United Kingdom

    A proposed change to the party rulebook circulated to senior figures includes a key new curb on any acting leader, forcing them to subject all of their actions to the prior approval of the ruling National Executive Committee (NEC). When a Labour leader steps aside, the deputy leader automatically becomes ‘acting leader’ in their place while a new election is arranged. However, the leadership election can take many months and supporters of Corbyn are determined that the party should stick with his political direction should he have to step aside for any reason. The proposed rule change drafted by senior allies of the leader would add a brand new clause to the Labour constitution, effectively putting the NEC in charge of the party rather than Watson. It aims to set ...

    British vessels under 15 metres will continue to be able to take scallops from the waters but larger boats will stop fishing in the Baie de Seine from midnight on Monday until the end of 30 October, DEFRA confirmed. The more than a decade-long disagreement came to a head in the early hours of 28 August as French fishermen allegedly threw smoke bombs, rocks and other projectiles at English and Scottish boats in the scallop-rich bay off the Normandy coast. French fishermen accused the British of depleting stocks and wanted them to face the same rules which mean all French boats are banned from fishing for the molluscs during the summer to conserve stocks. Nearly three weeks later, the neighbouring countries have come to an agreement, despite UK industry leaders walki...

    The Prime Minister swiped at the ambitious former foreign secretary as she insisted that her Chequers blueprint is the only alternative to crashing out of the block without a deal. The defiant message came amid claims that the EU is preparing to make concessions on the crucial Irish border issue accepting that technology can be used to avoid friction that could be undermining the Good Friday Agreement. Mrs May is heading into conference season battling for a deal with Brussels while openly criticising her former foreign secretary for the first time as MPs vie to replace her. Tonight on BBC Panorama the Prime Minister will say that it will be her Chequers deal or no deal and insisted she was focused on the country's future rather than her own. She also promised t...

    Theresa May has admitted she gets irritated over the ongoing debate regarding her leadership of the Conservative Party, as she lashed out at Boris Johnson’s completely inappropriate suicide vest remarks. The intervention from the prime minister comes after it was reported dozens of Tory MPs openly discussed how to topple Ms May, with some present at a meeting in Westminster suggesting she is a disaster and this can’t go on. Ms May’s leadership of the Tories has been increasingly precarious since the resignation of Boris Johnson from cabinet over her Chequers blueprint for Brexit, but it has been fragile ever since the 2017 snap election at which she gambled away the party’s majority. In an interview to mark the six-month countdown until Britain officially leaves th...

    British MP who became the first to take her baby into a Commons debate has said she hopes it will signal a step forward in modernising parliament. Liberal Democrat deputy leader Jo Swinson appeared in the chamber with Gabriel on Thursday during a discussion about proxy voting. Speaking to BBC Scotland on Friday morning, she said it had felt like the natural thing to do. Ms Swinson gave birth to Gabriel, her second child, on 29 June. She did not have her 11-week-old son with her when she spoke early on in the debate, before she left the chamber to go and feed Gabriel, who then fell asleep on her in a baby carrier. By convention, Ms Swinson was expected to return to the chamber to listen to the closing speeches in the debate. The East Dunbartonshire MP said: The o...

    MI6 believed claims made by a Soviet defector that former Labour leader Michael Foot was a paid KGB contact, according to a new book. Intelligence chiefs were reportedly briefed on the politician’s KGB history in 1982 and were prepared to pass on the information to the Queen had he become prime minister after the following year’s general election. But documents, published in The Spy and the Traitor, show that MI6 thought the evidence presented by Mr Gordievsky was strong enough to pass on to the Queen. In a 1982 debriefing, the former agent allegedly said the KGB had paid Mr Foot the equivalent of £37,000 in today’s money, according to the new book. Even though he was supposedly paid by the Soviets, Mr Gordievsky said that the politician was not a ‘spy or consciou...

    Millions of travellers could be hit with a new tax to pay for more Border Force staff at airports. Cuts to the number of officers and a surge in passengers have been blamed for delays of up to two-and-a-half hours at some passport controls this summer. The Government is considering how to beef up security at the borders and reduce queues without relying on public funds. One option is a new tax raid on those flying in and out of the country, on top of the unpopular air passenger duty, according to senior aviation industry insiders. Last night Grant Shapps, Tory MP and chairman of the cross-party Big Infrastructure Group, said: It would beggar belief if passengers already hit with one of the highest rates of tax in the world have a new tax slapped on them just for us...

    The tail-end of a fierce Atlantic hurricane is expected to hit the UK and Ireland early next week. A danger to life wind warning has been issued for parts of the country as gusts of up to 80mph are expected when Hurricane Helene strikes. Helene began off Cape Verde but has been downgraded to a tropical storm as it makes its way east. The storm could bring gale force winds, sending debris flying, disrupting travel and cutting power to thousands of homes and businesses. The Met Office said: Storm Helene is expected to push north-east towards the UK late Monday, before clearing quickly to the north of Scotland through Tuesday morning. There remains large uncertainty in Helene's exact track, however a spell of very strong winds is expected, initially for parts of sout...

    The family of murdered police officer Keith Palmer have made an 11th hour bid to halt an inquest into his death after being refused legal aid. The Old Bailey heard they are extremely distressed that nobody from the Metropolitan Police has spoken to them to let them know there was an issue surrounding the absence of armed officers in place to protect their brother. Pc Palmer, 48, was positioned on the Carriage Gates outside the Palace of Westminster when he was knifed to death by Khalid Masood, 52, on March 22 last year. Susannah Stevens, representing his sisters, Angela Clark and Michelle Palmer, applied to adjourn the inquest into his death on the fifth day of the hearing on Friday morning before evidence relating to the officer was due to begin. Their applicatio...

    A man and a woman have died and four people were injured in a seven-vehicle collision on the M5 in Somerset. Emergency services were called to the scene near junction 24 at Huntworth just after 8.30am on Thursday. The collision on the southbound carriageway involved a lorry and six cars. The female driver of one car and the male passenger of another car were pronounced dead at the scene, a police spokesman said. A woman from each of those vehicles was taken to Southmead Hospital in Bristol with serious injuries. Two other victims of the crash, who are not believed to have life-threatening injuries, were taken to Musgrove Park Hospital. Another person was treated at the scene and later released. Pictures from the crash site showed emergency workers next to a bad...