoners thanked Andy Burnham as they celebrated walking free from jail early.

The first wave of releases began on Thursday, with 700 offenders walking out across England and Wales under the government’s plan to ease prison overcrowding

People should not worry about diesel shortages, the government has said, amid pressure from the US for European countries to use their reserves.

Transport minister Keir Mather said Britain’s supply of diesel was “robust” and “resilient” and the country had a wide range of sources. Britain joined crisis talks with Brussels on Thursday, as they discussed whether to release fuel stocks amid rocketing prices.

US Treasury secretary Scott Bessent said European countries should “immediately” begin to use their reserves. Earlier on Thursday US president Donald Trump had told reporters he “may” call for European countries to draw down from their reserves.

Mather told Sky News on Friday:

I want to reassure people this morning that the United Kingdom has got a diverse range of supply when it comes to diesel. We have resilience built into our system for that reason.

We are working very closely with our US counterparts to stress the importance of that relationship, and the importance of sustaining flows of diesel around the world, but also working through international fora in the International Energy Agency and partners in Europe from whom we get a proportion of our diesel imports as well.

He added:

Although prices have gone up at the pump, the government is aware of that and the freeze in fuel duty is still in place.

People shouldn’t be concerned about shortages because of the inherent resilience that is built into that system.

Recent lobbyist for Palantir had key role in helping Andy Burnham become PM

A recent lobbyist for the controversial $450bn US tech company Palantir played a senior role in helping Andy Burnham become prime minister, it has emerged.

Martha Dalton, whose company Lodestone worked for Palantir in 2024 and 2025, campaigned for Burnham in the Makerfield byelection that secured his return to parliament. She worked closely with his team on strategic communications and rebuttals, and was among supporters who clapped him into Downing Street in July.

Lodestone, which Dalton co-founded, worked for Palantir on projects including promoting its software at events in parliament where its engineers demonstrated AI-powered systems for use in British public services to MPs.

Dalton previously worked on the autumn 2025 deputy leadership campaign for the current education secretary, Lucy Powell, a few months after Lodestone stopped working for Palantir.

Her role emerged as Palantir fights to retain its £330m contract with NHS England to run the federated data platform, a national medical data system.

Burnham’s government is under pressure to scrap the deal. Campaigners are angry about Palantir’s work for the Israeli military in Gaza and Donald Trump’s ICE immigration crackdown. They have also raised concerns, acknowledged by NHS England’s chief executive, Jim Mackey, that the benefits to public health may not be as significant as has been claimed.

Related: Recent lobbyist for Palantir had key role in helping Andy Burnham become PM

Polanski to use conference speech to call for triple lock-style guarantee to limit rent rises

Zack Polanski is expected to call for a triple lock-style guarantee for private renters at his party’s annual conference in Brighton today, to ease young adults’ housing costs.

The Green party leader’s speech will set out plans for a “three-year emergency brake”, which would temporarily limit rent rises to the lowest of either Consumer Prices Index (CPI) inflation, wage growth or 2%.

“For too long, landlords have been able to hike prices way beyond wages,” Polanski is expected to say. He will describe “25-year-olds who can’t find a job, no matter how many tens or hundreds of applications they put in, who can’t imagine ever being able to afford to rent even a room of their own, never mind being able to put down roots in their own home”.

The party leader will also describe “30, 35-year-olds moving back to their parents’ place with their partners in tow, sometimes their kids too”, warning that for many of them “times get tougher and those months turn to years”.

Polanski is expected to say:

Today I’m calling for a three-year emergency brake on private rents – no rent rises above CPI, wage growth or 2% – whichever is lower. No sudden hikes, no evictions under the guise of rent rises, no more fear and uncertainty.

That emergency brake would give renters vital breathing space. Let wages begin to catch up with the rents that have outstripped them for too long.

And give government time to develop a national fair rents guarantee – to keep rents fair and affordable for everyone, forever.

Badenoch claims Labour preparing for a May 2027 general election

Hello and welcome to the UK politics live blog.

Tory leader Kemi Badenoch says Labour is preparing for a general election as early as May 2027, despite the prime minister ruling out an early contest.

Just last week Andy Burnham said he would not call a national vote before 2029, despite speculation that Labour’s revival in the polls could tempt him to go early.

But Badenoch said the fact that so many of the pledges in his conference speech would not come into place until after the next general election points to a spring vote.

Ahead of the Conservative party conference next week, the leader of the opposition said: “We could be having a general election next May.”

She added:

All the policies he announced are for after an election. So if he’s not calling an election, why is he talking about things happening in 2030?

He says a lot of things with a smile but I actually think that he’s got very different plans for us and for our country.

She added:

This is an era of political volatility and multi-party politics. When an election is called and I do think Andy Burnham is going to call an election sooner than he is saying.

Talk of an early election had grown during the last week after polls showed Labour pulling into the lead with support in the low 20s, and the Conservatives and Reform neck-and-neck a few points behind them.

Westminster sources said Downing Street advisers and MPs had been discussing the merits of an early poll but that even though the right was split, Labour would be at risk of losing its majority and having to form a coalition.

In other developments: