Luke Alsford

I am a journalist covering politics, general news and human-interest stories for Metro.

Political reporting

I have covered British politics through exclusive investigations, breaking news and on the ground reports.

Metro •

Powerful unions boycott Labour Women's Conference over trans ban

Major Labour unions will boycott the party’s women’s conference this year in protest at the exclusion of trans women, Metro can reveal.
Unison, Aslef, Usdaw, and the Musicians’ Union will not attend Labour Women’s Conference in September over the decision to ban trans women from formal proceedings at the event.
The unions are among Labour’s largest financial backers and say the women’s event in Liverpool conflicts with their stance on trans inclusion.
Labour cancelled their women’s conference la...
Metro •

Trans people fear being outed over dead-naming and toilet plans in civil service

Trans civil servants will be told to use toilets based on their biological sex and colleagues could be investigated for misgendering them, according to new plans seen by Metro.
Trans staff will be forced to discuss toilet access with a manager, prompting fears they could be outed by the new rules.
Metro has obtained a copy of the government’s transgender guidance for civil servants, which ministers have refused to publish before it is finalised.
The model policy has warned civil servants they co...
Metro •

Campaign calls for London Night Tube to run for England's World Cup matches

Football groups, political parties and business leaders have joined forces to demand that London’s Night Tube runs on week nights when England and Scotland have World Cup matches.
Sadiq Khan and Transport for London are being urged to expand overnight underground services to help supporters gather in the capital to watch their national sides after the late kick-offs.
The campaign – started by the Liberal Democrats – has been supported by the Football Supporters Association, the Night Time Indust...
Metro •

Keir Starmer sets out when he's going to step down as Prime Minister

A teary Keir Starmer has said he will stand down as Prime Minister less than two years after he swept to power in a historic Labour landslide.
Sir Keir spoke on the steps of Number 10 to confirm his departure after weeks of immense pressure from his party over dire poll ratings and a series of damaging mistakes.
After weeks of vowing to fight on, his authority was crushed by senior Cabinet resignations and the return to Parliament of rival Andy Burnham, who trounced Reform in the Makerfield by-e...
Metro •

Reform's Makerfield candidate said King should open palaces for asylum seekers

Reform UK’s candidate in the Makerfield by-election wrote about Asian men ‘assaulting white people en masse’ and ‘an invasion of foreign criminals’ on his now suspended X account, Metro can reveal
Robert F Kenyon was selected by Reform to take on Andy Burnham in the critical by-election in Makerfield, Greater Manchester, next month.
Social media commentators noticed within minutes that Kenyon’s X account, Makerfield_RFK, was suspended by X because it violated the rules of the platform.
Metro has...
Metro •

Andy Burnham allowed to run in Makerfield after Labour body's decision

Andy Burnham has been granted permission to run in the Makerfield by-election by the Labour Party governing body.
Greater Manchester’s popular Labour mayor announced yesterday that he intends to stand in a by-election to bag a seat in Parliament, followed by recently resigned health secretary Wes Streeting throwing his weight behind him.
Now Burnham has cleared a major hurdle that had previously blocked him in Manchester – the Labour Party’s National Executive Committee (NEC).
The top ruling bo...
Metro •

Corbyn leads campaign for Met chief to retract remarks about pro-Palestine demos

Jeremy Corbyn is leading a campaign for Metropolitan Police chief Mark Rowley to retract his ‘baseless’ claims about pro-Palestine marches.
The former Labour leader is demanding the top copper withdraw his claims that protest organisers try to walk past synagogues on their demos.
Rowley told The Times that activists behind this weekend’s Nakba pro-Palestine march wanted to go past a synagogue, which he said ‘feels like antisemitism’.
More than 30 MPs and four members of the House of Lords have j...
Metro •

Labour big beast gives Keir Starmer September deadline to improve popularity

One of Labour’s leading metro mayors has given Keir Starmer a September deadline to turn around the party’s popularity or face being ousted.
Kim McGuinness, mayor for the North East, said the Prime Minister needed to improve Labour’s poll ratings by the party conference in late September.
She also said that fellow mayor Andy Burnham would be a ‘great prime minister’ but refused to say whether she backed his return to Westminster.
Follow Metro’s blog for coverage of Keir Starmer’s future as Prime...
Metro •

Labour MP threatening to oust Keir Starmer reveals how he can win her over

A Labour MP who has vowed to topple Keir Starmer has said what the Prime Minister needs to do to make her change her mind.
Catherine West sparked chaos in the Labour Party by saying she will launch a leadership bid if a Cabinet member does not put themselves forward.
The backbencher will listen to Starmer’s make-or-break speech on Monday before sending an email to all her fellow MPs asking for their support.
She told Metro what she needs to hear in his address to stop her pulling the trigger – a...
Metro •

'Shabana Mahmood called me a white liberal for heckling her - I'm not white'

A heckler who was told to ‘f*** off’ and called a ‘white liberal’ by the Home Secretary has clarified he is not even white.
Joe, 32, came to the UK from Malaysia when he was four and wanted to protest Shabana Mahmood’s ‘cruel’ policies towards migrants.
He accused the Home Secretary of ‘stooping so low’ and being ‘childish’ for swearing at him and suggesting his criticisms were racist.
But the Labour politician said that the protesters were trying to ‘delegitimise’ the ‘perfectly valid’ views of...
Metro •

'Hesitant' Keir Starmer told to expel Iran's ambassador after RAF base threat

Prince Reza Palavi’s closest aide and senior MPs have called on Keir Starmer to expel the Iranian ambassador in London after he threatened to attack British bases.
MPs from across the political divide told Metro that Seyed Ali Mousavi should be kicked out of the UK after he signalled Iran could target UK military sites linked to the war in the Middle East.
Cameron Khansarinia, who is the chief of staff to the exiled prince of Iran, demanded the prime minister expel Tehran’s representative ‘at on...
Metro •

More than £550,000 of taxpayer cash spent on meditation apps for civil servants

The government has been accused of ‘blowing their money’ on ‘lifestyle perks’ after they spent more than £550,000 on meditation apps for civil servants since Covid.
Government departments paid tens of thousands of pounds per year for the mindfulness site Headspace, according to contracts found by Metro.
The Department for Education (DfE) spent just shy of £65,000 in March for a contract to use the Headspace for work app from April 2026 to March 2027.
The discovery prompted a row about whether di...
Metro •

'We let Nigel Farage visit our bar - now we are being called Nazis'

A popular Newcastle bar say they are shocked their staff have been horrifically abused online after Nigel Farage visited their venue.
Hibou Blanc in Newcastle’s city centre was swarmed with protesters last Friday after the Reform UK leader went to a lunchtime event there.
Activists shouted ‘shame on you’ and threw things at the restaurant, forcing the swanky venue to close its shutters.
The bar’s partner Stevie Pattinson, 56, has said the attacks have not stopped there, saying his young staff ha...
Metro •

Keir Starmer says Peter Mandelson 'betrayed our country' over Epstein

MPs have voted to release documents known as the so-called Mandelson files surrounding the decision to make Peter Mandelson the US ambassador.
No 10 said the Government would comply with a motion backed by MPs and publish documents relating to Peter Mandelson’s appointment.
A Downing Street spokesperson said: ‘Peter Mandelson’s actions were unforgivable.
‘He lied to the Prime Minister, hid information that has since come to light and presented Jeffrey Epstein as someone he barely knew.
‘We will...
Metro •

Uyghurs in UK feel 'betrayed' by Starmer's 'cosy visit' to China

Uyghur activists living in exile in London have accused Sir Keir Starmer of turning a blind eye to ‘genocide’ by visiting China for trade talks.
The Prime Minister has become the first UK leader to visit China since 2018, despite backing calls five years ago for China’s treatment of the Uyghur minority to be formally recognised as genocide.
Rahima Mahmut and Aziz Isa Elkun say they feel ‘betrayed’ by Starmer’s ‘U-turn’ as he attempts to bolster economic ties with the Asian power during the three...
Metro •

First calls for a boycott of the World Cup over Trump's Greenland threats

Conservative and Labour MPs have become the first voices to call for a boycott of the World Cup this summer after Trump announced new tariffs on the UK.
Simon Hoare and Kate Osborne said the government needed to ‘push every button and pull every lever’ to show its objection to the US president’s threats towards Greenland.
Mr Hoare, a senior Conservative MP, told Metro that could include not going to the World Cup, a day after he called for the King’s state visit to the US to be cancelled.
Labour...
Metro •

Two Cabinet ministers 'stripped to a bikini' by Grok AI

Two Cabinet members have become the latest victims to be ‘undressed’ by Grok AI on Elon Musk’s X, Metro can reveal.
This newspaper has seen pictures of the senior politicians being shown in revealing bikinis at the request of members of the public.
A government source called the images ‘deeply disturbing’ and welcomed media regulator Ofcom’s announcement that they are in ‘urgent talks’ with X and xAI.
The Cabinet ministers are one of hundreds of examples of Grok generating images of partially-na...
Metro •

Survivors panel at centre of grooming gangs inquiry to be scrapped

The survivors panel at the heart of the grooming gangs inquiry will be ditched by the government, Metro can reveal.
The victims and survivors panel will be wound down in January, the Home Office has confirmed, just a year after it was set up to ‘ensure that victims’ voices remain at the very heart’ of the inquiry.
The decision was criticised as ‘disgusting’ by grooming gangs survivors, who said it proved the inquiry would not be victim-led.
The revelation comes on the same day the Home Secretary...
Mail Online •

Estate agent was NOT to blame for Reeves' house licence fiasco

By LUKE ALSFORD and CLAIRE ELLICOTT Published: 00:27, 3 November 2025 | Updated: 03:00, 3 November 2025 An estate agent who failed to apply for a licence for Rachel Reeves to let her family home was not responsible for the oversight, his boss has revealed.The property manager has found himself at the centre of a political scandal after he originally dealt with the Chancellor's case.But questions were raised about why the agent had left the company abruptly without fulfilling the licence...
Mail Online •

Grooming gangs survivor claims Starmer WANTS investigation to fail

By LUKE ALSFORD Published: 23:39, 25 October 2025 | Updated: 01:26, 26 October 2025 A grooming gang survivor who quit the inquiry into child sexual exploitation has accused Sir Keir Starmer of sabotaging the investigation to protect Labour councils.Elizabeth Harper, who was abused in Rotherham aged 14, said the Prime Minister wanted the inquiry to fail as it would damage his party.The 38-year-old left the panel last Tuesday after a chaotic meeting with possible chairmen.She said survivor...
Metro •

We went to the Monster Raving Loony Party conference and it was, well, loony

It’s not every party conference where Donald Trump, Margaret Thatcher and Sir Sadiq Khan end up side by side.
Then again, the Monster Raving Loony Party’s annual conference isn’t pretending to be your typical political gathering.
Of course, those famous faces weren’t really in attendance at this year’s event, which was held in the quiet village of Ledbury in Herefordshire.
Instead it was the mask-clad members of the unmissable Loony party who turned up for their first day of fun and policy plann...
Metro •

David Lammy becomes Deputy Prime Minister in reshuffle after Angela Rayner quits

David Lammy has become the new Deputy Prime Minister hours after Angela Rayner quit the role over underpaid stamp duty tax.
The former deputy Labour leader stepped down after it was found she had broken the rules over stamp duty for her second home.
The Prime Minister subsequently used Rayner’s resignation to mix up his top team, moving key figures to new posts.
Yvette Cooper has been appointed Foreign Secretary, while Shabana Mahmood has been moved from Justice Secretary to Home Secretary in a...
Metro •

Keir Starmer says state is 'inalienable' right of Palestinian people

Keir Starmer has called the ‘starvation’ in Gaza ‘indefensible’, adding that the Palestinian people have an ‘inalienable’ right to a state.
The Prime Minister said the situation has ‘reached new depths and continues to worsen’ while urging Israel to change course.
In a statement shared on social media, he called for ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict that would establish a path to Palestinian statehood.
Starmer’s intervention came at the same time French President Emmanuel Macron announced h...
Metro •

Girl sent home from school for wearing Union Jack dress

A dad says he’s received dozens of messages of support after his daughter was put into isolation over her choice of attire on her school’s culture day.
Courtney Wright, 12, chose to celebrate being British with a Union Jack dress, similar to the one worn by Spice Girl Geri Halliwell at the Brits in 1997.
However, teachers at Bilton School said the year seven pupil’s outfit was unacceptable and she was told to leave her class until her dad Stuart Field, 47, came to collect her.
Since revealing...
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