Humza Yousaf invites Sir Keir Starmer for talks to establish ‘working relationship’
Scotland’s First Minister has invited Sir Keir Starmer to Edinburgh for talks on how their parties could co-operate following a general election.
Humza Yousaf said he believes the Labour leader “will undoubtedly be the next prime minister” – pointing to polls giving the Opposition a 20-point lead.
In a letter to Sir Keir, he said differing political views should not “prevent us being able to work together”.
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He wrote: “I hope you will accept this invitation to meet and that we can establish a working relationship in the interests of the people we represent.”
Previously, Mr Yousaf said the SNP’s conditions of working with Labour would be Sir Keir paving the way for a future Scottish independence referendum.
In his letter, published on Sunday, the Scottish first minister made clear independence is still a priority, but said there were other things they could work on – including reducing child poverty and strengthening relations between the UK and Scottish governments.
Speaking later to the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg show, he said: “When it comes to Keir Starmer being the next prime minister of the United Kingdom, which I think he absolutely will be, I should say I’m very willing to work with an incoming Labour government.
“I think there’s plenty that we can work on. There will be disagreements – the constitution perhaps being the obvious one.”
It follows rising tensions between the SNP and Westminster over the past year, after the government took the unprecedented step of blocking Holyrood’s gender reform bill – a move branded a “full-frontal attack” on Scottish parliament.
The SNP also want another referendum on independence – something both the Conservatives and Labour have rejected.
Asked what policy areas they could co-operate on, Mr Yousaf said he wanted to see Sir Keir commit to tackling child poverty by scrapping the two-child benefit cap.
The policy prevents parents from claiming child tax credits or universal credit for a third or subsequent child born after April 2017.
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Humza Yousaf responds to the SNP defeat to Labour in the Rutherglen by-election
Mr Yousaf said scrapping it “would lift 250,000 children out of poverty across the UK, 15,000 children here in Scotland”.
He also called for the bedroom tax to be scrapped, saying it is “keeping too many people in poverty”.
Read more from Sky News:
SNP rejects using next election as ‘de facto’ referendum
Analysis: SNP in damage limitation mode
The next general election is not expected until the second half of this year.
Labour strategists believe they need a huge turnaround of votes north of the border if they want a majority in the House of Commons.
Polls have suggested the SNP’s political dominance in Scotland may, after 16 years, be on the wane – not just at the general election, but at the Holyrood elections in 2026 too.
Mr Yousaf said Labour does not need Scotland to win, saying he was “sure” Sir Keir’s party would gain the most seats when the nation goes to the polls.
He has previously said he will not use the election as a de facto independence referendum, in a shift away from the strategy employed by former first minister Nicola Sturgeon.
Ian Blackford, the former SNP Westminster leader, said on Sunday he believed his party could still turn things around – but urged it to drop attacks branding Labour and the Conservatives as the same.
“I think we have to honestly say to the people in Scotland: ‘Of course a Labour government is better for Scotland than a Tory government’,” he told Scotland on Sunday.
Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar acknowledged if his party does win, there will still be a “raging debate” about independence.
Rather than using a potential election victory to “endorse the union”, he said: “I want to persuade people that we can make Scotland work within a devolved settlement.”
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has called on government officials to address questions related to US President Donald Trump’s memecoin and his media company.
In an April 25 letter to Jamieson Greer, acting director of the US Office of Government Ethics (OGE), Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts and California Democratic Senator Adam Schiff requested that officials address concerns about Trump’s memecoin after the president announced a dinner and White House tour for some of the individuals who held the most TRUMP tokens. The two senators requested that Greer provide information on safeguards and guidelines related to whether foreign actors and others could buy political influence with the president, potentially impacting his policy positions and federal pardons.
“President Trump’s announcement promises exclusive access to the presidency in exchange for significant investment in one of the President’s business ventures,” wrote the two senators.
“In promising such access, this proposition may implicate several federal ethics laws and constitutional prohibitions, including the federal bribery statute and emoluments clauses of the US Constitution. It also raises the troubling prospect that foreign actors are using the memecoin as a vector to buy influence with President Trump and his associates without needing to disclose their identities publicly.”
The letter was sent the same day Warren reportedly expressed similar concerns about Trump’s potential conflicts of interest with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). According to an April 25 Reuters report, the Massachusetts senator urged SEC Chair Paul Atkins to ensure that oversight of Trump’s media company was “free from undue political interference and influence from the President and his administration.”
Related: Trump’s WLFI crypto investments aren’t paying off
Though ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, Warren does not have the authority to direct Congress’s agenda with Democrats in the minority. Two Democrats in the Senate and House of Representatives have already called for Trump’s impeachment over his memecoin dinner.
Warren added:
“The American people deserve the unwavering assurance that access to the presidency is not being offered for sale to the highest bidder in exchange for the President’s own financial gain.”
At the time of publication, it was unclear who among the top TRUMP memecoin holders would attend the dinner, scheduled to be held on May 22 at Trump’s golf club in Washington, DC. Speculation and analysis of users suggested that Trump supporters, including Tron founder Justin Sun, Tesla CEO Elon Musk, and others, could attend, though none had been confirmed as of April 28.
Magazine: Trump’s crypto ventures raise conflict of interest, insider trading questions
Crypto users betting on the outcome of the snap election to determine the next Prime Minister of Canada appear to be favoring a Liberal Party victory as residents head to cast their votes.
As of April 28, cryptocurrency betting platform Polymarket gave current Canadian Prime Minister and Liberal Party candidate Mark Carney a 79% chance of defeating Conservative Party candidate Pierre Poilievre in the race for the country’s next PM. Data from the platform showed users had poured more than $75 million into bets surrounding the race, predicting a Poilievre or Carney victory.
The odds suggested by the platform, as well as those from many polls, show a nearly complete reversal of fortunes between the two candidates after former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau resigned in January. Trudeau and, by association, many in the Liberal Party, faced criticism over the handling of Canada’s housing crisis and questions about how he would face US President Donald Trump’s then-proposed tariffs.
Following Trudeau’s resignation, Trump stepped up rhetoric disparaging Canada, repeatedly referring to the country as the US’s “51st state” and Trudeau as its “governor.” The US President also imposed a 25% tariff on goods imported from Canada in March. The policies seem to have led to increasing anti-Trump sentiment in Canada, with many residents booing the US national anthem at hockey games and making comparisons between the president and Poilievre.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.
Politics
Small boat crossings pass 10,000 at earliest point in year since records began, Sky News understands
Small boat crossings have passed 10,000 in 2025 at the earliest point in a year since records began, Sky News understands.
Analysis of previous Home Office numbers and footage of people arriving today show the number of people crossing the Channel continuing to rise.
The issue has become a lodestone for political parties across the spectrum, with Rishi Sunak’s pledge to “Stop The Boats” falling well short.
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Sir Keir Starmer promised to clear the backlog of asylum applications and “Smash The Gangs” of people smugglers upstream, but critics say he has failed to do this almost a year into his stint in Number Ten.
Reform’s Nigel Farage has made the issue key to his party’s pitch to voters.
The 10,000 figure is understood to have been passed on 28 April. Official figures only go until 27 April at the time of writing, with 9,885 people detected crossing the Channel by the UK government at this point
This compares to 7,167 by the same date in 2024, 5,745 in 2023, 5,352 in 2022, and 1,796 in 2021. Data only started to get collected in 2018, and for the first three years fewer than 1,000 people were observed crossing the Channel before 28 April.
Fine weather conditions are known to lead to an increase in people crossing the Channel, with some efforts earlier this year stymied by heavy winds.
Sir Keir scrapped the Conservative’s Rwanda deportation plan when entering office. In March, the prime minister said his government had “returned” 24,000 people who had no right to be in the UK.
Read more:
Why more people cross on the weekend?
Gusty conditions halt small boat crossings
Starmer: 24,000 people returned
Chris Philp, the shadow home secretary, said: “Britain’s borders are being torn apart under Labour. This year is already the worst on record for small boat crossings after over 10,000 illegal immigrants arrived in Britain, but Labour just sit on their hands.
“Labour scrapped our deterrent before it even started, flung open the door to extremists and criminals, and handed the bill to hardworking taxpayers.
“Under new Conservative leadership, we are serious about tackling this crisis with deliverable reforms, but Labour continue to block these at every turn. Labour’s open-door chaos is a betrayal of the British people, and we will not let them get away with it.”
Mr Philp was part of previous Conservative governments, which also failed to reduce crossings.
Speaking to broadcasters, Mr Farage said: “If this carries on at this rate, by the end of this Labour government another quarter of a million people will have come into this country, many of whom frankly don’t fit our culture or cost us a fortune.”
He claimed that Reform is “the only party” saying that “unless you deport those that come illegally, they will just continue to come”.
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A Home Office spokesperson said: “We all want to end dangerous small boat crossings, which threaten lives and undermine our border security.
“The people-smuggling gangs do not care if the vulnerable people they exploit live or die, as long as they pay and we will stop at nothing to dismantle their business models and bring them to justice.
“That is why this government has put together a serious plan to take down these networks at every stage.
“Through international intelligence sharing under our Border Security Command, enhanced enforcement operations in Northern France and tougher legislation in the Border Security and Asylum Bill, we are strengthening international partnerships and boosting our ability to identify, disrupt, and dismantle criminal gangs whilst strengthening the security of our borders.”
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