Lead News

Jeremy Corbyn faces a battle over Labour’s Brexit policy later as members choose between two competing strategies at the party’s annual conference. They will decide whether Labour should explicitly back Remain in any future referendum, or adopt Mr Corbyn’s stance of staying neutral until a later date. Unison has broken ranks with other unions to back the Remain motion. The ...

Labour has urged Boris Johnson to address claims he failed to declare a potential conflict of interest in how money was given to a US businesswoman while he was London mayor. The Sunday Times said Jennifer Arcuri, an entrepreneur associated with Mr Johnson, joined trade missions he led and was given £126,000 in public money. She told the paper this ...

Jeremy Corbyn is coming under pressure amid divisions over Labour’s Brexit strategy as leading figures call for the party to back staying in the EU. Shadow foreign secretary Emily Thornberry said Labour must “say no” to leaving the EU at its party conference. And deputy leader Tom Watson said it must settle its position as “a Remain party” once and ...

There has been a “shameful” rise in the number of young people in England leaving school without five good GCSEs or equivalent technical qualifications, the children’s commissioner has said. Research found a 28% increase since 2015, with about 100,000 pupils a year affected – almost one in five Anne Longfield said the impact on the poorest families was most marked. ...

Brexit Secretary Stephen Barclay has said the UK and EU share a “common purpose” in reaching a new withdrawal deal, after a meeting in Brussels with chief EU negotiator Michel Barnier. He said they had had “serious detailed discussions” and things were “moving forward with momentum”. Mr Barnier said it had been a “cordial” meeting, but “lots of work has ...

Britain’s Supreme Court announced Thursday it will rule next week on whether Prime Minister Boris Johnson acted unlawfully in shutting down parliament in the final weeks before Brexit, reports AFP. Following three days of intense arguments as the Brexit battle switched to the highest court in the land, judges are set to decide on Johnson’s advice to Queen Elizabeth II ...

Confidential documents that “reflect the ideas the UK has put forward” on Brexit have been shared with the EU, the UK government has said. Ministers will table “formal written solutions when we are ready” and not to an “artificial deadline”, it added. Boris Johnson said he did not want to “exaggerate progress” of negotiations, but some was being made. It ...

Boris Johnson suspended Parliament to stop MPs “interfering” in Brexit, said the lawyer of former PM Sir John Major. The three-day Supreme Court hearing on whether the decision to prorogue was unlawful has finished its final day. The President of the Supreme Court, Lady Hale, said the judges would announce a decision early next week. The government argues prorogation is ...

David Cameron’s revelation that he sought help from the Queen ahead of the Scottish independence vote in 2014 has caused displeasure at Buckingham Palace, a source has said. The former PM told the BBC he had asked whether the Queen could “raise an eyebrow” about the prospect of Scotland voting for independence. The Queen later said people should “think carefully ...

Boris Johnson sought to suspend Parliament to avoid the risk of MPs “frustrating or damaging” his Brexit plans, the Supreme Court has heard. Lawyers for campaigners challenging the suspension said there was “strong evidence” the PM saw MPs “as an obstacle” and wanted to “silence” them. But a government lawyer said the PM was “entitled” to suspend Parliament, and it ...