Millie Cooke
Millie Cooke is a political correspondent at The Independent who focuses on Brexit, the UK’s relationship with Europe, and how political decisions land with voters and marginalised groups. Her coverage moves between daily parliamentary developments and the long shadow of the 2016 referendum, with a consistent emphasis on accountability and the lived experience of political upheaval. She combines news reporting, bulletin-style updates and reflective pieces, giving sustained attention to Brexit as an ongoing process rather than a closed chapter.
Brexit, Europe and the long tail of the referendum
Cooke is one of the core voices on The Independent’s Europe: The Way Back coverage, co-hosting a weekly newsletter with colleague David Maddox that tracks Brexit and the UK’s evolving relationship with the EU. That strand invites readers into a continuing debate about what “going back” to Europe could look like, and what forms of cooperation or closer alignment are politically possible.
Her reporting on issues such as whether the EU could fast-track Britain’s membership if the UK chose to reverse Brexit fits this pattern, bringing procedural detail and political calculations together in accessible language.
She also writes reflective pieces around key Brexit anniversaries, using personal and reader memories to frame the ongoing consequences. In coverage marking a decade since the referendum, she recalls voting for the first time and watching a night out with friends turn into “crushing disbelief” as the Leave result emerged, then sets that against stories from readers who experienced the result in very different settings. Follow-up articles invite readers to share their own memories of the night Brexit happened, positioning the referendum as a shared national event whose impact is still unfolding. Across these pieces, Cooke treats Brexit not just as a policy decision but as a social and emotional rupture that continues to shape political identity.
Reform UK, policing and political accountability
Cooke devotes significant attention to Reform UK and the legal scrutiny of its funding, often focusing on how institutions respond to allegations of wrongdoing. Her reporting includes coverage of the Metropolitan Police investigation into Reform UK over foreign donation allegations and the subsequent launch of a criminal investigation into the party’s donations following an undercover sting. These stories follow the mechanics of complaint, investigation and party response, setting out the facts of police action and placing them within wider questions about standards in public life.
She extends this accountability lens to pandemic-era policy, including scrutiny of free food box schemes introduced by Conservative ministers during Covid. In bulletin coverage of Reform MP Danny Kruger’s attack on his colleague Robert Jenrick’s scheme, she foregrounds the description of the parcels as “revolting, unhealthy and inefficient” and links that criticism to arguments about post-Covid migration and responsibility for policy outcomes. Together, her Reform UK and Covid coverage shows an interest in how fringe and mainstream figures alike are held to account when policies intersect with public trust, welfare and the law.
Parliament, PMQs and multi-party competition
Cooke’s political reporting is not limited to government versus opposition; she consistently brings in the role of smaller parties and backbench actors. In analysis of Andy Burnham’s first Prime Minister’s Questions, she frames the session as a contest not only between the prime minister and a senior minister, but as an opportunity for Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey, ultimately calling him “the real winner.”
That judgment signals an interest in parliamentary performance and the tactical gains parties can make even when they are not at the dispatch box.
Her broader Westminster coverage combines these analytical notes with bulletin-style updates on MPs’ interventions and intra-party tensions. The Danny Kruger story, for example, is as much about the image of a colleague publicly attacking a fellow Conservative over policy as it is about the policy itself.
Across such pieces, Cooke stresses how debates at PMQs, party rows and committee pressure shape the perception of parties beyond headline legislative battles, keeping attention on competition for narrative as well as votes.
Women and equalities in political coverage
Cooke explicitly describes her role as covering women and equalities alongside her core politics beat, and that focus informs how she approaches stories across Parliament and Brexit. This strand brings questions of representation, discrimination and the distribution of political power into her reporting, even when a piece is primarily about party strategy or institutional process. The result is a politics brief that treats gender and equalities not as a separate niche but as a thread running through coverage of Brexit, Reform UK and parliamentary competition.
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Abbi Garton-Crosbie
Abbi Garton-Crosbie is a multimedia political reporter who treats independence as a live process shaped by Holyrood power struggles, party manoeuvres and grassroots pressure. She works at The National, a pro-independence newspaper, covering how political power is contested and exercised in contemporary Scotland, with a core focus on parties, parliament and the mechanics of constitutional change. She reports on parliamentary votes, government strategy around future independence referendums, and elections across Scotland in the wider context of devolution in Wales and Northern Ireland. Her work centres on party leadership, resignations and internal conflict, including long-form interviews with senior politicians and coverage of emerging and smaller parties. She examines far-right activity, protest politics and movement organisation, and runs policy-driven reporting on rent caps, AI data centres, health boards and public services, across written, video and podcast formats.
Abubakar Ahmadu Maishanu
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Aisha Iqbal
Aisha Iqbal covers local and regional politics for the BBC, with a distinct focus on grassroots power and how local decisions shape trust, representation and public services. She reports on Bradford Council decisions, waste services, cultural funding, regeneration grants and the use of public money. She also covers grooming gangs, community safety, political trust, elections, Muslim voters, Gaza, ceasefire campaigns and the links between faith, foreign policy and representation. Her work includes culture and public figures when they intersect with civic identity, including a feature on David Hockney. She connects committee-room votes, neighbourhood disputes and national debates, showing who gains, who loses and how communities respond. She reports across broadcast and online platforms in a clear, explanatory style. Earlier, she covered politics, culture and consumer issues for regional newspapers.
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Alessia Simona Maratta stands out for showing how political decisions, regulations and conflicts ripple through communities, pairing national and global stories with on-the-ground voices and clear policy explanations. She is a digital reporter, producer and editor with Global News’ network news desk, covering breaking news, crime, politics, public health, housing, labour, immigration, environment and climate, social issues and features. Her recent work spans politics, public health regulation, labour and technology, and human-interest features that ground complex issues in everyday experience. She reports on politics, policy and community impact, public health and social debates, and labour and regulation at the intersection of technology, globalization and worker rights. Alongside hard news, she produces features that use individual stories, straightforward narrative arcs and accessible explanations to connect history, science and policy to everyday life.