Rishi Sunak is facing his first test at the ballot box this year as voters head to the polls for the West Lancashire by-election.
The outcome could reflect how the public feels about the prime minister and Opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer ahead of the next general election and local elections in May.
The seat is up for grabs after veteran Labour MP Rosie Cooper resigned in November to become chairwoman of the Mersey Care NHS Foundation Trust.
The MP was the victim of a plot to kill her by an alleged member of the banned neo-Nazi group National Action and admitted the stress of what happened had “taken its toll”.
Ms Cooper, 72, has held the constituency since 2005, securing more than 52% of the vote and a majority of 8,336 at the last election.
West Lancashire has been a Labour stronghold since 1992 when Colin Pickthall took the seat from Tory MP Ken Hind, who had held it since 1983.
Although winning with an increased majority in 2015 and 2017, Ms Cooper saw her majority drop in 2019.
More on Conservatives
Related Topics:
Labour will be hoping to build on their current majority, having being buoyed by two recent by-election victories.
The victory came just two weeks after a successful result in Chester, when Samantha Dixon held the seat for Labourwith an increased majority of some 11,000 over the Tories.
Image: Roise Cooper resigned as an MP to take a role in the NHS. Pic: Twitter
If Labour increase their majority, it could indicate it has a chance of regaining Red Wall seats in the north and Midlands that deserted the party at the last election.
West Lancashire separates Liverpool, a historically Labour-supporting area, and the Conservative-held seats of South Ribble, Southport and Bolton West.
The constituency has a mix of rural and urban areas while its largest town, Skelmersdale, has relatively high levels of deprivation compared to the neighbouring towns of Aughton and Ormskirk, which are considered relatively wealthy.
With locals having different priorities, candidates have a difficult task of trying to appeal to them all.
The by-election comes as Labour continues to enjoy a 20-point lead in the national polls.
Meanwhile, Mr Sunak’s approval ratings have dropped following a tumultuous 100 days in officethat has seenrows over propriety and standards continue and strikes across many public sectors.
The candidates standing in today’s by-election are:
• Jo Barton (Liberal Democrat) • Peter Cranie (Green Party) • Ashley Dalton (Labour) • Howling Laud Hope (Official Monster Raving Loony Party) • Mike Prendergast (Conservative and Unionist) • Jonathan Stanley Kay (Reform UK)
Countries attending COP30, the biggest climate meeting of the year, have agreed steps to help speed up climate action, according to a draft deal.
The meeting of leaders in the Brazilian city of Belem also saw them agree to reviewing related trade barriers and triple the money given to developing countries to help them withstand extreme weather events, according to the draft.
However, the summit’s president Correa do Lago said “roadmaps” on fossil fuels and forests would be published as there was no consensus on these issues.
The annual United Nations conference brings together world leaders, scientists, campaigners, and negotiators from across the globe, who agree on collective next steps for tackling climate change.
The two-week conference in the Amazon city of Belem was due to end at 6pm local time (9pm UK time) on Friday, but it dragged into overtime.
The standoff was between the EU, which pressed for language on transitioning away from fossil fuels, and the Arab Group of nations, including major oil exporter Saudi Arabia, which opposed it.
The impasse was resolved following all-night negotiations led by Brazil, negotiators said.
More on Cop30
Related Topics:
The European Union’s climate commissioner, Wopke Hoekstra, said on Saturday that the proposed accord was acceptable, even though the bloc would have liked more.
“We should support it because at least it is going in the right direction,” he said.
The Brazilian presidency scheduled a closing plenary session.
Brazil’s President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and about 80 countries, including the UK and coal-rich Colombia, had been pushing for a plan on how to “transition away from fossil fuels”.
This is a pledge all countries agreed to two years ago at COP28 – then did very little about since.
But scores of countries – including major oil and gas producers like Saudi Arabia and Russia – see this push as too prescriptive or a threat to their economies.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
Israel says it has begun striking Hamas targets in Gaza, reportedly killing at least nine people, after what it called a “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement”.
Local health authorities in Gaza said there had been three separate airstrikes, one hit a car in the densely populated Rimal neighbourhood, killing five people and wounding several others.
Shortly after the attack on the car, the Israeli air force hit two more targets in the central Gaza Strip, medics said.
They said at least four people died when two houses were struck in Deir Al-Balah city and Nuseirat camp.
The Israeli military said there had been a “blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement”.
It claimed a gunman had crossed into Israeli-held territory after exploiting “the humanitarian road in the area through which humanitarian aid enters southern Gaza”.
A Hamas official rejected the Israeli military’s allegations as baseless, calling them an “excuse to kill”, adding the Palestinian group was committed to the ceasefire agreement.
More on Gaza
Related Topics:
The Israeli airstrikes are a further test of a fragile ceasefire with Hamas, which has held since 10 October following the two-year Gaza war.
Israel pulled back its troops, and the flow of aid into the territory has increased. But violence has not completely halted.
Palestinian health authorities say Israeli forces have killed 316 people in strikes on Gaza since the truce.
Meanwhile, Israel says three of its soldiers have been killed since the ceasefire began and it has attacked scores of militants.
This breaking news story is being updated and more details will be published shortly.
The fast-moving developments on Trump’s Ukraine peace deal are dominating the G20 summit in South Africa, as European leaders scramble to put together a counter-proposal to the US-Russia 28-point plan and reinsert Ukraine into these discussions.
European countries are now working up proposals to put to President Trump ahead of his deadline of Thursday to agree a deal.
Ukraine is in a tight spot. It cannot reject Washington outright – it relies on US military support to continue this war – but neither can it accept the terms of a deal that is acutely favourable to Russia, requiring Ukraine to give up territory not even occupied by Moscow and reducing its army.
Overnight, the UK government has reiterated its position that any deal must deliver a “just and lasting peace”.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:48
Keir Starmer calls for growth plan at G20
The prime minister, who spoke with E3 allies President Macron of France, Chancellor Merz of Germany and President Zelenskyy of Ukraine on the phone on Friday, is having more conversations today with key partners as they work out how to handle Trump and improve this deal for Ukraine.
One diplomatic source told me allies are being very careful not to criticise Trump or his approach for fear of exacerbating an already delicate situation.
Instead, the prime minister is directing his attacks at Russia.
Image: Prime Minister Keir Starmer attends a plenary session on the first day of the G20 Leaders’ Summit. Pic: Reuters
“There is only one country around the G20 table that is not calling for a ceasefire in Ukraine and one country that is deploying a barrage of drones and missiles to destroy livelihoods and murder innocent civilians,” he said on Friday evening.
“Time and again, Russia pretends to be serious about peace, but its actions never live up to its words.”
Image: Pic: AP
On the Trump plan, the prime minister said allies are meetin on Saturday “to discuss the current proposalon the table, and in support of Trump’s push for peace, look at how we can strengthen this plan for the next phase of negotiations”.
Strengthening the plan really means that they want to rebalance it towards Ukraine’s position and make it tougher on Russia.
“Ukraine has been ready to negotiate for months, while Russia has stalled and continued its murderous rampage. That is why we must all work together with both the US and Ukraine, to secure a just and lasting peace once and for all,” said the prime minister.
“We will continue to coordinate closely with Washington and Kyiv to achieve that. However, we cannot simply wait for peace.
“We must strain every sinew to secure it. We must cut off Putin’s finance flows by ending our reliance on Russian gas. It won’t be easy, but it’s the right thing to do.”
Image: Pic: AP
Europeans hadn’t even seen this deal earlier in the week, in a sign that the US is cutting other allies out of negotiations – for now at least.
Starmer and other European leaders want to get to a position where Ukraine and Europe are at least at the table.
There is some discussion about whether European leaders such as Macron and Meloni might travel to Washington to speak to Trump early next week in order to persuade him of the European and Ukrainian perspective, as leaders did last August following the US-Russian summit in Alaska.
But Sky News understands there are no discussions about the PM travelling to Washington next week ahead of the budget.