This is a lot easier to announce than deliver. This promise is for 2030 when the MOD doesn't currently have a budget for 2025/26... and announcing it outside of a fiscal event means trade-offs/how it's funding is completely ignored

It goes without saying that if you really think defence spending has to rise to 2.5% GDP (or higher if you're Liz Truss) maybe you don't want to keep promising large tax cuts?

The Prime Minister's pledge on defence spending is just more Tory spin.

The last time the UK spent 2.5% of GDP on defence was in 2010, under a Labour Government.

After 14 years of the Tories, the defence budget is now 7% smaller than it was in 2010.

It’s a year old but this is a decent summary of the parlous state of our armed forces after 14 years of Tory Govt. Sunak’s pledge to raise spending by 2030 does nothing to enhance our capabilities now, nor does it help Ukraine. It’s too little, too slow. news.sky.com/story/amp/us-g…

Great to join so many MPs & London Labour supporters in Westminster tonight.

A vote for Labour on May 2 is a vote for:

🌹40,000 council homes
🌹6000 rent control homes
🌹1300 more police
🌹150,000 new jobs
🌹Free school meals made permanent

#LabourDoorstep #VoteLabour 🌹

The Rwanda bill passed.

Very few asylum seekers will ever be sent there, but this morning, thousands of homeless men, women & children who came to us with nothing & asked for help but we left in limbo, have fear hanging over them of violent deportation to a dictatorship #r4today

On #EarthDay , we must stand for our planet.

A planet threatened by climate change, by pollution, by biodiversity loss.

A planet that needs to be rescued.

So we must unite.

And we must mobilize all our efforts for #ClimateAction .

I would encourage anyone who is interested in politics and campaigning for a better future to apply for the The Labour Party Summer Internship programme run in partnership in Patchwork Foundation.

Apply using the link below 👇
patchworkfoundation.org.uk/our-work/inter…

The rule of law is a fundamental British value.

The Tories have called into question our country’s commitment to it.

It is high time that politicians stand up for the independence of the judiciary.

Thinking of the Lawrence family 31 years to the day Stephen was murdered by racist thugs. I am meeting the Met Commissioner today to ask him to ensure the family get the answers they deserve and are shamefully still waiting for decades on. 1/

Ministers are ignoring that the Supreme Court was concerned not only that Rwanda itself may be unsafe for asylum seekers but also that that may be returned to their home countries, as previous asylum seekers present in the country have been. theguardian.com/politics/live/…

Party breakdown on 🇺🇦 vote

OVERALL VOTE

Y: 311
N: 112

Republican

Y: 101
N: 112

Democrat

Y: 210
N: 0

A tale of two parties. One which still functions as a bloc and one which doesn’t. Speaker Johnson overwhelmingly relying on D votes. A deeply uncomfortable position.

Great teams out today speaking to voters for the brilliant Chris Webb for the Blackpool South by-election 🌹🌹🌹