Favour

Warringah MP among those most active in alliance discussions while Monique Ryan, Helen Haines and Kate Chaney distance themselves from possible moveFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastZali Steggall says funding rules that disadvantage independents and looming changes to donations laws are factors in favour of “teal” independents forming their own party, but some fellow MPs have already ruled out the idea.Sources close to crossbench MPs say discussions about forming an alliance of independent politicians are not new and have been happening for months, but that there is no general agreement – even among the more closely aligned inner-city members referred to as teals – about such a plan. Continue reading...

Chancellor’s supporters urge MPs to back her if Keir Starmer is replaced, saying she is only candidate who can safeguard UK’s financesRachel Reeves has launched a rearguard action to save her job as chancellor, telling friends she would like to stay in the post even under a new prime minister.The chancellor’s supporters have been urging MPs to back her if Keir Starmer is replaced later this year, saying she is the only candidate who can safeguard the country’s finances. Continue reading...

Butterfly Conservation poll is open until 7 June with choice of 60 species from small tortoiseshells to purple emperorsWill it be the rapidly disappearing former garden favourite, the small tortoiseshell? Or the poet John Masefield’s “oakwood haunting thing”, the charismatic purple emperor? Or perhaps the brimstone, the ultimate harbinger of spring?The question of which is Britain’s favourite butterfly is being put to a popular vote for the first time. The charity Butterfly Conservation is running the poll, which runs until 7 June, giving people the chance to choose their favourite from the 60 species that fly around Britain every summer. Continue reading...