Ed Milliband made a bold statement in the Commons this week - UK government sanctions on Israeli settlements. But is there more to the timing of this? Harriet makes the case for why it's principled rather than political, and Beth, Ruth and Harriet dig into another question underneath the policy - is this a rebuke of Keir Starmer, and did his government simply not move fast enough? And the response from Britain's Jewish community, and whether Ed Miliband needs to do more on this now. We also go further into Reform's woes, following on from our members' episode this week. As the Metropolitan Police widens its investigation into party donations after Channel 4's undercover documentary, former Conservative-turned-Reform member Tim Montgomerie joins the ladies fresh from quitting the party to explain why he thinks the court around leader Nigel Farage is starting to crack, and whether Reform has already peaked. To listen without ads, get new episodes a week early, exclusive bonus episodes, and much more, become a Sky News Insider. Find out more and subscribe at https://skynews.com/electoraldysfunction Got a question for the burner phone? WhatsApp 07934 200 444 or email electoraldysfunction@sky.uk.

Anthony Lee, 49, who headed the party's campaigning effort that year, pleaded guilty to two charges of cheating at Southwark Crown Court on Thursday. Lee was responsible for deploying Tory resources for the contest, which then-prime minister Rishi Sunak called for 4 July. His wife, Laura Saunders, 38, who appeared in court under her married name Laura Lee, admitted one charge of cheating. She was the party's head of international, based at head office and had been chosen to run in the Bristol North West constituency. The couple's guilty pleas follow admissions by Craig Williams, the former Tory MP for Montgomeryshire and Cardiff North who was Mr Sunak's parliamentary private secretary, and Amy Hind, the wife of Conservative deputy digital director Anthony Hind, that they too had cheated at gambling. They were all charged after an investigation into allegations that inside information on the date of the 2024 general election had been used to place bets. Hind, Lee, and Sanders are all now due to be sentenced at the same court next month. Williams is due to be sentenced after trials in September next year and January 2028 of other party officials and insiders who are also accused of cheating at gambling.

Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said both imports of goods and some services to and from Israeli settlements would come under the ban. The UK - along with major allies such as France and Canada - has followed the path of some European neighbours as settler expansion and violence ramp up in the West Bank. While trade in services between the UK and settlements is not outlawed entirely, advertising illegal settlements for sale will be prohibited. Politics latest: Follow live Also promised was "action" against specific companies and individuals which provide construction, infrastructure financing, or real estate services. However, Mr Miliband didn't name any specific person or entity. "So to those who finance or facilitate illegal settlements, let me say this. You will face the full force of UK sanctions," he said in the Commons. It follows the trade minister saying in July that the government had been working on a prohibition and was keen for it to also cover trade in services. Chris Bryant said he was concerned about companies in the UK providing mortgages for settlement buildings, acting as estate agents for properties there, or giving accountancy or legal services to the areas. The foreign secretary said the UK would also impose new sanctions on "extremist settlers" and refuse applications for arms sales and other exports that "materially contribute to the occupation" - though it's unclear what that phrase encompasses. What's not included? Notable for its absence was a blanket ban on trade in services as had been endorsed by Mr Bryant in July. Similarly, there was no mention of a universal ban on exports to settlements, just on imports. How will it work? Rather than using the existing sanctions rules, Mr Miliband said the government would create a "new comprehensive sanctions regime" to give effect to the embargo. He said the regime would be in place within six to nine months but didn't mention how the measures would be enforced. The state currently enacts such measures via the Sanctions and Anti-Money Laundering Act (SAMLA). Why is this happening? Pressure has been mounting on the government to take action as Israeli settlements grow and Palestinians face increased violence and intimidation. There have been escalating attacks on Palestinians in the West Bank and, in the past weeks, some have had homes besieged. Israeli settlements in occupied Palestinian territory have rapidly expanded in recent years, with more planned by the Israeli government. Latest plans by the Israelis to build about 1,200 homes, as part of the E1 programme of expansion in the West Bank, were described by Mr Miliband as an "unacceptable and destructive act". Such outposts have long been opposed by the UK government, which believes them to be a breach of international law and a threat to a two-state solution between Israel and Palestine. Also adding pressure is its July 2024 advisory opinion from the UN's top court, which said Israel's presence in the occupied territories was "unlawful". The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said all UN member states were under an obligation "not to recognise as legal the situation arising from the unlawful presence of the state of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory and not to render aid or assistance in maintaining the situation". What are settlements? A settlement is an Israeli-built village, town or city in occupied Palestinian territory - either in the West Bank or East Jerusalem. Creating settlements can involve confiscating land and displacing Palestinians, which is illegal under the Geneva Convention, as is the moving of Israeli civilians into territory Israel occupies. Mr Miliband told the Commons there was "ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank, perpetrated by settler terrorists" - with "houses bulldozed, roads and public infrastructure destroyed, families displaced from their homes". Israel disputes this, saying it cannot be classed as an occupying power, as no country owned the land before it took the territory in 1967, and it has not transferred its population to the territories; people move freely. Contrary to the UN, Israel officially recognises and administers some settlements. Has this been done before? Spain, Ireland, Belgium and the Netherlands have announced similar trade prohibitions previously. But by implementing an embargo that spans both imports and exports of goods and some services, the UK has one of the most comprehensive bans in Europe. Ireland and Belgium, for example, have only prevented trade in goods. The foreign secretary said France and Canada would also ban trade from illegal settlements - and that Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Poland, Portugal and Sweden had pledged to "support further action". What do opponents say? Speaking ahead of the UK government announcement, Israeli president Isaac Herzog said it would be a "grave miscalculation, a decision that will fall on the wrong side of history". He said sanctions would "directly harm" Palestinians, "robbing them of business and employment". Shadow foreign secretary Tom Tugendhat told the Commons that illegal settlements were "wrong" and that "outrageous" crimes were being committed. However, he said the sanctions would "harm innocents" because the Israeli and Palestinian economies are "too interconnected". The US government hasn't yet officially responded. However, America's ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, said before the announcement that sanctions were "irrational" and he did not "understand what it's supposed to achieve". Other opponents are Labour Friends of Israel (LFI), which said the ban is "practically impossible and will become a de facto boycott of all of Israel, which would be deeply damaging to the UK national interest, the British Jewish community, and Palestinian workers". Meanwhile, polling by YouGov suggested one in two Britons backed a ban.

At his first meeting with Co-operative Labour MPs, the prime minister pointed to the Supporters Direct organisation he chaired early in his career and said the government should "look to work on it again", sources who were present told Sky News. Supporters Direct helped set up more than 200 supporters trusts for football clubs, giving fans a voice and financial stake in how they operate. The movement saved many clubs from ruin with around 50 football clubs now fully or partially fan-owned, including EFL clubs AFC Wimbledon and Exeter. Under fan-owned models, financial surplus is traditionally reinvested back into the club rather than paid out as dividends to outside shareholders. No clubs operate this way in the Premier League but it has been praised as a solution to stop exploitation lower down in the game. One MP present at the meeting said fan-owned sport was "definitely a personal passion" of the prime minister, although they conceded the "list of pressing issues is a long one". Another said: "I think it is a passion and he saw the value around Supporters Direct. Definitely an appetite for change from the PM and MPs." Mr Burnham, a life-long Evertonian, supported the inception of Supporters Direct when working as a special adviser in Tony Blair's government and chaired the body between 2001 and 2005 after being elected as the MP for Leigh. In a book about the commercialisation of football published in 2001, he wrote: "I have always believed that football clubs belong more to their supporters than their shareholders. Some people have bits of paper to say they own a club's assets - stadium, training ground, brand - but the heart and soul of every club is the property of its fans." He has used similar language in response to the row over the World Cup sell-off plan. While it's not clear how the prime minister might take fan ownership forward formally, he is understood to have taken an interest in a recent report by the Co-operative Party, which proposed creating a "Supporters Direct 2.0". The initial body was amalgamated with other organisations in 2018 to create the Football Supporters' Association, which advocates for football supporters in England and Wales. However, the Co-op report says that while there have been strides to strengthen the voice of fans, such as the Independent Football Regulator, an explicit focus on ownership has been lost. Their report proposed a new agency that would provide support for fan ownership beyond football, highlighting increasing financial instability afflicting Rugby Union, Rugby League and cricket. Cricket clubs have traditionally operated as member owned, but a number of high-profile clubs are exploring breaking away from that model. Sceptics of fan-owned structures argue that while they can protect community roots and keep prices down, they can often struggle to compete with billionaire-owned clubs and attract financing. One Labour source said they were "unsure fan ownership is feasible at the top level". It is understood there is not active DCMS work to expand fan-and community owned sports clubs. Grassroots clubs The Co-operative's report also said the new agency could help communities take over grass roots local sports clubs to save them from closing down due to financial pressures. It pointed to the recently passed Community Right to Buy, which gives community groups a first right of refusal when eligible assets become available to buy, including sports clubs. The report suggested funding the agency through a partnership between government and professional sport, similar to the initial Supporters Direct. The Co-operative Party is a sister party to the Labour Party and advocates for businesses owned by local customers and staff. Around 40 Labour MPs are dual members, including Mr Burnham, making him the UK's first Co-operative prime minister. The party is led by Joe Fortune, a close ally of the PM's who is tipped to be in the running to be Labour's next general secretary. If confirmed, that could indicate a greater push toward co-operative models of ownership. Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds is also a Co-op MP. Caitlin Prowle, assistant general secretary of the Co-operative Party said clubs "across sport are facing financial precocity". She told Sky News: "We need to think seriously about who owns our sporting assets and who gets a say in their future. "Andy Burnham was a driving force in shifting sports ownership during the last Labour government and now he has the opportunity to do it again, with a renewed focus on co-operative ownership that puts fans and communities in control." A DCMS spokesperson said: "This government is firmly on the side of fans. We set up the independent football regulator to put supporters back at the heart of our national game and it is now written in law that they must have a say in major decisions at their clubs."

It includes co-operating with other countries to establish a worldwide body to oversee and regulate AI development, as well as a legal ban on lethal autonomous weapons (LAWS). LAWS can independently identify and engage targets without human intervention. The UK does not currently have them but the recent Defence Investment Plan (DIP) promised £5bn into drones and autonomous systems, which can operate without human control. The Greens see a crackdown on tech as a new political priority and hope to push the government to "recognise the urgency of the situation" by ramping up the rhetoric, a source told Sky News. Party insiders are buoyed by the government's major decision this week to impose a trade ban on illegal Israeli settlements, believing they were ahead of the political curve on the issue. They hope to make tech the next big pressure point, having recently called for a freeze on the approval of new data centres due to the energy and water they use. Dame Chi Onwurah, the Labour chair of the Science and Technology Committee, said the party was right to call for regulation "in the light of recent events". But she claimed their announcement "is a hodge-podge of buzzwords and meaningless phrases". She told Sky News: "Regulate AI - to do what? Protect copyright, require security assessments, protect personal likeness? My select committee has called for clarity on AI regulation, and the government strategy for technology sovereignty, the government response should set that out." Other elements of the Greens' plan include directing public funding towards AI "for the public good" and protections for workers to keep key decisions in human hands. This is as well as a cross-sector plan to build our own AI infrastructure to end reliance on US tech. The party did not explain how this would be funded, with more details expected in due course. The Green's science and technology working group had already been drafting the proposals but brought forward an announcement in light of new warnings about the threat of AI to humanity Green MP Sian Berry, leading on plans, told Sky News: "Technologies with the power to reshape our lives must be subject to effective public oversight. "Greens want strong regulation of AI, with clear safeguards against harmful uses and proper democratic accountability." On Wednesday a top safety researcher at Anthropic, Evan Hubinger, warned he believed there was a greater than 10% chance AI could pose a species-ending risk within 10 years. Read more:Apple launches first foldable iPhoneSpanish spies warned of migrant surge He laid out his concerns on X in response to another Anthropic researcher, Jacob Coxon, announcing his departure from the company and claiming those building the tech "earnestly believe that it could kill us all by the end of the decade". The Financial Times also reports that Anthropic had withheld its latest model from the UK's AI Safety Institute, one of the world's leading bodies for testing the risks of the technology. PM acknowledges security risk Andy Burnham acknowledged "risks to national security" when asked about the AI threat at Prime Minister's Questions by Lib Dem leader Sir Ed Davey. He said his decision to boost the role of AI safety minister Kanishka Narayan by giving him a seat at the Cabinet table had "lifted the level of the conversation about artificial intelligence within government". He suggested he was open to cross party talks, saying colleagues "on all sides of the House" could be "part of that crucial discussion". The prime minister is also facing pressure from Labour MPs, with former Cabinet Office minister Darren Jones calling for a new multi-national treaty to regulate the development of the technology. Meanwhile Alex Sobel, part of the soft-left Mainstream group closely allied to the prime minister, has proposed a bill to prohibit superintelligent AI systems. He told Sky News it was backed by about 50 of his colleagues so far. Another Labour MP, Will Stone, who is a former soldier, said AI "can enhance the military power of the UK" while protecting jobs in defence and technology. However he said he supports regulation "and a cautious approach". A government spokesperson said: "The UK is working with partners around the world to better understand the most advanced AI systems, raise safety standards and build a shared evidence base for managing emerging threats. Through the AI Security Institute we are leading global efforts to test and understand frontier AI systems, while helping to develop the standards and safeguards needed to keep people, businesses and critical infrastructure secure."