simon le vans Shadow Home Secretary
63.6K posts

simon le vans Shadow Home Secretary
@simonlevans
Audio producer (I make podcasts & radio). Audio technician (I do live sound). he/him.



"No, I don't subscribe to this 'kindness' - I'll tell the truth instead." I spoke at the Cambridge Union last night about LGBs, children's safety and women's rights. Full video here:

Israel boycott overshadows Eurovision final itv.com/news/2026-05-1…

Today the voices of division will be loud. They don't speak for the country I know, one that belongs to all of us. That's our Britain. A Britain worth fighting for. lbc.co.uk/article/keir-s…

Andy Burnham: “I don’t blame anyone who left our party. I don’t blame anyone who voted for other parties”. “We need to renationalise water, energy and housing.”

Not a single stone remains standing, nor a tree, nor a human being—Israel has completely annihilated my town, Beit Hanoun.

I know the news Andy Burnham has a route back to Westminster will divide opinion. So, before anything else, I want to speak plainly – to Labour members and voters, to those who have left us, and to anyone on the centre-left, whether you vote Green, Lib Dem, or are simply looking for a politics that hasn't given up on you. Last week's local election results were, for many of us, existential. Not disappointing. Not a setback. Existential. Look across Europe and beyond at what happens to social democratic parties that refuse to step outside the economic orthodoxy of the last forty years – the one that hollowed out our public services, privatised what was ours, drove inequality to indecent levels, and cleared the ground for the authoritarian right to march into. That is the path we are on. Keir Starmer has refused to see it, and the country cannot afford another general election spent finding out the hard way. So let me be direct. The Prime Minister should set out a timeline for an orderly transition. I have said this before. I say it again now because the stakes have changed. Reform is not a protest – it is a project. And it will not be beaten by a Labour Party that mistakes managerial caution for strategy. As regards Andy, I want to set down here that I do not see him as some kind of messiah. Far from it. As someone who has been around frontline politics for more than twenty years, he has made his fair share of mistakes. But for the last ten years he has been a serious, grounded, and effective Mayor of Greater Manchester. The party and the country need their strongest players on the pitch, and he has a great deal to offer at a moment when the national stage has rarely mattered more. I hope the NEC will listen to the overwhelming view of the Cabinet, the PLP, the membership, and the unions, and let Andy stand. And I hope and believe the people of Makerfield will send him back to Parliament. But that is not a given. We know Reform will throw everything at this by-election. We must do the same and then some. Reform have spent a year being told they are inevitable. Makerfield is where we find out whether that is true. Every advance has a limit. This is where we set it. Millions of people, including my constituents in Norwich South, need this government to succeed. They need housing, working public services, secure jobs, water and energy that serves them rather than extracts from them. That work is not finished. But the honest truth is that stopping Reform and rebuilding the country is bigger than any one party. It will take a progressive politics willing to listen, willing to cooperate where the public interest demands it, and willing to drop the tribal habits that got us here. The country is ahead of us on this. It is time we caught up. Makerfield is one of many places where Labour has lost trust. It is an area Andy knows and has lived in for many years. If selected, he will work hard to win that trust back and make the case for a Labour Party worth voting for again. That case has to be made not only to people who once voted Labour, but to everyone who believes the answer to Reform is a serious, democratic, social alternative – not a paler imitation of the politics that created the problem. This by-election is not about one seat. It is a test of whether Labour understands the moment we are in. No single party is going to stop Reform on its own. The progressive majority in this country is real – but it is scattered across Labour, the Greens, the Lib Dems, nationalists, independents, and millions of people who have stopped voting altogether. Our job is not to demand they all come back to us. It is to earn the right to work with them, on shared ground, for a shared future. To former Labour voters: come and talk to us again. To Green and Lib Dem voters: we are not enemies. To Labour members and MPs: this is the fight. Let's get on with it. bbc.co.uk/news/articles/…

🚨 Threats To Behead Jews 🎥 @Shomrim are aware of the horrific video circulating on social media showing a gentleman threatening to behead Jews and much more. This was taken outside 82 Whitechapel Road, Tower Hamlets, London, E1 1JQ. 👮♂️ This has been reported to @MetPoliceUK @MetCC who are taking it very seriously and have started an investigation to identify and arrest the male and mitigate the immediate threats. ⚠️ We are aware of the fact that the Orthodox Jewish community is exceptionally concerned about these threats and want to reassure the community that we are working closely with @MPSTowerHam @MPSHackney and will be stepping up patrols till he is caught. 📞 Anyone with information is asked to contact @MetCC quoting CAD 4911/15MAY26.


Several hundred demonstrators outside the New York Times to protest Kristof column








