Labour’s plunge in popularity since the election has been laid bare in an analysis of council contests. Keir Starmer’s candidates have won just 53 of the 150 seats up for grabs on local authorities since July 4 – having previously held 75. Meanwhile, the Tories have boosted their tally by 21 to 44, and Reform have gained  five.

Sir Keir Starmer today refused to say that taxes will not rise again despite Rachel Reeves making the pledge to business. In bad-tempered clashes at PMQs, the premier insisted he was ‘not going to write the next five years of Budgets right here at this despatch box’. Tory leader Kemi Badenoch swiped that the burden would inevitably rise again under Labour – and also goaded Sir Keir over millions of Brits signing a petition demanding a fresh general election.

Butchers at Smithfield Market told of their devastation today as City bosses took the decision to close the world’s oldest meat market after 900 years at the heart of London life. Traders at the iconic English institution, which will close along with Billingsgate fish market – itself established in 1850 – described the move as a ‘sad day’ for the capital and a ‘nightmare’ for them personally. Butcher Joe Howgate, 25, told MailOnline: ‘It’s been here for 800 or 900 years, it’s not nice the corporation has said “it’s done”. It’s sad for London, there is a lot of history here, it’s a long time and for them to say ‘‘that’s it, we’re going to call it a day’’ is sad and unusual.’

Britain’s car industry is in crisis due to a lack of demand for electric cars, the boss of Ford’s UK arm has warned. Lisa Brankin, the chairman and managing director of Ford UK, called for the Government to urgently introduce ‘incentives’ such as tax breaks to convince drivers to switch away from petrol and diesel. She said Ford has invested ‘significantly’ in the production and development of EVs, with ‘well over’ £350million invested around electrification in the UK, adding: ‘So we kind of need to make it work.’

A Netflix reality star has avoided jail after she was caught trying to smuggle £150,000 worth of drugs into the UK on a flight back from Thailand. Olga Bednarska, 27, was arrested in October after being stopped by customs officers at Manchester Airport with two large suitcases containing 40kg of cannabis. According to The Manchester Evening News, the Too Hot to Handle star claimed she was given the bags by a friend called ‘Tex’.

WhatsApp messages are increasingly being used as evidence during bitter employment tribunals, with companies warned they could be at risk of having to pay out hefty fines if they aren’t monitored. The number of tribunals that have referenced the messaging app has almost tripled since 2019, from 150 to 427 hearings in 2023, according to figures from the HM Courts and Tribunals Service. The data was obtained by law firm Nockolds as employers were warned misuse of the platform could see them having to pay out thousands of pounds in compensation.