Congratulations are in order for our political editor Beth Rigby and deputy political editor Sam Coates at this year's political podcast awards.

Beth's Electoral Dysfunction podcast - which she hosts with former Labour deputy leader Harriet Harman and former Scottish Conservatives leader Ruth Davidson - picked up a trophy for presenter of the year.

Electoral Dysfunction also won the funniest comedy moment award - for the interview with Wes Streeting revealing his cunning plan to avoid being made home secretary in a reshuffle.

Sam's Politics at Sam and Anne's podcast, which he hosts with Politico’s Anne McElvoy, was named most original format.

How do you deal with China?

Well, according to Professor Rana Mitter, co-author of the report "Conceptualising a UK-China Engagement Strategy", there's two key elements.

"I'd say engage with China where it's possible to do so because the second-biggest economy in the world is an entity that you can't simply ignore, not least because so many of the world's supply chains go to China," he says.

"But be aware that security risks are real. The Chinese are perfectly aware of that, and finding sensible ways to manage that is an important part of the process. 

"The United States, after all, has a very difficult political relationship with China, but the two are massive trading partners with each other. The UK can find ways to be in the same position."

You can watch the full interview here:

Former Tory minister Sir Ranil Jayawardena says those leaving the party for Reform UK "may regret" their decision in time.

It comes after Suella Braverman became the latest high-profile name to leave the Conservatives for Nigel Farage's party - following in the footsteps of Robert Jenrick.

Asked about those Tories that have defected, Sir Ranil, who served in the cabinet as environment secretary under Liz Truss, said: "I think the way I have approached this is actually as a matter of sadness - I don't want to see people leave the Conservative Party. 

"So I'm sorry that they've chosen to do so. And maybe in time they'll regret that decision. 

"But, you know, they have every right in a democracy to change their affiliation. They've chosen to do so.

"But I do think that Kemi is right to say that we are the Conservative Party is the party with solutions."

We've heard a lot so far about what the UK government hopes to obtain during Sir Keir Starmer's visit to China - namely investment and trade deals.

But Dr Zoe Liu, senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, has spoken to the Politics Hub tonight about what the Chinese government's hopes are from this trip.

Matt Barbet has also been asking whether the UK could look at imposing tariffs on the imports of Chinese electric vehicles.

You can watch the full interview here:

It's 7pm so that means it's time for the Politics Hub, which tonight is being presented by Matt Barbet.

Matt's panel tonight are ex-Conservative cabinet minister Sir Ranil Jayawardena and SNP MP Kirsty Blackman.

There are also interviews with Dr Zongyuan Zoe Liu, senior fellow for China studies at the Council on Foreign Relations, and professor Rana Mitter, co-author of the report "Conceptualising a UK-China Engagement Strategy".

Sir Keir Starmer has arrived in Beijing for his long-anticipated trip to China.

Our political editor Beth Rigby is in China's capital covering the PM's visit - in which Starmer will be hoping to drum up deals and investment for the UK.

But the visit is not one without its perils - including the potential to irk Donald Trump.

And, of course, it's all going on while there are questions about Starmer's leadership back home in the UK.

Watch Beth's report from China here to find out how Starmer's arrival went - and what's to come.

Sir Keir Starmer appears to be sticking to his position on proposals to make sweeping changes to the criminal court system - despite anger from backbench MPs.

The government currently plans to scrap jury trials for all but the most serious of cases - such as rape and murder - in the hope of slashing the current court backlog.

But the plans, announced by Justice Secretary David Lammy earlier this month, have sparked anger from the Conservative Party, and even some backbench Labour MPs, who say the move goes against the core principles of the age-old justice system in England and Wales.

Asked by journalists about the plans while on the plane to China, the prime minister said: "Of all the cases, criminal cases that go to court, 90% are in the magistrates' court, so that's no jury. Of the 10% that go on to the Crown Court, 7% plead guilty, so that's no jury.

"So of all the criminal cases that going through the system that I used to prosecute, 3% ended up as jury trials. There will be a slightly lesser percent after these changes, but that's the change that we're talking about."

Starmer, who served as Director of Public Prosecutions before entering politics, said the move was part of his pledge to help victims of violence and women and girls get justice.

He said: "I have given my word to campaigners on violence against women and girls and to victims that I will do everything within my power to make sure they get justice, and they have to wait so long they're not getting justice, so many of them fall away, pull out because they're waiting too long, and I'm not prepared to allow that to happen for any longer, which is why we're taking these measures."

Sir Keir Starmer says the UK government raised the Chagos Islands deal with the White House over the weekend - after Donald Trump astonishing broadside against it.

The US president earlier this month labelled the deal an "act of great stupidity" - despite his administration previously expressing support.

The deal will see Britain cede sovereignty of the Indian Ocean islands to Mauritius while maintaining a lease for the joint US-UK military base on Diego Garcia.

The prime minister, speaking to journalists while travelling to China, said he had discussed the deal with the US president a "number of times".

He said: "It has been raised with the White House at the tail end of last week, over the weekend and into the early part of this week.

"The position, as you know, is that when the Trump administration came in, we paused for three months to give them time to consider the Chagos deal, which they did at agency level.

"And once they'd done that, they were very clear in the pronouncements about the fact that they supported the deal."

What is the deal?

The Chagos Islands were a dependency of Mauritius when it was a French colony, but the UK claimed them as part of Mauritius in the early 19th Century and kept them beyond the country's independence in 1968.

Mauritius and the UK have been in dispute over the islands for the past 50 years.

In 2010, Mauritius started proceedings against the UK to challenge the legality of how Britain had declared sovereignty, including its declaration of a marine protected area around the archipelago, which it argued stopped Chagossians from returning.

It demanded compensation and repatriation of former inhabitants. In 2018, the fight made it to the International Court of Justice.

Under the Conservative government in 2022 sovereignty negotiations with Mauritius began, but halted a year later after a paper by three academics said transferring the islands would be a "major self-inflicted blow".

Two years later, in October 2024, the UK agreed to transfer sovereignty of the Chagos Islands to Mauritius. The deal, however, drew some criticism from lawmakers as ‌well as Britons born on Diego Garcia.

At the time, the US said it "welcomed the historic agreement", commending both countries' leaders for their vision.

In February ​2025, ahead of the signing, Mr Trump also expressed preliminary support for the deal. Canada, Australia, New Zealand and India have also backed the agreement.

Sir Keir Starmer may be having trouble motivating Labour MPs at the moment - but the band Kneecap say he's provided them with plenty of inspiration.

In fact, the Irish-language rap trio say the prime minister's comments about them have provided "all the motivation we needed" for their new album.

The group, made up of Liam Og O hAnnaidh, Naoise O Caireallain, and JJ O Dochartaigh, will release their second studio album - 'Fenian' - in April.

The band hit the headlines in 2025 when O hAnnaidh was charged with a terror offence - which was later dropped.

It was alleged that O hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, had displayed a flag in support of Hezbollah, which is proscribed as a terror organisation by the British government, at a gig at the O2 Forum in London in 2024.

Announcing their new record on Instagram, Kneecap said: "They tried to stop us by branding Kneecap 'terrorists', with cancellations, with statements from the prime minister himself.

"We had all the motivation we needed... this isn't a swift reaction, but a considered response to those that tried to silence us. And failed."