UK politics news – live: Rebecca Long Bailey sacked, as Starmer questions Boris Johnson’s judgement over support for Jenrick
All the day's events as they happened
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Sir Keir Starmer has sacked Rebecca Long-Bailey from his front bench in a row over antisemitism. The former shadow education secretary tweeted her praise of Maxine Peake after the actor's views were revealed in an interview with The Independent.
The left-wing actor, who has since clarified that her assumptions were inaccurate, told The Independent: "The tactics used by the police in America, kneeling on George Floyd’s neck, that was learnt from seminars with Israeli secret services." The Labour leader described these comments as an "antisemitic conspiracy theory”.
Meanwhile, Sir Keir suggested Boris Johnson‘s judgement is now “in issue” after backing housing secretary Robert Jenrick, who faces calls to resign after releasing communications pertaining to his approval of a £1bn property development involving Tory donor Richard Desmond.
The 129-page bundle of documents concerning the Westferry Printworks site indicated that Mr Jenrick had personally sought to rush the project through, saving the former Daily Express owner millions in extra taxes in the form of a new Community Infrastructure Levy. While texts show Mr Desmond told the minister to act so that “Marxists” did not get “doe [sic] for nothing”, former Tower Hamlets council leader Andrew Wood has warned that “more will come out” yet.
It came as several councils across England, including those in Leeds, Manchester, Birmingham and Wiltshire, warned they face effective bankruptcy, urging rapid government intervention, with Liverpool’s mayors describing a “profound crisis” ahead, having previously complained the government’s emergency pandemic funding favoured affluent areas.
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Ian Lavery, who stepped back from the leadership race earlier this year - a move which gave Ms Long Bailey a clean run at the job as the de-facto Corbynite candidate - tweeted his support for the sacked shadow minister.
David Lammy has accused Boris Johnson of misleading the house over the government's response to BAME people in the criminal justice system.
Mr Lammy led a highly regarded review into the impacts of the system on black, Asian and minority ethnic people in 2017.
Yesterday the PM said 16 of the recommendations made by the Tottenham MP had since been implemented.
But Mr Lammy says this was a falsehood - and the actual number is more like six.
Proposal to avoid no-deal Brexit rejected by UK's chief negotiator
Elsewhere - away from calls for the sacking of ministers, the actual sacking of shadow ministers, the coronavirus lockdown easing fears and the claims the PM misled the house on anti-racism measures - the old constituitional conundrum that is Brexit still continues on.
With the talks deadlocked, it was thought the EU could agree to give the UK the ability to break free from its rules – in return for the right to impose tariffs if it chose to do so. The arrangement would have avoided the feared cliff-edge on 31 December, when the UK will crash out of the single market and customs union unless an agreement is struck.
David Frost, Boris Johnson's negotiator, isn't keen.
More from our own Rob Merrick below.
Waitrose says it will never stock chlorinated chicken
The new boss of Waitrose has said the supermarket will never stock chlorinated chicken or hormone-treated beef, as he backed calls to prevent the potential weakening of food standards in the UK under a post-Brexit trade deal with the US.
James Bailey, who previously worked as a buying director at Sainsbury's, said the public was right to care about the issue.
The declaration puts further pressure on the government not to put food welfare on the table when it comes to trade negotiations. Liz Truss was the latest government minister to say they would never allow chlorinated chicken to flood the UK market and damage British farmers - but the US side are insistent it should be part of any agreement.
Nadia Whittome - another member of the 2019 intake who gained her seat under a Corbyn manifesto - has come out in support of Rebecca Long Bailey.
Meanwhile others affiliated with the party are praising the Labour leader for his decisive action.
Dame Louise Ellman, former Labour LP for Liverpool Riverside, told ITV Granada Reports: "I'm delighted to hear this. It does gives me confidence that Keir Starmer is a man of his word and does want to stamp out anti-Semitism.
"This is dismissing somebody who is very senior, somebody who indeed stood against him as leader of the Labour Party a very short time ago. It's a very encouraging sign."
She quit the party last October as she believed anti-Semitism had become mainstream under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.
Housing benefit money is being "shovelled" into substandard rental accommodation to avoid homelessness because there is not enough affordable or social housing, a body representing landlords said.
John Stewart, deputy director of policy and research at the National Residential Landlords Association, said people who are vulnerable or benefits-dependent are increasingly being housed in the private sector.
He said: "It's absolutely infuriating to many of our members and our landlords to see councils shovelling housing benefit money into substandard, poor quality housing because they have no other option, because if they didn't, homelessness rates would rocket, they would have nowhere to accommodate people.
"It is in some ways a national scandal frankly.
"We would like to see a situation where, if someone is receiving housing benefit, that doesn't happen unless the housing is signed off as safe, secure and legal, so it's not overcrowded, it meets property standards and conditions, and if it doesn't, there's a time scale for which it has to."
People could be forced to take on jobs that place health at risk as suspension on benefit requirements to end
People could be forced to take on work that places their health at risk or face losing their benefits as the government's suspension to job-seeking requirements for benefit claimants is set to come to an end within days.
The government announced in March that the requirement for people receiving universal credit to prove that they are looking for work – which would currently apply to more than 2 million people on the benefit – would be paused for three months due to the coronavirus pandemic.
This suspension is set to end next Tuesday, meaning millions of people will need to prove they are actively seeking work or face being sanctioned and losing their financial support.
More below:
Boris Johnson's 'Brexit Jet' takes to the skies following £900,000 red-white-and-blue makeover
Boris Johnson’s jet has made its first flight after its controversial £900,000 “rebranding” in Union Jack colours.
The RAF Voyager, a previously-grey military plane, took off from Cambridge Airport with the new red, white and blue livery on its tail.
It also features the words “United Kingdom” painted in gold along the fuselage.
More below:
Jacob Rees-Mogg suggests 'the weather' is to blame for UK’s sky-high coronavirus death toll
Jacob Rees-Mogg has suggested “the weather” is to blame for the UK’s sky-high death toll from coronavirus, in the latest extraordinary explanation given.
The Commons leader also pointed to “the practices of individual cultures and societies” – although he did not expand on the thesis.
The reasoning comes after a different government minister drew criticism for claiming the UK was particularly vulnerable as “a global travel hub”.
More below:
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