WeekDay AM: 10 Things you need to know this morning
By-election shock, Waltz's exit, and France's 'triangle of power'

 
today's politics story

Runcorn by-election on a knife-edge

What happened
A full recount is underway in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election after Reform UK claimed a narrow victory over Labour by just four votes. Nigel Farage is aiming to deliver a major blow to Keir Starmer by winning the "Red Wall" seat. Meanwhile, Reform UK took ground from both major parties in yesterday's council and mayoral elections, winning the mayoralties of Greater Lincolnshire and Hull as well as hundreds of council seats across the country.

Who said what
As counting was completed in the Runcorn and Helsby by-election the "mood in the count centre was one of utter disbelief", said The Guardian. If the recount returns the same result, Reform UK will have won by the narrowest of margins. The by-election – the first since last year's general election – was triggered when Mike Amesbury resigned after being given a suspended prison sentence for punching a constituent.

Last night Reform UK’s chair Zia Yusuf predicted a "historic night" for his party. "Clearly we're on a path to delivering on that mission of 350 to 400 Reform MPs and Nigel as our prime minister in 2029," said Yusuf as counting got underway.

This was a "big night", said Laura Kuenssberg on the BBC. It was Labour's first electoral test since it got back into power with that "thumping majority" in July. Since then "we've seen their popularity fall off a cliff".

What next?
Counting continues, with most councils and mayoral elections expected to post their results by late this afternoon.

 
 
today's international story

Trump ousts Waltz as national security adviser

What happened
Donald Trump has announced that Mike Waltz (pictured above) will be reassigned from his current position as national security adviser, nominating him instead to serve as the US ambassador to the United Nations. The US president said Secretary of State Marco Rubio would step into Waltz's former role, while also continuing as the country's top diplomat.

Who said what
"Mike Waltz has worked hard to put our nation's interests first," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. "I know he will do the same in his new role."

Waltz becomes the "first high-profile official to exit Trump's administration", said the BBC. His position had "become tenuous" after it was revealed that he accidentally added a journalist from The Atlantic magazine to a group that was discussing military plans on the messaging platform Signal. Waltz said he took "full responsibility" for the leak.

What next?
Waltz's hawkish views on Russia were "out of step with the isolationist faction of Maga", said The Telegraph, which "viewed him with suspicion". Pete Hegseth, who was also seen as vulnerable after Signalgate, was yesterday praised by the president, which, according to analysts, suggests that he still has Trump's support for now.

 
 
Today's sports story

FA bans transgender players from women's football

What happened
Transgender women will no longer be able to play women's football in England from next month, the Football Association has announced. The ban comes following the Supreme Court ruling on 15 April that the legal definition of a woman is based on biological sex.

Who said what
"This is a complex subject, and our position has always been that if there was a material change in law, science, or the operation of the policy in grassroots football, then we would review it and change it if necessary," said the FA.

What next?
The change comes after the governing bodies of other sports, such as hockey and rugby, introduced tougher gender policies in recent years. The FA said it was now talking to the 28 transgender women who are registered with the organisation in England "in a bid to look at ways in which they can stay involved in the sport", said the BBC. The Scottish FA is set to follow the FA's ruling.

 
 

It's not all bad

Almost all new homes in England will come with solar panels by 2027, helping families cut energy bills by more than £1,000 a year. Under new government plans, house builders will be legally required to install panels during construction. The move is part of Labour's push to decarbonise the electricity grid by 2030 and build 1.5 million homes. Ministers are also preparing grants for existing homes – offering a boost for energy security, savings and the net zero transition.

 
 
under the radar

France's 'triangle of power' in the Indian Ocean

Four small coral islands, an atoll and a reef in the Indian Ocean are at the centre of geopolitical tensions between France and Madagascar.

Although they cover just 16 square miles of land and have no permanent residents, the "Scattered Islands" represent "part of the unfinished business of decolonisation", said Radio France Internationale.

The islands are "scattered" across the Mozambique Channel and western Indian Ocean, said France 24. They include Bassas da India, Europa, Juan de Nova, Tromelin and the Glorioso Islands. Aside from a handful of French soldiers posted to military installations, they are uninhabited. But their value is clear: each island gives France control over 200 nautical miles of surrounding waters and collectively more than half of the channel, a key route for global shipping.

In 1979, the United Nations passed a non-binding resolution asking France to return the Scattered Islands to Madagascar, saying they had been "arbitrarily separated" just prior to independence.

In recent years France has "taken steps" towards "acknowledging its colonial past", said France 24, and President Emmanuel Macron has worked to "reshape the country's image" in Africa. But the government "shows little sign" of "relinquishing control" because the islands are crucial to its "triangle of power" in the region.

Last week Macron paid a two-day state visit to Madagascar and a bilateral commission is due to meet in Paris on 30 June to discuss the future of the Scattered Islands. Madagascar's President Andry Rajoelina said the two nations were "determined to find a solution together".

 
 
on this day

2 May 1997

Tony Blair became UK prime minister at the age of 43 – the youngest to hold the office since 1812 – ensuring a long tenure as a potentially influential former prime minister. This week Blair proved that he still holds significant political sway as the Labour Party was forced to defend the government's net zero plans after the former PM suggested that limiting the use of fossil fuels was "doomed to fail".

 
 
Today's newspapers

Banks have forecast the "fastest fall in interest rates since 2009", says The Times. The expected cuts will bring mortgage holders "relief from years of high borrowing costs" against a "backdrop of growing global economic uncertainty", it adds. Chemists will "give out weight-loss injections", says The Telegraph, as health officials are "poised" to announce a trial that will "widen access to the jabs". Research suggests more than half a million people are buying weight-loss injections privately. Meanwhile, passengers on the London Eye got stuck during the "hottest May of the years", says Metro.

See the newspaper front pages

 
 
tall tale

Screeching to victory

A British youngster whose uncanny ability to imitate a seagull saw him dubbed "Seagull Boy" has earned his second consecutive win at the European Championship Gull Screeching event in De Panne, Belgium. Cooper Wallace,10, dressed as a seagull to perform his screeches at the competition last Sunday. But Wallace isn't the only gifted performer in the family; his seven-year-old sister Shelby, known as "Sea Gurl", placed fourth in the same contest.

 
 

Morning Report was written and edited by Arion McNicoll, Harriet Marsden, Sorcha Bradley, Ross Couzens and Chas Newkey-Burden, with illustrations by Julia Wytrazek.

Image credits, from top: Leon Neal / Getty Images; Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty Images; Dan Istitene / Getty Images; Illustration by Julia Wytrazek / Getty Images.