UK politics live: Rayner insists Labour members in US using ‘their own time’ after Trump-Starmer election row

Labour insiders are at pains to stress that the party sends a delegation to every Democratic National Convention, Sky News’s political editor Beth Rigby reports, after Donald Trump’s campaign accused Sir Keir Starmer’s party of interfering in the US election.

Labour MP and former shadow minister Bell Ribeiro-Addy has warned the “Commonwealth will crumble” if the government does not reopen talks on reparations for the slave trade.

It comes as the prime minister faces growing demands to rethink the UK’s position on the issue as he heads to Samoa for a major Commonwealth meeting.

On Monday, Downing Street rejected demands, saying the issue of reparations is “not on the agenda” for the event and “we won’t be offering an apology”.

But Ms Ribeiro-Addy, a former shadow immigration minister, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme “an apology is absolutely free”, dismissing attempts from both this government and the previous government to focus on the present rather than unpick wrongs of the past.

Our political correspondent Millie Cooke reports:

Donald Trump has claimed the Labour Party is interfering in the US election – after members campaigned for Kamala Harris.

But Donald Trump’s party, the Republicans, has campaigned in the UK – for the Tories.

A group of young US Republican party activists travelled to Britain, on a visit organised by the Young Republican National Federation, to “help our Conservative colleagues win” during the 2015 general election, the Financial Times reported at the time.

Health secretary Wes Streeting is to vote against an assisted dying Bill amid fears around coercion and people feeling a “duty to die”.

The cabinet minister had previously said he was “uncharacteristically undecided” on the issue.

MPs will debate Kim Leadbeater’s Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill on 29 November and an initial vote is expected that day.

Mr Streeting’s decision, first reported by The Times, is understood to have been made amid concerns around people feeling pressured to end their lives.

The news follows justice secretary Shabana Mahmood’s previous declaration to The Times that she will vote against the Bill, saying: “As a Muslim, I have an unshakeable belief in the sanctity and value of human life.”

Donald Trump’s presidential campaign has launched an extraordinary attack on Keir Starmer’s Labour as party officials are accused of interfering in the upcoming US election.

In its complaint to the FEC, the Trump campaign’s deputy general counsel Gary Lawkowski accuses the Labour Party and the Harris-Walz campaign of “making and accepting illegal foreign national contributions”.

Explaining its position on Mr Trump’s website, a spokesperson wrote: “In recent weeks, [Labour] has recruited and sent party members to campaign for Kamala in critical battleground states, attempting to influence our election.”

The Trump campaign’s complaint raises a few issues. Firstly, they believe that the campaigning efforts of several Labour activists in the US are in breach of the country’s electoral law.

My colleague Albert Toth has this explainer on what the Trump campaign is alleging:

Chancellor Rachel Reeves has said she regularly speaks to Gordon Brown, Tony Blair, and her Tory predecessor.

Ms Reeves told BBC Radio 5: “I speak to Gordon regularly – I also speak to Tony Blair regularly.”

The chancellor added that she regularly messages Jeremy Hunt, with who she has a “good relationship”, saying: “I may not be particularly impressed with the state of the public finances that he left me, but I do recognise that after Kwasi Kwarteng, he had a tough job to do as well.”

Last week, Sir Keir Starmer’s employment minister Alison McGovern made reference to Labour Party staff who would be travelling to the US to help elect Ms Harris.

She told Sky News: “As far as I know, this is a voluntary thing and it’s about volunteers going and sharing their time.

“This is a normal thing that happens in elections. It is not the first time Labour staff have travelled to the US during presidential elections to campaign for the Democratic nominee.”

Pressed about whether Labour officials’ involvement in the Harris-Waltz Democrat campaign could jeopardise his relationship with Mr Trump if the ex-president wins re-election, Sir Keir replied: “No.”

Speaking as he travelled to Samoa for a meeting of Commonwealth leaders added: “I spent time in New York with President Trump, had dinner with him, and my purpose in doing that was to make sure that between the two of us we established a good relationship, which we did, and I was very grateful to him for making the time.”