European cities are urgently redesigning urban environments to combat record-shattering, deadly heatwaves.

 

European cities are urgently redesigning urban environments to combat record-shattering, deadly heatwaves. Key measures include deploying nature-based solutions like microforests, creating networks of accessible "climate refuges," and updating building codes. These transformations aim to reduce urban heat islands where concrete surfaces trap heat.

1. Nature-Based Solutions (NBS)

To counter the "urban heat island" effect, cities are moving away from gray infrastructure by integrating natural cooling elements directly into neighborhoods:

• Green & Blue Corridors: Introducing interconnected networks of parks, green roofs, and water bodies allows cooler air to flow through dense urban blocks.
• Microforests & Schoolyards: Cities are replacing asphalt with "sponge" city designs, planting dense, fast-growing microforests and de-paving schoolyards to provide shaded community spaces.

2. Built Environment & Retrofits

Transforming buildings and public spaces is essential to ensure passive cooling and long-term livability:

• Cool Surfaces & Materials: Deploying highly reflective materials for roofs and roads reduces the absorption of solar radiation.
• Passive Cooling: Incorporating natural shading—such as strategic tree canopies and green facades—protects buildings from direct solar gain before the need for air conditioning.

3. Public Health & Community Resilience

Because extreme heat is the leading cause of climate-related deaths in Europe, public safety frameworks are being revamped:

• Climate Refuges: Municipalities are designing mapped networks of cool, accessible indoor and outdoor spaces where vulnerable residents can seek relief during peak temperatures.
• Energy Poverty Integration: Adaptation strategies are pairing cooling initiatives with socioeconomic support, protecting low-income populations most vulnerable to unequal temperature impacts and high cooling costs.

4. Policy & Local Action

European authorities are actively mobilizing funding and technical resources to ensure rapid urban adaptation:

• The Covenant of Mayors: The EU Covenant of Mayors unites thousands of local governments working to build climate resilience and combat local energy poverty.
• Targeted Toolkits: Frameworks like Plus Fraîche Ma Ville offer numerical modeling to help planners pinpoint exactly where localized urban heat interventions are most needed.

 

11 months ago : Extreme heat is our future – European cities must adapt

 

 This article is more than 11 months old

Extreme heat is our future – European cities must adapt

This article is more than 11 months oldAlexander Hurst

Alexander Hurst

Greenery, shade and swimming spots won’t solve the climate crisis, but they’re becoming ever more critical

 

Wed 9 Jul 2025 13.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jul/09/extreme-heat-european-cities-greenery-swimming-climate-crisis

 

Three years ago, in Zurich for the first time, I crossed a bridge over the Limmat River and saw people floating down it in rubber rings on their way home from work, some casually holding beers. The Limmat is so clear that it almost begs you not only to jump in, but to drink it.

 

Paris’s Canal Saint-Martin has never produced either desire in me – but sweltering in last week’s 38C heat, I wanted to close my eyes, pretend it was the Limmat, and leap. Others weren’t so hesitant; there was a line of people going up one of the footbridges over the canal waiting for their turn to jump, dive, backflip or just belly-flop into the water.

 

As the climate crisis throws its destructive effects ever more fully in our faces, cities during heatwaves are their own type of ground zero. It’s no secret that Paris lacks green space and tree cover, ranking at the bottom of MIT’s Green View index. Last week especially, I found myself longing for the expansive green lawns of Parc Montsouris – along with its free, public sparkling water fountain (one of 17 across the city).

 

With the sidewalks sizzling and the sweat dripping, how can we create more green spaces and more tolerable streets in a densely populated city, with housing stock so susceptible to increasingly intense summer heat?

 

The answer seems to be to squeeze in bits of vegetation and traffic-calming measures wherever possible. A green wall near Sentier Métro station; bushes, trees, flowers and wildgrasses in former parking spots on Rue de Sully; the pedestrianisation of Rue Charles Moureu in the 13th arrondissement, and hundreds more streets like them to come. There is the “urban forest” growing in front of Paris’s city hall, which is the capital’s third so far, after the 470 trees that replaced a torpid stretch of concrete and sun at Place de Catalogne, and a repurposing of old railway tracks in the 20th arrondissement.

 

On Sunday, the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, inaugurated her infamous pledge to make the Seine swimmable again for the first time in a century. You might call it a gimmick, though there are Parisians excited to take the plunge.

 

While none of these localised urban tweaks are a substitute for big-picture political action to tackle the climate crisis, we will need to use every adaptation available to make our cities tolerable in the face of extreme heat. Whether it is swimmable ponds or little pockets of shaded respite, these things all help.

 

Here in Paris, for example, they are redoing an intersection near my apartment that is also home to a small square. Previously, everything was paved in heat-absorbing blacktop; now, the blacktop has been replaced with stone, which does a better job reflecting the sun, and half of the formerly paved surface area has been planted. The visual improvement is already incontrovertible, and in a few years, when the plants have grown to their full size, what was once a heat island will have been transformed into something far cooler and more convivial.

 

Hidalgo’s strategy hasn’t been without its critics, but from the pedestrianised banks of the Seine to the proliferation of bicycle lanes, who could deny that it has been swift and high impact?

 

According to Luc Berman at Le réseau vélo et marche, a collective working to improve cycling and pedestrian infrastructure, the percentage of trips made on bicycle in Paris has gone from 2% to 12% in the last 10 years, while car use declined from 12% to 4%. “No other city in the world of this size has moved so quickly,” says Berman. “It’s an example of what political courage can achieve at the local level.”

 

In the immediate aftermath of the Covid lockdowns, the city threw up concrete barriers seemingly everywhere to carve out space for bicycles, and allowed restaurants to spread out terraces into streets. Those temporary measures have now been transformed into permanent cycling infrastructure and permanent demand for the expanded restaurant terraces.

 

Will it all be enough, though? My bedroom – off my building’s inner courtyard – is fully protected from direct sunlight, but in last week’s searing temperatures, sleeping was still a challenge. Marine Le Pen’s far right is attempting to turn a demand for “obligatory” air-conditioning into its cause célèbre, while of course opposing tackling the root cause of the heating, through the only forum significant enough to do so: the EU. When it comes to overheating retirement homes, schools, Métro trains and France’s nuclear-powered electricity grid, other parties would be foolish to let the National Rally claim this ground – these spaces do need air-conditioning. But in Paris’s 19th-century apartment stock, it’s clear that it will not be coming to save us en masse.

 

This is our future. For the moment, extreme heat is still just a week here, a week there of sweaty, sleepless nights, but it will get worse. The Canadian zoologist and climate activist David Suzuki recently declared that “it’s too late” to solve the crisis. We can, and should, do as much as we can as fast as we can to limit every 10th of a degree of additional heating, but we have harmed our present and our future in an irreversible way and we’re already feeling it. All that cities can do is adapt. Some will do a better job of it than others. If that makes you go ugh, well – it’s the heat talking.

Adapting to the heat: four ideas from European cities

 

Adapting to the heat: four ideas from European cities

 

From checking on older neighbours to greening spaces, some cities are stepping up efforts to keep people safe

 

Ajit Niranjan

Ajit Niranjan Europe environment correspondent

Fri 26 Jun 2026 15.35 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/26/adapting-heat-ideas-from-european-cities

 

Extreme heat has seared Europe this week, with the UK smashing its top heat record for June for three days in a row, and France sweltering through its hottest day and night on record.

 

As fossil fuel pollution bakes the planet, making heatwaves hotter and longer, some places are adapting better than others. What have European cities done to stay safe when it gets too hot?

 

Check-ins on older neighbours

Older people are vastly overrepresented in the death tolls from heat, and doctors say one of the most effective things you can do in a heatwave is check on those around you. A handful of cities including Paris have organised this as an official service, in which people with health problems or over the age of 60 can sign up to be contacted by the authorities during a heatwave.

 

In Denmark, the DaneAge Association offers safety check-in calls in 170 out of 215 local branches. The scheme started more than three decades ago as a telephone chain, where one person called the next, who called the next – and relatives were informed if someone did not pick up.

 

Because some people felt uncomfortable passing the call forward, the association said, most groups today are organised into “telephone stars”. Across Denmark, about 1,700 volunteers take turns phoning older people living alone for a brief welfare check in a confidential phone call.

 

Heat safety is just one part of the scheme but also where some of the health benefits may be greatest. And as temperatures have risen this week, the association has also encouraged the public to check in on neighbours and relatives, offer to help them with shopping and remind them to stay hydrated.

 

Climate shelters

Before heat gets unbearable, finding a place to cool down can spell the difference between life and death. The US and Australia are fond of huge air-conditioned sports facilities in which people can seek refuge when the weather gets hot, but these are often hard to reach for those without cars. Parts of Europe have instead sought to repurpose public buildings such as schools, museums and libraries, and turn them into cooling centres.

 

Climate shelters became popular in Barcelona, a pioneer of urban design that is famous for its “superblocks”, and the shelters have swelled in number to more than 400 since 2020. They have spread across Spain and farther afield, with cooling zones popping up from Paris to Amsterdam and Vienna.

 

More than 90% of vulnerable older residents of Barcelona live within a 10-minute walk of a climate shelter, a study found in September, though summer closures mean this drops to 75% in August, when they are needed most. Supporters say repurposing spaces to make them heatwave-safe requires only minor investments, such as changing opening hours and training staff, and can unlock a potentially life-saving refuge that keeps temperatures low and lets people drink water and use the toilet.

 

Making shade

While air conditioning can be crucial for keeping temperatures down in hospitals and care homes, health experts want to stop the heat from getting inside before trying to take it out.

 

Across southern Europe, buildings have long been designed to offer shade that northern Europe lacks. These include painting walls and roofs white to reflect sunlight, and adding external shutters, screens and awnings. Parts of northern Europe are taking note, with Amsterdam’s heat officer this week advising local people to drape curtains outside their windows.

 

“Is it always architecturally chic? No,” she said in a viral social media post that advised clamping an extendable rod between window frames and hanging sheets outside. “Does it work? Yes.”

 

The gap between northern and southern European heat management extends to behaviour – with shops and businesses closing during the hottest part of the day and reopening when it cools – and the design of urban space. Narrow streets, thick-walled courtyards, plentiful trees and widespread fountains help keep the heat from building up. So-called “shading sails” that form fabric canopies above streets can further reduce exposure to scorching heat.

 

Greening urban spaces

Cities are uncomfortably hotter than their surroundings because concrete and tarmac trap heat. Add to that the heat-generating bustle of people and machines, from cars to datacentres, and urban temperatures can rise by a potentially fatal 2-3C. It is a particular problem for Paris, which has zinc roofs that get jarringly hot, turning top-floor attic apartments into deadly heat traps.

 

But Paris has led the way in recent efforts to green itself, planting more than 150,000 trees and creating 63,000 hectares of green space under the previous mayor, Anne Hidalgo. These cool the city and provide shade that can keep people out of direct sunlight. Paris has also encouraged people to cycle instead of drive, building bike lanes, pedestrianising streets and removing car parking spots, which reduces the heat generated in the first place.

 

Experts say the health benefits of such solutions during a heatwave extend beyond the reduction in temperature. Active travel and green space leaves people healthier, including by reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and obesity, which in turn leaves their bodies better prepared to withstand the stress that hot weather places on their organs. And by cutting emissions of planet-heating pollution, future heatwaves will not get so hot.

Climate change United Nations • Climate change refers to long-term shifts in temperatures and weather patterns. Human activities have been the main driver of climate change, primarily due to the burning of fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas. Switzerland's Glacier Emergency | What's Really Happening?

 

Snow and ice on Swiss glaciers melting at alarming rate amid heatwave, expert says

 

Snow and ice on Swiss glaciers melting at alarming rate amid heatwave, expert says

 

Accumulation on Switzerland’s glaciers from last winter expected to all be gone by Monday amid ‘enormous’ melt rates across Alps

 

Agence France-Presse

Sat 27 Jun 2026 03.50 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2026/jun/27/snow-and-ice-on-swiss-glaciers-melting-at-alarming-rate-amid-heatwave-expert-says

 

Swiss glaciers are set to lose an enormous amount of ice due to the heatwave battering Europe, according to the head of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (Glamos).

 

The snow and ice accumulated last winter by Switzerland’s glaciers is expected to have all melted away by Monday, marking the alarming second-earliest arrival on record of the tipping point known as glacier loss day.

 

All further melting between now and October will see the size of glaciers in the Swiss Alps shrink.

 

In data going back to 2000, the only time that the tipping point arrived even earlier was in 2022, when it came on 26 June. The grim scenario is driven by the current heatwave, as well as the one in May – both coming on the back of another winter with poor snowfall.

 

“We’re just seeing enormous ablation, ice melt rates and snow melt rates all over the Alps,” Glamos network chief Matthias Huss told AFP on Friday, as multiple Swiss weather stations registered new all-time records.

 

“We are three months too early compared to a healthy state.”

 

This century, the tipping point, on average, has been reached in mid-August – already bad news for the nation’s glaciers, which are shrinking at a staggering rate.

 

Much of the water that flows into the Rhine and the Rhone – two of Europe’s major rivers – comes from the Alpine glaciers.

 

Huss said he had just returned from the Rhone Glacier and that in the 10 days since his previous visit “there was one metre of ice melted in the vertical direction – one metre of melting within just the last 10 days”.

 

“It’s very impressive to see, and this is just the effect of the heatwave.”

 

“The more days that are added that are very high temperatures, not even mattering whether it’s 35C or 40C, this is just very bad for the glaciers.”

 

Huss said the “very bad state of the glaciers at the moment” was down to a “combination of bad circumstances”, including less snowfall and the arrival of dust from the Sahara desert in March.

 

He said 2026 was “surprisingly similar” to 2022, which for glaciers was “by far the most extreme year ever recorded in the Alps, with melt rates shattering everything we had seen before”.

 

He said this year had seen 25% less snow replenishing the surface of the glaciers compared with the 2010-20 figures. Meanwhile May was warm, causing the snowpack to disappear earlier.

 

Glaciers in the Swiss Alps began to retreat about 170 years ago, initially modestly, but in recent decades melting has accelerated significantly as the climate warms.

 

The volume of Swiss glaciers shrank by 38% between 2000 and 2024. Huss said Switzerland had already lost 1,200 glaciers in the past 50 years, and now only 1,300 were left.

 

“Those lost were small glaciers, but they were still relevant in peripheral regions of the Alps,” the glaciologist said.

 

“If warming continues as it did over the last decades, by 2100 we will only be left with some little remnants of ice.”

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Your Leaders Betrayed You | Geert Wilders

 

UPROAR IN THE BUNDESTAG - ALICE WEIDEL SOUNDS THE ALARM! Has Germany’s global reputation been squ...

Harsh words in the German Bundestag! Alice Weidel, leader of the AfD parliamentary group, criticizes the federal government's policies and accuses Chancellor Friedrich Merz of not adequately representing Germany's interests on the international stage.

 In her speech, Weidel addresses economic development, public finances, Germany's international image, and the use of public funds. She calls for a change of political course and a stronger focus on national interests.

 The debate sparks heated reactions in parliament. While supporters see her criticism as necessary opposition, political opponents vehemently reject the accusations. The exchange highlights the differing positions on Germany's future and its role in Europe and the world.

RIOTS IN ERFURT? AfD Party Conference Under Pressure – Baumann Makes Serious Allegations! 🔥

AfD: Police issue warning! 50,000 protesters expected! Riots threaten party conference in Erfurt

 

German police brace for unrest at far-right AfD conference

 

German police brace for unrest at far-right AfD conference

 

Law enforcement expect more than 50,000 demonstrators could descend on the city of Erfurt, with as many as 2,500 left-wing extremists among them.

 

June 25, 2026 3:14 pm CET

By Alexander Dinger and Milena Wälde

https://www.politico.eu/article/german-police-fear-unrest-afd-conference/

 

German police are preparing for what they fear could become one of the country’s largest protests against the far-right Alternative for Germany party in years.

 

Internal security assessments warn that more than 50,000 demonstrators could descend on the party’s conference in Erfurt in eastern Germany on July 4-5.

 

The biggest concern, according to internal police documents seen by WELT, is that a hard core of up to 2,500 violent left-wing extremists could spark rioting similar to the 2017 G2O meeting in Hamburg.

 

The party conference is taking place at a politically charged moment for the AfD, which leads national polling at about 28 percent support, ahead of Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s Christian Democrats at about 22 percent. Party conferences are the AfD’s highest decision-making gatherings, where delegates set the group’s direction, shape its program and make key personnel decisions ahead of election campaigns.

 

The stakes are especially high this year. In September, the AfD has a strong chance of winning a plurality in the eastern states of Saxony-Anhalt and Mecklenburg-Vorpommern — two races that could further test Germany’s political firewall against the far right.

 

Police believe violent activists could use the much larger protest crowds in Erfurt as cover to attack officers and disrupt the conference.

 

Police in the Thuringia region around Erfurt confirmed they expected an exceptionally large protest operation, including coordinated attempts to block access routes to the exhibition grounds where the conference will take place. The force declined to comment on the estimate of 2,500 violent extremists, citing operational security.

 

Crucially, the internal assessment says the police’s original worst-case scenario is now considered potentially realistic. Officers expect up to 30 blockade points around the venue, and warn that violent groups could embed themselves within otherwise peaceful demonstrations before launching attacks on police officers, vehicles and barriers.

 

Police say the nationwide protest network Widersetzen (“Resist”), which advocates mass civil disobedience and blockade tactics, has helped drive the mobilization alongside trade unions, church groups, climate activists and anti-fascist organizations. Authorities are also assessing calls posted on the far-left platform Indymedia, urging activists from Italy, France and Switzerland to travel to Erfurt.

 

The AfD’s previous federal conference in Riesa, Saxony was also hit by clashes between police and anti-AfD demonstrators.

 

Alexander Dinger is WELT’s investigations editor.

 

The Axel Springer Global Reporters Network harnesses the resources of the company’s newsrooms to publish ambitious scoops, investigations, interviews, opinion pieces and analysis. It allows journalists — including those from POLITICO, Business Insider, WELT, BILD, Onet and Fakt — to collaborate on major stories for an international audience of hundreds of millions across platforms: online, print, TV and audio.

LIVE: Denmark Moves To Ban The Azan Nationwide Fearing It's Turning Into Islamabad

Will Denmark Outlaw the Muslim Prayer Call?

 

Should the UK ban Muslim calls to prayer?

 

Should the UK ban Muslim calls to prayer?

Whether the UK should ban the Muslim call to prayer (the adhan) is a highly contentious debate with no political or social consensus. The topic has gained renewed attention across Europe, particularly following a June 2026 announcement by Denmark's government to pursue a legal ban on broadcasting the call to prayer over rooftops.

In the UK, public and political opinions on this issue are divided into two primary perspectives.

Arguments for Restricting or Banning the Call to Prayer

• Preserving Public Space and National Identity: Critics argue that broadcasting the call to prayer over loudspeakers fundamentally alters the visual and auditory landscape of British towns and cities. Some political figures, such as Reform UK leader Nigel Farage, have argued that mass or highly visible public Islamic observances infringe upon historic British national spaces and culture.
• Noise Pollution and Local Disruption: Opponents raise practical concerns regarding volume, especially since the five daily prayers are tied to daylight hours and can occur as early as 3:00 AM or 4:00 AM during summer months. They argue that amplification affects all local residents regardless of faith, disrupting sleep, wildlife, and neighborhood peace.
• Availability of Modern Alternatives: Many argue that public amplification is outdated and unnecessary. Because modern technology allows worshippers to use dedicated smartphone apps, alarm clocks, or internal mosque timetables, critics contend that broadcasting the adhan into the wider community is an unnecessary imposition.

Arguments Against a Ban and Supporting the Practice

• Religious Freedom and Tolerance: Proponents emphasize that freedom of religion is a core British value. They argue that in a diverse, multicultural society, minority faiths should be accommodated, provided they adhere to local laws.
• Parity with Other Faiths: Supporters point out that Christian church bells have been allowed to ring out publicly for centuries. They argue that banning the Muslim call to prayer while permitting church bells creates a discriminatory double standard that targets one specific religious community.
• Community Integration: Many view the occasional or regulated broadcast of the call to prayer as a sign of mutual respect and integration. Community advocates argue that public expressions of faith foster transparency and open dialogue rather than forcing religious minority practices entirely behind closed doors.

Current Legal Framework in the UK

As of 2026, there is no blanket national ban on the Muslim call to prayer in the United Kingdom. Instead, the practice is regulated at the local level:

• Local Authority Regulation: Mosques wishing to broadcast the adhan via external loudspeakers generally must seek permission from their local borough or city council.
• Environmental Noise Laws: Any public broadcast is subject to standard UK noise pollution laws and environmental health regulations. Councils can impose strict limits on the volume, the time of day it can be played, and the specific prayers that may be amplified to minimize disruption to the surrounding neighborhood

 

Should the UK ban Muslim calls to prayer? | LBC callers

 

The Mail on Sunday launched a wave of targeted attacks against Restore Britain to combat the fracturing of right-wing voters ahead of the Makerfield by-election.

 

Mail on Sunday attacks Restore as split right creates headache for UK papers

The Mail on Sunday launched a wave of targeted attacks against Restore Britain to combat the fracturing of right-wing voters ahead of the Makerfield by-election.

A Guardian analysis by Michael Savage reveals that the right-leaning press faces a major dilemma as it navigates a split on the British political right.

The Strategy Behind the Attacks

• Targeting Extremism: The Daily Mail group ran multi-day, stinging anti-Restore campaigns highlighting the party's ties to white supremacists.
• Preventing Vote Splitting: Right-wing papers fear a split vote on the right will allow Labour candidate Andy Burnham to sweep the Makerfield by-election.
• Flirting with Farage: The Mail on Sunday explicitly urged its readers to back Nigel Farage's Reform UK over Restore to concentrate right-wing voting power.

A Headache for UK Newspapers

The historic right-wing media consensus—which traditionally unified behind the Conservative Party—is fracturing. Publications are struggling to gauge exactly where their readerships stand in this newly crowded landscape.

While media outlets like the Mail seek to manage the boundaries of acceptable right-wing politics, smaller hard-right movements accuse established media brands of turning Farage into a member of the "political establishment".

 

Mail on Sunday attacks Restore as split right creates headache for UK papers

 

Analysis

Mail on Sunday attacks Restore as split right creates headache for UK papers

 

Michael Savage

Media editor

Some titles that once backed the Tories now ‘flirting with Farage’ as they try to gauge where readers stand

 

Tue 16 Jun 2026 07.00 BST

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2026/jun/16/mail-on-sunday-attacks-restore-as-split-right-creates-headache-for-uk-papers

 

It was a Mail on Sunday headline with all the ferocity usually reserved for general elections, directed squarely at a political opponent. But in this case, the traditionally Conservative-supporting title was not targeting Labour.

 

The party in its crosshairs was Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain, the vehemently rightwing outfit that regards Nigel Farage’s Reform UK as too weak on deporting migrants.

 

“Restore Activists at ‘White Supremacy Summit’,” declared the front page. It claimed supporters canvassing for Lowe’s party before this week’s Makerfield byelection had attended an event that hosted calls for “a white-only Europe”.

 

Unusually, the Mail on Sunday’s vehemently anti-Restore editorial was displayed prominently on its app through much of the weekend. “Anyone who really cares about Britain won’t vote Restore,” it stated, asking voters to back Reform.

 

Restore Britain described the story about the summit as “totally irrelevant” and a “hit piece”.

 

The next day, however, the Daily Mail followed up with another blow. “Restore is the ‘new home for neo-Nazis’”, it said, citing Lowe’s claim over the weekend that if the far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, wanted to join Restore, it was “up to him”.

 

A Reform source supplied the killer quote used for the headline.

 

 

Lowe himself saw the attacks as a sign of success. “Two Daily Mail front pages in a row abusing Restore Britain in the most spectacular fashion,” he said. “We’ve got the buggers on the run.”

 

However, the prominence and strength of the stories have also caught the eye of senior figures in Westminster and the media, who view it as a sign of how the rightwing press is reacting to the fracturing of the British right.

 

Reform figures believe that the emergence of Restore, and its even more stark approach to deporting “millions and millions” of people from the UK, could help push the Mail and other titles towards it as the acceptable option for its readers.

 

The immediate driver of the Mail’s endorsement was this week’s pivotal Makerfield byelection, in which Andy Burnham is attempting to return to parliament and challenge Keir Starmer for the Labour leadership.

 

While Burnham is the favourite, Reform is his challenger and there is a realistic possibility that Restore’s splitting of the rightwing vote could be the difference.

 

The approach to Restore by the right-leaning media has not been consistent, however. Over the same weekend as the Mail on Sunday’s attack, the Telegraph ran a full-page feature interview with Lowe, in which he railed against “woke creeps” who criticise his party.

 

While there has been a widespread perception that the Telegraph’s politics have drifted further to the right since the Brexit vote, its imminent new owner – the German media company Axel Springer – will be significant in defining its political direction.

 

 

In fact, the politics of the Politico owner have also caused intrigue, after its titles ran opinion pieces first by Elon Musk and, more recently, by Viktor Orbán weeks before Hungary’s elections.

 

It remains unclear how the company, overseen by Mathias Döpfner, wants to position the Telegraph within Britain’s rapidly fracturing politics.

 

While political endorsements are not on the minds of editors this far out from a general election, senior figures among Britain’s right-leaning titles readily point out how messy the political scene has become. “The whole landscape – from hard left to hard right – looks chaotic,” said one.

 

Current coverage remains a far cry from the once united pro-Conservative approach, however.

 

“What you’ve got is decades of essentially right-of-centre UK press and proprietors backing the Conservative party, but now that rightwing consensus is being fractured,” said Steven Barnett, professor of communications at the University of Westminster.

 

“The Conservative party must be thinking to itself now: where is our support going to come from? If the Mail is going to be at least flirting with Farage – and I think they have been doing some flirting – that on its own means come the next election, they’re not going to be as full-throated in their support for the Conservative party.

 

“I think they’re still feeling their own way in a new political environment, where the papers themselves are not quite sure where their readership stands.”

 

Lowe himself suspects that the established rightwing media outlets are now rallying behind Farage. As a result, he has been accusing Farage of a charge the Reform leader is not used to facing: that of being part of the political establishment.

 

“If you look at the mainstream media, it is now pushing Nigel,” he told the Spectator magazine earlier this year.

Rupert Lowe, leader of the right-wing party Restore Britain, is facing a significant backlash and online "meltdown" from his most prominent supporters.

 Rupert Lowe accused by his supporters of softening his immigration position

Rupert Lowe, leader of the right-wing party Restore Britain, is facing a significant backlash and online "meltdown" from his most prominent supporters. This fallout stems from an interview where he was accused of softening his uncompromising stance on immigration.

The Cause of the Backlash

During an interview with American podcaster Patrick Bet-David, Lowe stated that he has "no problem" with a multicultural society, provided that immigrants integrate, pay taxes, and accept the laws and culture of the country they move to. He followed up on these comments by releasing a video on June 25, 2026, defending "integrated immigrants". In the video, he argued that Britain cannot treat people who came to the country in good faith in an unfair or illegal manner.

Reaction from Supporters

Because Lowe's party, Restore Britain, was founded on a platform significantly further to the right of Nigel Farage's Reform UK—advocating for extreme measures like the "most ambitious programme of mass deportations ever seen in Britain"—his nativist base reacted with anger.

• Accusations of Backtracking: Prominent hardline activists and Restore accounts on X (formerly Twitter) accused him of abandoning the core principles of the movement.
• Calls for an Apology: High-profile far-right activists, such as Steve Laws, publicly demanded that Lowe apologize to the party membership. They criticized him for spouting what they labeled "boomer nonsense" in mainstream interviews.

Broad Political Context

The controversy arrives at a delicate moment for Lowe's party. Restore Britain has been under intense media scrutiny following a Mail on Sunday report exposing that some of its canvassers and donors have ties to white supremacist organizations. While Lowe has previously tried to court hardline voters by criticizing Farage's immigration plans as "pitiful," his recent attempts to draw a line between integrated legal residents and illegal migrants have alienated the very base he sought to mobilize

 

Rupert Lowe Defends 'Integrated Immigrants' After Supporter Revolt

Rupert Lowe has responded to criticism from some of his own supporters after comments about integrated immigrants sparked a backlash online. During an interview, Lowe argued that while he believes multiculturalism has failed, people who came to Britain legally, contribute through work, pay taxes, obey the law and have integrated into British society should be treated fairly and within the law. His remarks angered some hardline supporters, who accused him of softening his position on immigration. Lowe rejected those claims, insisting his views have remained consistent for decades. He reiterated his support for mass deportations of illegal migrants, foreign criminals and those with no right to remain, while arguing that any action taken against legal residents must be lawful and fair. The row has exposed divisions within Britain's immigration debate and among supporters who had previously backed Lowe's hardline stance.

Another June heat record broken as extreme weather warning is extended to Friday

 

Mike drop?

 

Mike drop?

By Sam Francis

June 26, 2026 8:05 am CET

https://www.politico.eu/newsletter/london-playbook/mike-drop/

 

London Playbook

By SAM FRANCIS

with NOAH KEATE

 

Good Friday morning. This is Sam Francis.

 

DRIVING THE DAY

TAPP DANCE: Anyone hoping to put this strange, overheated week behind them and ease into a cooler weekend … well, bad luck. Immigration Minister Mike Tapp, accused of briefing out Home Office plans as his own, has handed Keir Starmer a neat little test of his authority — and his political judgment — in the final days of his premiership. Shabana Mahmood has called for Tapp to be sacked. But Starmer is keeping one of his more loyal outriders in place — for now.

 

Mike drop? Downing Street confirmed last night that Tapp is “still in his job,” despite an official request from the home secretary to sack him over what she sees as a breach of the ministerial code’s commitment to collective responsibility. Mahmood’s allies are accusing Tapp of trailing immigration changes the department was quietly working on and dressing them up in a Times op-ed as his own thinking “to try to win a job in the new administration.” Government officials were quick to point out last night that firing ministers is ultimately a matter for the PM, who wanted to look into the case and take advice before deciding Tapp’s fate.

 

Playing away from home: Playbook hears Mahmood was unaware Tapp had written in the Times, only finding out once the op-ed had been published. In the piece, Tapp said it was his “strong belief” that migrant care workers who have come to the U.K. and “played by the rules” should not be subject to the proposed reforms to indefinite leave to remain (ILR)  — meaning they have to wait longer to apply for permanent settlement. By pure coincidence, the comments rather closely mirror the thinking of Andy Burnham, who has previously criticized applying the changes retrospectively.

 

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Tapp-tapp — Mike check: Tapp has been approached for comment by virtually every national outlet and replied to none of them. As of late last night, WhatsApp was suggesting messages from your Playbook author hadn’t even been opened.

 

TAPP OVERFLOWS: The clash is already bubbling out across Westminster. One MP who has worked with Tapp said passing off “someone else’s homework” as his own to get ahead “is the kind of thing that Mike Tapp would absolutely” do. The lawmaker said they had warned Mahmood about Tapp’s “ambition” and “self-promotion,” only to be ignored — which summed up a central party machine that refused to listen, in their view. Sky’s Sam Coates, meanwhile, reports disbelief among Starmer loyalists that Mahmood, who was one of the first ministers to tell Starmer to quit, wants a minister sacked for breaking with the government line.

 

License to Bill: The controversy now threatens to overshadow the Immigration and Asylum Bill, due to land in parliament on Tuesday. The Home Office has spent the past week preparing the ground for the legislation, as Mahmood tries to make the case for it to survive into Burnham’s premiership. (It’s worth noting, however, that the ILR changes aren’t part of the bill.)

 

This is fine: With a furious home secretary and a prime minister unwilling (or unable) to act, the clash is also a handy snapshot of the chaos in government right now. How Starmer handles the brewing spat will test how much authority he has left and whether he can hold together what remains of his government.

 

And the Conservatives are loving it: Shadow Home Secretary Chris Philp said it was “beneath contempt” that Labour had descended into “chaos and infighting.” All Labour ministers care about now “is their own personal ambition and jockeying for government jobs,” he added.

 

Whip it good: Spare a thought, then, for the minister dispatched to face the cameras this morning: Justice Minister Jake Richards — who, as a government whip, is about as well placed as anyone to talk about party discipline (timings as ever below). Richards, an ultimate Downing Street insider, would have been hoping to use the broadcast round to talk up the Home Office’s plan to open up to three new former MoD sites to house asylum-seekers — as trailed in yesterday’s i Paper — alongside the closure of 20 more asylum hotels.

 

BURNHAM WOULD

A FOREIGN CONCEPT: While Starmer and Mahmood slug it out, the rest of Westminster is still trying to read the runes for what the next regime might look like. This morning, several papers are focusing on the fact there is little out there to suggest what Burnham’s approach to foreign policy would be. Every senior brief he has held — culture secretary, health secretary, shadow home secretary, mayor of Greater Manchester — was domestic-facing. Burnham has also been careful not to pin himself down too much. During the Makerfield by-election campaign, he refused to say whether he believed “genocide” was occurring in Gaza and stepped back from previous comments about wanting to rejoin the EU.

 

This could all be about to change … The Observer’s Rachel Sylvester reports that a Burnham speech on foreign policy is in the works. She has also spoken to allies who claim Burnham, a true remainer at heart, is “much warmer to the Europeans and they’ll be much warmer to him” and will not “try and be a Trump whisperer” like Starmer.

 

May or May-or not: On this week’s Westminster Insider, Sascha O’Sullivan looks into whether being a good mayor makes a good prime minister. She speaks to fellow Labour mayor Helen Godwin who reckons Burnham’s leadership of Greater Manchester will give him little help on the world stage because mayors are used to “reacting to macroeconomics” not “geopolitics.”

 

Major intervention: John Major has a similar message in an interview with Independent editor-in-chief Geordie Greig. The former PM warns Burnham that he needs to get his foreign policy game in gear as “Putin, Trump, Macron, Merz” are a very different “sort of problem than dealing with buses in Manchester.”

 

Oliver’s twist? It’s not just Burnham keeping his agenda at home; his incoming chief of staff James Purnell has always had a pretty domestic focus too. But allies insist help is at hand. As covered by Tim Shipman (and in Playbook PM), former head of the Foreign Office Olly Robbins has been in touch with Burnham’s transition team about a potential role in No. 10.

 

Right on cue: David Miliband, touted as a potential foreign secretary under Burnham, appears on Brussels Playbook’s Week Ender podcast advising Burnham to push harder for closer alignment with the EU. He argues Starmer’s reset lacked the “momentum and heft,” as well as the “coherence or the ambition,” to make a meaningful difference.

 

Getting the Mili-band back together: Miliband demurred when asked at the Institute for Government on Thursday whether he would accept an offer to return as foreign secretary under Burnham, a fellow Brown-era Cabinet minister. ”Let him make his choices,” he said. Watch the clip 38 minutes into this video. If that weren’t enough D. Miliband for one day, he will be doing a fireside chat at the Centre for Global Development at 3.30 p.m. Attendance is by invitation only but plebs like us can listen in here.

 

Cooper trooper: While the presumptive PM is being urged to consider his world view, Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper flies to NATO’s eastern flank near Russia’s Kaliningrad enclave this morning — ahead of the second day of the Ukraine Recovery Conference — to meet British troops stationed there. ITV’s Robert Peston is along for the ride, with an interview on foreign policy to follow later in the day.

 

MILIFANDOM: Who becomes Burnham’s chancellor remains the big question in Westminster — and Ed Miliband has picked up two useful endorsements. Andrea Egan, the general secretary of Unison, told the Guardian’s Kiran Stacey that “only Ed Miliband could enact the kinds of policies trade unions and our members urgently need.” More unexpectedly, the Daily Mail’s City Editor Alex Brummer — in defiance of his own paper’s front page on Wednesday — argues Miliband’s “single-mindedness and refusal to be bullied into U-turns shows just the kind of willpower urgently needed at the Treasury.”

 

Streets away: Despite Team Burnham insisting that the conversation is still live, one person close to the incoming PM tells my colleague Dan Bloom the idea of Wes Streeting as chancellor is for the birds. “He is trying to brief himself into existence,” they add.

 

Continuity candidate: Rachel Reeves, who yesterday made her pitch to remain as chancellor, is helping Burnham prepare for government in the name of economic stability and continuity, the i Paper’s Jane Merrick and Kitty Donaldson report.

 

Even Greater Manchester: Whoever gets the keys to No. 11 may find a few bits missing when they move in. The FT’s George Parker, Sam Fleming and Jennifer Williams report Team Burnham is considering breaking up the Treasury and creating a separate growth department. The piece also has new details on Burnham’s plans to move more of the machinery of government to his Manchester power base, where he plans to set up a “devolution department.” Meanwhile, Caroline Wheeler in the i Paper hears Burnham is considering giving England’s regional mayors the power to raise and retain their own taxes, including business rates.

 

The doctor will see you now: In what would be one of the more surprising moves, the Spectator is reporting that trained surgeon Zubir Ahmed has been in talks with Burnham’s team about the possibility of taking up the role of health secretary. Last night Team Burnham was playing down the speculation, claiming there was no formal meeting.

 

DOUBLE ACT: My colleague Dan has a nugget-packed profile of James Purnell — who shared the same age, flat, job, office, football team and ambitions with Burnham before one became the trendy London media exec and the other headed north. Allies are hoping the incoming chief of staff will be the Goldilocks chief — part bureaucrat, part strategist — and know Burnham’s mind enough to actually get stuff done. And centrist Labour types now reckon they have one of their own in the Burnham camp.

 

Times change: Former Gordon Brown SpAd John Woodcock recalls the night in 2009 that Purnell tried to topple the PM … and one minister who was particularly loyal in rowing in behind Brown. Andy Burnham was the Cabinet minister “most keen to come out with a pledge of loyalty to Gordon as quickly as possible,” Woodcock told Dan.

 

TAKING A STEP BACK: It’s worth taking a beat and considering what has happened since Monday. A prime minister resigned, even before his heir apparent was sworn in as an MP. Since then every barrier between him and Downing Street has simply given way. Streeting, his likeliest challenger, endorsed Burnham on the same day the bulk of the Parliamentary Labour Party did the same while beaming beside him for a selfie in Westminster Hall. Then on Wednesday morning, when Darren Jones confirmed he would not stand, the last flicker of rebellion appeared to die.

 

This is not normal: The speed and smoothness of Burnham’s path to power is even more remarkable when you consider he has not made a single public appearance this week to explain what he would actually do or answer questions from the press. A party in government is changing leader midterm, with no contest and no program, around a man working largely behind the scenes. While it has felt inevitable for some time, that has not made it any less startling to watch it unfold this fast.

 

Early election? For those nervous about their summer holidays, my colleagues Tim Ross and Andrew McDonald have looked at the case for Burnham to call a snap general election and found a … mixed picture. Leaders tend to be the most popular at the start of their terms, but Reform is leading in the polls. Meanwhile polling indicates voters are not desperate for Burnham to secure a fresh mandate, but do not much like the way Labour is choosing a leader either.

 

Finally, some scrutiny: Yesterday’s NEC meeting, which set the timetable for appointing a new leader, was not all rosy for Andy Burnham according to NEC member Abdi Duale. He was one of “many members” dissatisfied that CLPs will not be able to make their feelings known if there is no contest. If Burnham is coronated, as expected, Duale has proposed a members’ Q&A on July 16 to let constituent parties have their say on the new leader.