Donald Trump 'promised' to visit Clacton after Nigel Farage's election win

Tory leadership hopeful signs motion to debate Winter Fuel Payments

Tory Party leadership hopeful Mel Stride has signed an early day motion to debate Winter Fuel Payments.

Stride was joined by Rishi Sunak, Jeremy Hunt and Claire Coutinho.

Shadow Chief Secretary of the Treasury Laura Trott said: “Labour’s disastrous decision to scrap Winter Fuel Payments must be held to account.

“This Labour government has tried to avoid scrutiny in parliament for the consequences of their actions, but the public deserve better.

“On behalf of the ten million pensioners left on the hook for Labour’s political prioritisation of their union paymasters, we are determined to ensure this issue is debated.”

Starmer pledged to halt surging gas prices but now Britons prepare for £149 hike

Sir Keir Starmer has seemingly struggled to keep up with his previous commitment to halt gas price spikes.

The Prime Minister promised Britons would not cough up any extra cash through a "fully costed plan to freeze energy bills" in 2022.

However, Ofgem is now warning the typical household will see energy bills rise by £149 in October.

Yvette Cooper faces demands to apologise after 'serious error' over riot comments

Home Secretary Yvette Cooper has been blasted after her department referred to those arrested - but not convicted - over this month's riots as "criminals".

A Home Office social media post announcing the arrests of 1,000 people "related to recent public disorder" said "these criminals will face the full force of the law".

But campaigners have warned that the post risks violating the presumption of "innocent until proven guilty" - and have urged for it to be deleted.

In a letter to Cooper, Free Speech Union general secretary Toby Young told the Home Secretary she bore ultimate responsibility for the Home Office's comments.

Young wrote: "We are concerned that this post referred to all the people who have been arrested in connection with the recent public disorder as 'criminals', including those who have not been charged, or who have been charged but have pleaded not guilty and have not yet been tried.

"For example, one of our members, the 55-year-old woman who was arrested last week for wrongly identifying the attacker in Southport as an asylum seeker on X, has not been charged or made any admission of guilt.

"If she is charged, and if she pleads not guilty, we fear that there may be a risk that her trial is prejudiced because some of the jurors in her case may be one of the 2.3 million people who have seen the X post.

"To be clear, we are not requesting any action against the individual who made the post, or any Home Office employees... We believe that responsibility for this serious error ultimately rests with you."

Home Office sources said the post neither made reference to individual cases nor legal proceedings - and that social media posts from the department’s account complied with Civil Service guidelines.

Met Police call off General Election betting scandal investigation - but SEVEN officers still being looked into themselves

The Metropolitan Police have finished "their role" in a criminal investigation into bets placed on the date of the General Election.

The Met said officers would only look into bets which were "in breach of Section 42 of the Gambling Act 2005 (Cheating)" or had "specific additional features" like potential Misconduct in Public Office offences.

Police added that they'd only found a "small number" of cases like the latter - and had determined "the high bar for Misconduct in Public Office to be proven was not met".

The Met have passed a small number of alleged criminal offences under the Gambling Act over to the Gambling Commission, which has the power to kick off criminal proceedings itself if necessary.

Detective Superintendent Katherine Goodwin said: "These allegations caused a significant dent in public confidence during the election campaign and it was right that they were investigated to explore all possible offences.

"While our involvement in the criminal investigation now ceases, it's important that is not misinterpreted as an all clear for those whose cases were looked at.

"There are still Gambling Act offences to consider and it is appropriate that they are taken forward by investigators from the Gambling Commission who have particular expertise in this field.

"Seven police officers who are alleged to have placed bets are still among those being investigated by the Gambling Commission. They also remain under investigation by the Met's Directorate of Professional Standards."

The Met added that a Royalty and Specialist Protection Command officer arrested on June 17 would not be subject to further action.

Gambling Commission chief executive Andrew Rhodes noted the amount of public interest in the investigation, and confirmed it was still being looked into, but said the commission would not be commenting further.

Nigel Farage hails 'pendulum swing' on diversity initiatives

Nigel Farage has declared the "pendulum is swinging back as companies realise that DEI makes them poorer".

The Reform UK leader was responding to reports that the owner of Jack Daniel’s whisky has scrapped its diversity targets.

Farage has previously criticised diversity and inclusion culture as "divisive".

Tom Tugendhat wins support from two more MSPs to protect the Union

Another two Scottish politicians have have backed Tom Tugendhat as the next leader of the UK Conservative Party.

MSPs Brian Whittle and Alexander Stewart have announced they are backing the shadow security minister, bringing his total MSP support to 10.

It comes after eight other MSPs backed Tugendhat on Monday, saying he would be a “help, not a hindrance” north of the border.

In a joint statement, Whittle and Stewart said: "We are proud to join eight of our Conservative MSP colleagues who are endorsing Tom Tugendhat to be the next Leader of the UK Conservative Party.

"Together with our colleagues, we represent all parts of the Scottish Party and recognise the need to have a Conservative leader at the helm in Westminster who not only champions our successes, but also recognises that if any part of the Union fails, we all fail."

Labour urged to U-turn on Winter Fuel Payments decision

The Green Party has called for the Government to reverse its decision to restrict the winter fuel allowance to only the poorest pensioners following Ofgem’s energy price cap announcement.

Party co-leader Carla Denyer said: “Consumers are paying high prices for a crisis not of their making. This will be deeply worrying news for all those people already struggling to pay their bills.”

Arguing the Government’s aim of reducing bills required investment in insulation, she added: “We need a nationwide programme of government-backed, council-delivered home insulation starting immediately to help people keep their bills down for good.

“We also now need the Government to maintain the winter fuel payments for all pensioners and end means testing so that they know they can afford to keep warm.

“We could reduce bills for the long term and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions by building new homes that are easier and cheaper to heat, and boosting insulation in existing homes.

“Insulating people’s homes means they can stay warm while using less energy, save money and produce fewer harmful carbon emissions.”

Energy bills hiked up for households across the country

Labour has blamed the previous Conservative government for Friday’s announcement that the energy price cap would increase.

Ofgem has announced the energy price cap will rise by 10 per cent from October 1 in a blow to Britons' finances.

The average energy bill for a typical household in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will jump from from £1,568 to £1,717.

A spokesperson for Labour said: “This price increase is the harvest of 14 years of Tory neglect and failure to prepare and invest in British-owned clean energy.

“While they were quick to blame everybody but themselves during the energy crisis, the Tories dragged their feet on energy security and took a hammer to the renewable energy sector, with working families still paying the price.

“The Labour Government has hit the ground running to tackle the root causes of high energy prices. In under 50 days we have set up Great British Energy to cut bills for good, lifted the onshore wind ban, consented unprecedented amounts of solar power and have set the largest-ever budget for our renewables auction.

“Labour’s bold energy plans will warm homes across the country, cut energy bills for good and create thousands of high-skilled, well-paid jobs as we move towards cheaper, homegrown clean power.”

Read more HERE.

Politics LIVE

Welcome back to GB News' Politics LIVE blog.

We'll be updating this page throughout the day with live politics updates as they come in.