Closing summary
Jeremy Corbyn has confirmed he is setting up a new political party with former Labour MP Zarah Sultana, vowing to “build a democratic movement that can take on the rich and powerful - and win”. In a post on X, the former Labour leader said he was founding the new party, which is being referred to currently as Your Party, to tackle injustices.
Corbyn indicated that the inaugural conference for the new party he is launching will “hopefully” take place in the coming months. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Corbyn said: “That will hopefully be mid-autumn time, but we haven’t fixed the date for that yet.”
Keir Starmer described the signing of a trade agreement between Britain and India as a “historic day”. As the prime minister met with Indian counterpart Narendra Modi at the country estate Chequers, Starmer said they had agreed in autumn to make a “step change” in the two countries’ relationship.
Starmer said the UK-India agreement was “the biggest and most economically significant” trade deal Britain has made since Brexit. The prime minister said: “Look, we both know this is the biggest and most economically significant trade deal that the UK has made since leaving the EU.”
Indian prime minister Narendra Modi said the UK-India trade deal was a “blueprint for our shared prosperity”. He said: “Today marks a historic day in our bilateral relations. I am pleased to note that after many years of hard work, the comprehensive economic and trade agreement between our two countries has been concluded today.”
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey has called for the Royal Air Force to carry out airdrops of aid into Gaza. “Aid delivered by the air is no substitute for the reopening of supply routes by land,” he said.
Dozens of former UK ambassadors and diplomats have piled pressure on Keir Starmer to recognise a Palestinian state amid growing international revulsion at the harrowing scenes in Gaza. Their letter to the prime minister came as the archbishop of York condemned the dehumanisation of people in Gaza as “depraved” and “barbaric”.
Keir Starmer’s government is “deeply committed” to recognising a Palestinian state, cabinet minister Jonathan Reynolds said. The business secretary stressed that such a move would have to be meaningful and come as part of a “genuine move towards a two-state solution and a long-term peace settlement” with Israel.
The police and government are ready to respond if violent protests over the asylum system spread following events in Epping, a cabinet minister has said. Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds said he could understand people’s frustrations at hotels being used to house asylum seekers but insisted that had come down from around 400 hotels to “just over 200”.
Young people could be automatically enrolled on the voting register under plans being explored by the government, a minister tells parliament. Labour former minister Lord Beamish argued in the Lords that “the only way we’re going to get young people and other people on the registry is auto-enrolment”.
MPs have called on ministers to introduce long-awaited rules aimed at removing products from UK shelves that have been farmed on land where trees were cut down. The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) wrote to environment secretary Steve Reed calling for urgent action to tackle the issue in supply chains, PA reported.
Reform UK footed the bill for a £350 bottle of champagne at a luxury lunch and a £989-a-night hotel with hundreds of pounds in room service, its election campaign spending data shows. Receipts submitted to the Electoral Commission show instances of high spending at top London venues in the first half of last year.
The biggest rail workers’ union has warned that raising the state pension age would be met with protests and direct action. The Rail, Maritime and Transport union said a government review had sparked fears of a big increase in the pension age.
Around one in 10 people aged 16 and over in England and Wales were victims of at least one of the crime types of domestic abuse, sexual assault or stalking in the year to March, new estimates suggest. The figure is closer to one in eight for women, while for men it is slightly lower at about one in 12.
Business secretary Jonathan Reynolds blamed Donald Trump’s tariffs and competition from China for the slump in vehicle manufacturing. He told BBC Breakfast he was “very concerned” about the industry, which he described as the “jewel in the crown” of British manufacturing.
Donald Trump will receive a “warm welcome” from the UK government when he touches down in Scotland on Friday, Scottish secretary Ian Murray has said. The US president is expected to visit both his golf clubs north of the border - in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire - during the four-day visit.
The Labour government needs to ramp up the creation of green jobs or risk workers being tempted to vote for parties opposing the shift to net zero, two major unions have said. The GMB and Prospect, who between them represent tens of thousands of energy workers, said there needs to be more of a focus on increasing green jobs as the fossil fuel industry is increasingly phased out.
Kemi Badenoch has said she aspires to become Britain’s version of Javier Milei, the Argentinian far-right, chainsaw-wielding president whose driving mission is slashing the size of the state. Asked whether the UK needed its own Milei and whether she herself fit that role, Badenoch, whose party is languishing in third place in the polls, said: “Yes and yes.”
MPs have called on ministers to introduce long-awaited rules aimed at removing products from UK shelves that have been farmed on land where trees were cut down.
The Environmental Audit Committee (EAC) wrote to environment secretary Steve Reed calling for urgent action to tackle the issue in supply chains, PA reported.
Under the previous government’s proposals, businesses will be prohibited from using or selling goods containing palm oil, cocoa, beef, leather and soy linked to deforestation.
This due diligence system was part of the 2021 Environment Act but ministers are yet to bring forward the necessary secondary legislation or set a timetable for when they will do so.
EAC chairman Toby Perkins asked Reed to set out a specific date for introducing the legislation “ideally before the New Year” so that the rules can be in place for the new financial year in April.
The letter said: “Delays in bringing forward this legislation makes the Cop15 agreement to halt and reverse biodiversity loss, and the UK’s commitment to ending deforestation and forest degradation by 2030, harder to achieve.
“However, it also leaves businesses with uncertainty and will leave them with less time to prepare and comply with the regime.
“On 2 June, in your response to the Committee, you recognised the urgency of taking action to ensure forest risk commodities are not driving deforestation and stated you would set out the Government approach in due course.”
Several British supermarkets recently warned that they are in “limbo” waiting for the government to introduce the new rules.
