Labour's "refusal" to release detailed figures on how badly pensioners will be affected by the party's impending Winter Fuel Payment cuts has been branded "shameful" by Conservatives.
Neil O'Brien, the Tory MP for Harborough, Oadby and Wigston in Leicestershire, had filed a parliamentary question on how many pensioners would be eligible for the cash after Labour's proposed slashing in each constituency.
Labour's pensions minister Emma Reynolds had directed O'Brien to data on how many people were currently eligible for the payments - but failed to reveal how many people would lose out.
Writing on social media, O'Brien said: "UNBELIEVABLE. Ahead of Tuesday's big debate on the Winter Fuel Payment, the Government are refusing to reveal how many people will lose out in each constituency.
"The parliamentary question answer I just got just says how many currently get it - on old boundaries.
"They know the truth, but won't admit it. SHAMEFUL."
Alicia Kearns, Tory MP for Rutland and Stamford and shadow foreign affairs minister, chimed in with the attack, labelling Labour "shameful" for not carrying out an impact assessment.
Former PM Boris Johnson
ReutersIn a social media video posted on X, formerly Twitter, the former Conservative prime minister said: “With 12 more people dying in the channel this week including six children, one pregnant mother, and with the Germans themselves now expressing an interest in the Rwanda policy.
"It is time for Keir Starmer and Yvette Cooper to admit that if you scrap a policy designed to save lives and you put nothing in its place, then you will be to blame for the drowning of kids at sea."
The Palestine Solidarity Campaign (PSC), which organises regular mass protests in central London, is planning its first national demonstration outside the capital when the conference takes place later this month in Liverpool.
PSC director Ben Jamal said: "The Government have accepted that there is significant evidence that Israel may be using weapons in violation of international law in its genocide in Gaza. But it beggars belief that it believes 90 per cent of exports licences can continue, including parts for the F35 fighter jets that have verifiably been used in massacres in Gaza.
"We will be bringing the Palestinian solidarity movement to Labour’s conference in Liverpool to show the strength of support for a halt to all arms trading with Israel and an end to all forms of UK complicity with genocide.
"The new Government must realise that it cannot shirk its moral and legal responsibilities to stop all support for this genocidal state."
Green party co-leaders Carla Denyer and Adrian Ramsay
PA
Promising to hold the Government to account “where we think greater ambition is needed”, Adrian Ramsay said: "Because in so many areas, ones that matter deeply to so many of us, Labour is getting it wrong.
"Like denying winter fuel payments to millions of pensioners, giving the green light to new climate-destroying airport expansion, and to sticking with the cruelty of the two-child benefit cap.
"Like the welcome but half-hearted, partial suspension of arms sales to Israel, and continuing with the nonsensical ban on asylum seekers being allowed work. So conference, we will be using our voices in Parliament to raise up the voices of the two million Green voters who want so much better.”
The conference comes two months after the Green Party’s most successful UK election yet, in which it quadrupled its number of MPs and came second in 40 constituencies.
Sir Gavin Williamson
PA
Sir Gavin Williamson came under repeated pressure to resign over his handling of disruption to schools and the fiasco around grading of GCSE and A-level students amid cancelled exams.
After more than two years in the job, he was sacked from his cabinet role in September 2021, although he at the time declared he was "proud" of his post-16 education reforms "despite the challenges" of the pandemic.
His expected evidence session was confirmed during a preliminary hearing for module eight of the inquiry – examining the impact of the pandemic on children and young people in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Lead counsel Clair Dobson KC told Friday’s hearing: "We’re aware that important figures like the then-secretary of state for education Sir Gavin Williamson did not give evidence in module two and it is the intention of module eight to call him, for example, to give oral evidence."
The Green Party’s co-leader said Labour "knows the price of everything and the value of nothing" at their annual conference in Manchester.
MP for Waveney Valley Adrian Ramsay used his address on the opening day of the Green Party conference to launch a wide-ranging attack on the Government, saying it was not doing enough on the NHS, housing or the climate crisis.
Taking the stage alone on Friday after his co-leader Carla Denyer developed Covid-like symptoms, Ramsay said Labour had “an obsession with growth at any cost”.
He added: “They really are becoming the party that knows the price of everything and the value of nothing."
The Home Secretary has hailed what she called "encouraging progress" on the crisis since Labour came to powerPAAt the start of the day, GB News reported on Home Secretary Yvette Cooper's then-upcoming summit with ministers and security bigwigs aimed at countering people-smuggling gangs fuelling the migrant crisis today.
Cooper chaired the meeting at National Crime Agency (NCA) headquarters in London - with Foreign Secretary David Lammy, Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood and Attorney General Lord Hermer, as well as representatives from the NCA, Border Force and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) all gathering to draw up plans to smash the gangs.
The Home Office has revealed that MI5 has been tasked with a key role in stymying the crisis - but the Home Secretary has her eyes on the continent, following up on Labour's push for a so-called "relations reset" with Europe and the EU.
Cooper has commissioned an analysis on the gangs, which has been examined at length at the talks today, and includes a drive for closer ties with European agencies like Europol.
Despite more than 20,000 migrants having arrived on Britain's shores in 2024 alone, the Home Secretary has hailed what she called "encouraging progress" on the crisis since Labour came to power.
Latest figures have put the number of small boat arrivals this year at a provisional total of 21,977, 3 per cent higher than at this point last year.
The Home Secretary said: "The last two months has seen encouraging progress, with significant seizures of boats and equipment in Europe.
"But there is work to do, and the Border Security Command will bring all the relevant bodies together to investigate, arrest and prosecute these networks, as well as deepen our ties with key international partners.
"At the same time, we are swiftly removing those with no right to be in the UK, which will ensure we have a fair, firm and functioning asylum system where the rules are respected and enforced."
But the mood in Europe, particularly in France, could present a challenge to the Home Office's schemes.
Just days ago, French interior minister Gerald Darmanin called for a new treaty between Britain and the EU - all 27 member states of which are designated "safe" nations - which could see asylum seekers in the bloc resettled in the UK.
He said: "The solution is... to do a treaty that allows the UK and the EU, not just France and the UK, to create a causal link between asylum requests and the granting of asylum in the UK.
Though Darmanin noted the fault lay at the feet of "criminal smugglers", he appeared to blame Britain's lax approach to deporting illegal migrants for incentivising Channel crossings.
SOUTH YORKSHIRE POLICE
The nine-year sentence imposed on Thomas Birley for setting fire to a hotel housing asylum seekers "reflects the seriousness of the crime", security minister Dan Jarvis has said.
Reacting to the sentence, he said: "Of course, sentencing is very much a matter for the courts and a matter for the judge, but it reflects the seriousness of the crime.
"I think most of us will remember the events of that particular day.
"I'm a South Yorkshire MP and Rotherham is not far away from my own constituency," he told Sky News.
Jarvis continued: "So, the sentence that has been imposed today, I think, reflects the very serious nature of the criminality that we saw on that day - and I think it sends a very strong message that that kind of vile behaviour is completely unacceptable, it's illegal and it won't be tolerated."
RAF Scampton was set to be used to house up to 2,000 asylum seekers
CREATIVE COMMONSYvette Cooper has declined to say where asylum seekers would be housed after the Government dropped plans to use RAF Scampton as accommodation.
When asked where the original figure of 2,000 would live, the Home Secretary took aim at the Tory-era "backlog" instead.
She said: "We have seen this really shameful increase in the asylum backlog under the Conservatives that we inherited.
"We also saw much lower returns, way lower returns than under the last Labour government.
"The action that we have immediately taken is to significantly increase the number of returns since the General Election - and we are also working now to close the backlog so that we can end these very costly asylum hotels, and also, in the case of Scampton, that was incredibly costly for this single site that was also strongly opposed in the local community as well."
There are "no plans" to send British prisoners to Estonia to serve out their sentences, Downing Street has said.
A No10 spokeswoman said this afternoon: "The Lord Chancellor has been clear that we have to bring in reforms to tackle the prison capacity crisis.
"That's why, alongside our commitment to build more prisons, we will be publishing a 10-year strategy in the autumn to set out how we will ensure that we always have the places we need to keep dangerous offenders behind bars.
"On those reports specifically, I would point out that this was the policy of the former Government - and that this Government has made no such plans or announcements with regard to Estonia."
The trio all brought forward constituents' concerns in their letter
PA/PARLIAMENT
A trio of Labour MPs have written to the Foreign Secretary raising concerns over his decision to pare back British arms export licences to Israel.
The move - which drew international ire from the US and Israel itself - has now seen criticism from closer to home, with MPs representing the three constituencies in the London Borough of Barnet all co-signing the letter.
Barnet has the highest Jewish population of the capital's 32 boroughs, at 14.5 per cent.
The trio - David Pinto-Duschinsky, Sarah Sackman and Dan Tomlinson - brought forward constituents' concerns over the timing of the announcement, Britain's relationship with Israel, and the message Lammy's decision sends to Israel's enemies - "Hamas, Iran and Iran's proxies".
They wrote: "Dear Secretary of State, we are writing to you in light of the Government’s decision on Monday September 2 to suspend some arms export licenses to Israel.
"Whilst we support the Government in its commitment to international humanitarian law, we thought that it was important to relay the views of many of our constituents.
"In each of our constituencies in Barnet, constituents have been in touch and expressed deep concern and upset about Monday's decision.
"They have asked that we express their concerns to you, so that the Government can better understand their point of view.
"Firstly, many constituents are upset and angry about the timing of the announcement which, as you know, came shortly after the murder of six hostages by Hamas terrorists.
"There was particular anger that the announcement itself coincided with the funeral of one of the hostages, Hersh Goldberg-Polin.
"Secondly, our constituents have raised questions about the message that the decision sends to Israel's enemies, including Hamas, Iran and Iran's proxies.
"While the decision may have been intended to de-escalate the conflict, there is great concern that it may inadvertently have the opposite effect and adversely affect the security and safety of Israel and its people.
"Lastly, our constituents have queried what this means for Britain's longstanding relationship with Israel as an ally.
"They have also raised concerns about the possible impact of this decision on Britain’s perceived trustworthiness among its allies on the international stage."
Tony Smith warned that more gangs were "waiting in the wings"
GB NEWS
The former head of the British Border Force has said stopping smuggling gangs is "like Whac-A-Mole".
Tony Smith, who led Border Force until 2013, detailed how trafficking is "a very lucrative business for the smugglers" and said "putting a smuggling gang out of business... is a bit like Whac-A-Mole" because "there's usually another one waiting in the wings because the money is there".
Smith added: "So you do need a very concerted international attempt, both in Europe and beyond," speaking to the BBC.
Reform has demanded further action after an aspiring marine was murdered by an Afghan asylum seeker who had shot dead two men in Serbia on his way to Britain.
Lawangeen Abdulrahimzai fatally stabbed Tom Roberts, 21, after a litany of state failures.
Abdulrahimzai claimed to be a 14-year-old fleeing the Taliban when he arrived by ferry to Poole, but he was actually 19.
And now, Reform's Rupert Lowe has warned that Britain has "no idea how many of the people who come here claiming to be children are adults".
The Greens are set to call on Sir Keir Starmer to offer a more hopeful message to the public
PA
The Green Party has said it will aim to counter "Labour's message of doom and gloom" as it begins its party conference today, marking the start of "conference season" in Britain.
The Greens, which boast four MPs, will be descending on Manchester this year to call for more spending, more tax, and a more European approach to public services and environmentalism.
Party co-leader and Bristol Central MP Carla Denyer said: "As Greens, we counter Labour's message of doom and gloom.
"Things can get better - and fast - but only if the new Government has the courage to invest."
Denyer said she and her party would push the Government to be "braver and bolder", including on the Budget.
She continued: "The Budget at the end of October will set the course for the rest of this Parliament.
"Green MPs do not accept the need for public spending cuts. On July 4 people didn't vote for things to get worse. They voted for change, and that’s what we are offering as Green MPs."
Fellow co-leader Adrian Ramsay said: "We need to invest in defending public services and protecting our environment - and we can do so with some changes to the tax system to ask the wealthiest in society to pay a little more.
"These tax changes are modest by the standards of many other European countries who recognise that having high quality public services and a greener economy needs investment."
The Greens have their eyes on a wealth tax on billionaires and multi-millionaires, reforms of capital gains tax and inheritance tax, and a swathe of spending hikes on health, social care and a nationwide home insulation drive.
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