UK politics live: Starmer approval rating drops to 3-month low as PM set for Biden talks over Putin threat

Tory leadership hopeful Robert Jenrick has warned there is still a “long road” ahead in the contest after tipped as a possible winner.

Asked if he had already won the contest, Mr Jenrick told GB News: “It is a long road, as you know, but I am absolutely delighted to have won so much support from parliamentary colleagues across the party, all wings of the parliamentary Conservative Party.

“And I think the message is resonating with MPs and above all with the members and the general public that the Conservative Party needs to change.”

MPs such as Nigel Farage and Lee Anderson’s presenting roles at GB News could be at risk under potential reforms from a new parliamentary body set up to restore trust in politics.

In its election manifesto, the Labour Party committed to establishing a modernisation committee of crossparty MPs tasked with reforming House of Commons procedures and drive up standards.

Following the newly-formed committee’s first meeting this week, chair Lucy Powell – who also serves as Commons leader – set out the body’s key priorities on Thursday, including addressing “cultural issues of bullying and harassment” and giving MPs more opportunity to scrutinise government legislation.

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The Renters (Reform) Bill has the potential to radically improve the lives of tenants – but will it work? Sean O’Grady looks at the pros and cons of a landmark piece of legislation:

Former Theresa May’s deputy prime minister has endorsed Tom Tugendhat in the Tory leadership race.

Sir David Lidington said he is convinced Mr Tugendhat “has what it takes” to bring the Conservatives back into power.

The decision to grant planning permission for what would have been the UK’s first coal mine in 30 years has been quashed by a High Court judge.

Mr Justice Holgate said in a ruling this morning that giving the go-ahead for the development at Whitehaven in Cumbria was “legally flawed”.

Climate campaign group Friends of the Earth (FoE) and South Lakes Action on Climate Change (SLACC) took legal action over the Department for Housing, Communities and Local government’s decision to grant planning permission in 2022.

While the government withdrew its defence in July, the developer of the proposed site, West Cumbria Mining (WCM), continued to oppose the claim.

In his judgment, Mr Justice Holgate said: “The assumption that the proposed mine would not produce a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, or would be a net zero mine, is legally flawed.”

The court heard the mine was dubbed as being net-zero and would extract what is known as metallurgical coal, which is used in steel-making.

It was also told the government had previously accepted that approximately 15 per cent of the coal would be used domestically.

George Osborne has said Sir Keir Starmer has channeled his “inner Tony Blair” with his warning that he would prioritise reform over more public funding for the NHS.

During a major speech yesterday, the prime minister said he will not boost funding until it tackles its failings.

Reacting to The former Tory chancellor told his Political Currency podcast: “What Keir Starmer is saying is his solution is not more money. That is quite a thing for a new Labour prime minister to say.

“He says the NHS has reached a fork in the road, and we can either increase taxes on working people to pay for more of the healthcare required by an ageing society, or we can reform – and then he says it’s a case of ‘reform or die.’

“It felt to me that that’s the first time I’ve heard Starmer summon up his inner Tony Blair. He’s now talking about radical healthcare reform… that’s quite a different message than you have had from the Labour Party in recent years, which is ‘there’s not enough money going into the NHS’.”

The Foreign Office has said Russia’s accusations against six British diplomats in Moscow are “completely baseless”

Russia revoked the accreditation of six British diplomats in Moscow, accusing them of spying. But the Uk has denied the claims.

A spokesperson said: “The accusations made today by the FSB against our staff are completely baseless.

“The Russian authorities revoked the diplomatic accreditation of six UK diplomats in Russia last month, following action taken by the UK government in response to Russian state-directed activity across Europe and in the UK.

“We are unapologetic about protecting our national interests.”

The six diplomats left Russia weeks ago and are already being replaced, PA understands.

Russian state television named the six UK diplomats whose accreditation has been revoked.

Rossiya 24 news channel said the embassy employees are Jessica Davenport, Grace Elvin, Callum Andrew Duff, Katharine Mcdonnell, Thomas John Hickson and Blake Patel, Russian news agency Interfax reported.

Dame Esther Rantzen has made direct a plea to Sir Keir Starmer to remember a conversation the pair had about allowing time for a debate in Parliament on assisted dying.

She said the issue “really is a matter of life and death”.

Dame Esther told Sky News: “He did say to me, rather sweetly – I had a phone call conversation with him – that he hoped I’d be alive to see the debate. So, I just want to remind him, just gently, you know, nothing bossy, just quietly. Dear Sir Keir, whom I’ve met and have worked with, could you possibly recall your kind words to me and make it come true?”

Without a change in the law, the broadcaster said she and others who are terminally ill could face “a bad death” or their families could face police questioning should she decide to go to Dignitas.

She said: “What we’re hoping for is proper time to discuss the issues, have the free vote and change this cruel law.

“I call it cruel, because not only at the moment does it mean that I’ve got to have a bad death, if that’s what the cancer creates for me, but my family can’t be with me if I decide to go to Dignitas. Because otherwise they are liable to being accused of killing me and they get investigated by the police, so that’s just messy and wrong and not what we want.

“So, please Sir Keir, remember our conversation and let’s make time for this. It really is a matter of life and death.”

Dame Esther Rantzen has welcomed the verdict of a citizens’ jury on assisted dying, after a majority said it should be permitted in England.

The broadcaster and Childline founder, who is living with terminal cancer, described the current law as a “cruel mess”.

She told Sky News: “It didn’t surprise me, of course, because every public survey has come out showing a vast majority in favour of change, because the law at the moment is a cruel mess.

“But I was grateful for this (vote) because we have to keep it at the top of the agenda. Because, you know, events happen, politicians forget. They take other things as their priority.

“We who really care about this, need it, and for whom time is running out – particularly people like me with a terminal diagnosis – really want the law to permit us to have the choice over our own lives.

“Indeed, this is not to shorten life, it is to shorten death.”

A public panel’s decision that assisted dying should be permitted in England provides “the missing piece of evidence” in the debate, the director of the Nuffield Council on Bioethics said.

The council put the so-called “citizens’ jury” together, with a final vote cast by 28 jury members, with 20 agreeing that the law should change after eight weeks of deliberation.

The council’s director Danielle Hamm told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “This is the missing piece of evidence and it’s the missing piece because it provides that really deep nuance around people’s judgments and why people have reached that decision, and it gives policymakers the information they need to really fully understand where the British public’s attitudes lies.

“It’s not just what people think, it’s why, and their nuanced views, their reasoning and how they’ve reached this decision.

“We’re publishing this interim report now because we know this is a live policy debate across England and the UK more widely, and we hope that this information will be used by decision makers to inform the debate and the conversation on assisted dying.”