Angela Rayner ‘clear she followed rules’ when buying Hove flat, says Bridget Phillipson

Bridget Phillipson has defended her cabinet colleague Angela Rayner over accusations the deputy prime minister avoided tax when buying a seaside property in East Sussex.The education secretary said Rayner had the right to buy the £800,000 flat in Hove “so long as she followed all the rules”, after reports Rayner had avoided £40,000 in stamp duty by listing it as the only property she owns.Conservatives have accused Rayner, who is also the housing secretary, of hypocrisy given she has also listed her Greater Manchester home as her primary residence, in a move that allowed her to avoid £2,000 in council tax on her government-owned flat in central London.Phillipson told Times Radio on Sunday: “Angela Rayner has been clear that she followed all the rules and requirements of her, that she has followed the rules completely.“That is her position, that she has done everything that has been asked of her

Doubts cast on Kemi Badenoch’s claim of US medical school offer

Doubts have surfaced over Kemi Badenoch’s claim to have been offered a place at a prestigious US medical school at 16, with admissions staff unable to recall the proposal and the university not providing the course.The Conservative leader has said in interviews that she was offered a place and a partial scholarship to study medicine – sometimes describing it as pre-medicine – at Stanford University in California, one of the most competitive in the US.However, medicine is only offered to graduates at Stanford and there is no pre-med degree.When asked for clarification, the Conservatives then said Badenoch had not applied but had been offered the place by a number of US universities – including Stanford – on the basis of good exam results in US standardised tests.But academic and admissions experts have cast doubt on this, saying it was an impossible scenario

The budget, immigration, Trump’s visit: the tests lying in wait for Keir Starmer

As Keir Starmer returns from his summer break in Europe, and Labour MPs head back to Westminster for the new parliamentary session, the government will be hoping to get on the front foot after a tumultuous few months.The recess has given ministers time to think, and to plan, but also the chance to study the polls. This week, YouGov put Labour on just 20% – the lowest level in more than five years – and eight points behind Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.Already bruised by internal rows, public criticism and a failure to get a grip of big issues such as the economy and migration, Starmer’s government desperately needs to reassert itself and gain some momentum. But there are lots of difficult moments ahead

Tories would maximise North Sea oil and gas extraction, Badenoch to say

The Conservative party will aim to “maximise extraction” of oil and gas in the North Sea if it wins power, Kemi Badenoch has vowed.The Tory party leader will use a speech in Aberdeen in the coming days to set out her plans to extract as much oil and gas as possible instead of shifting away from fossil fuels.She will announce a plan to overhaul the North Sea Transition Authority, which oversees the issuing of licences, dropping the word transition and replacing its 12-page mandate with a simple order to extract the maximum possible amount of fossil fuel.Badenoch said Britain “cannot afford not to be doing everything to get hydrocarbons out the ground” to boost growth.She said: “We are in the absurd situation where our country is leaving vital resources untapped while neighbours such as Norway extract them from the same seabed

Richard Tice hits back at C of E criticism of Reform immigration policy

Reform UK has engaged in a war of words with the Church of England over the party’s plans to deport all asylum seekers who arrive in small boats, after the church’s most senior bishop called the proposal “isolationist, short-term [and] kneejerk”.Richard Tice, the party’s deputy leader, hit back against the archbishop of York, Stephen Cottrell, on Sunday, accusing him of interfering in domestic politics.This week Nigel Farage, Reform’s leader, announced the party’s migration policy, under which Britain would leave the European convention on human rights (ECHR) and deport people who arrive or have recently arrived by small boat from France.Cottrell told Sky News’s Trevor Phillips: “We should actively resist the kind of isolationist, short-term, kneejerk – in this case, ‘send them home’. Mr Farage is saying the things he’s saying but he is not offering any long-term solution to the big issues which are convulsing our world, which lead to this

Bridget Phillipson: parents must do more about bad behaviour and attendance in schools

Parents and caregivers “need to do more” to reverse post-Covid trends of poor attendance and behaviour in schools, the education secretary has said, announcing measures to support schools in England before the start of the new school year.Bridget Phillipson unveiled a UK government programme on Sunday targeting 800 schools attended by about 600,000 pupils, beginning with an initial wave of 21 schools that will serve as attendance and behaviour hubs.The struggling schools will have access to support from headteachers who have tackled the problems successfully in their own schools. The whole programme is expected to support 5,000 schools, including intensive support for 500.Phillipson said: “I am calling on parents, schools and families to join us in playing their part to get children in class and ready to learn for the start of the new school term