The votes are in: MPs have REJECTED the Conservative and Liberal Democrat attempts to water down Labour's landmark Employment Rights Bill. Time for the Lords to get out of the way, so the Government can deliver on their manifesto commitment to implement a New Deal for Working

Renters - this one’s for you👇🏼

Your entire digital future, resting on a single phrase? What if there's a better way? Our new demo of @OasisVaultio explores moving beyond seed phrases with a 2-of-3 model and a 7-day recovery delay, as well as inheritance planning directly in your wallet. See how here:

Early Bird Tickets are selling fast for LabourList's Christmas Pub Quiz 🔥 Get yours now or risk missing out on the Labour event of the season!🌹🎅 We'll also be joined by special guest @Alison_McGovern, with more fabulous Labour figures to be announced!

Exc: Labour MPs given beefed up roles to oversee distribution of up to £20 million per area - to ensure Reform councils don't get the credit. Downing Street strategists see the project to invest in the country's most deprived communities as one of their best hopes to tackle

Breaking: Rachel Reeves paves the way for manifesto-busting tax rises as she says we will all 'have to do our bit' to secure Britain's economic future She suggests she is ready to break manifesto pledges with tax rises, saying she has to face the world as it is rather than as

A few weeks after a Labour councillor's defection, Reform has its first seat on Stevenage council. It's a blow for Labour after an impressive performance in another by-election a few months ago. Only two councillors but it makes Reform the third largest party...

Two of the last government's standards advisers literally quit over how bad things were. This government's standards adviser cleared Reeves for an honest mistake that estate agents have accepted the blame for. Perspective! Great to discuss on @TalkTV with @petercardwell

Congratulations to @LucyMPowell on your election to @UKLabour 's Deputy Leader - we look forward to working with you in Labour Local Gov!🌹 Thanks also @bphillipsonMP for the campaign & support for Local Gov-we'll continue working with you for to improve outcomes for children🌹

🗳️New: My report on the ground from Labour's 10th safest seat. 🔷@PLMRLtd MRP puts Reform in the lead. 🌹Once-Corbynite council chief reveals his Reform defection. 🟩 Greens on the march too. 📉Labour' lead across 10 safest seats just 4pp vs Reform. Piece on @LabourList 👇

🥀 After Labour's disastrous result in Caerphilly, is anywhere safe? @tom_belger visits the Merseyside seat Widnes and Halewood, where the party faces headwinds from Reform, the Greens and Your Party

Thanks to @POLITICOEurope and @9andrewmcdonald for covering it in today's Playbook even with Caerphilly dominating the news... Though all the more reason to look at how and why many former Labour voters are prepared to think the unthinkable - and what can be done to fight back

Read more here - including glimmers of hope for Labour, with even Reform-tempted voters far more balanced and conflicted on immigration and wary of Farage than headline polls and most papers suggest: https://t.co/0C8pgWcd8G

🗳️New: My report on the ground from Labour's 10th safest seat. 🔷@PLMRLtd MRP puts Reform in the lead. 🌹Once-Corbynite council chief reveals his Reform defection. 🟩 Greens on the march too. 📉Labour' lead across 10 safest seats just 4pp vs Reform. Piece on @LabourList 👇

Good to see follow-ups on my and @DanGreenJourno's digging into Labour membership numbers, which conspicuously coincided with Labour ceasing to share its data with its ruling body. But it's a big claim to suggest Reform may now be larger without seeing the figures!

Motives sometimes remain a mystery to campaign teams, though, and perhaps even candidates themselves. As one aide puts it: “Sometimes when a job comes up, you think ‘I should do this’ – and then you work out why. Some candidates start before they’re sure why.”

Then there’s the desire to “fly the flag for the tradition I come from”, as @RichardBurgon puts it , with the Socialist Campaign Group always fielding candidates. Murray was likewise a “standard-bearer of the moderate wing”, one insider says.

@BellRibeiroAddy wanted to champion members and “prove there’s a strong progressive base within the party”. @IanMurrayMP wanted to make sure Scotland was part of the debate. @HarrietHarman says she only entered as she “couldn’t bear the idea of an all-male beauty contest”.

The role’s ambiguity is not necessarily negative, too, with candidates sensing they can make it their own.  Most politicians want to be listened to, and it offers a “platform to be heard”, in cabinet or not, McGregor notes.

There are many more reasons candidates run, though. Everyone interviewed relished engaging with members. Creasy calls it “incredible”. Spending so long together quickly thaws ice between campaigns too. “You wouldn’t guess who got on best backstage,” an aide said of one contest.

On the job itself, Matthew McGregor, who ran Cruddas’ campaign, calls the job itself “arduous”, with the deputy countless people’s “port of call” for campaign days and fundraisers. There's no powers beyond sitting on Labour’s NEC, and being consulted “regularly” by the leader.