UK politics: Labour puts Tories’ ‘freedom of speech’ law for universities on hold – as it happened

A controversial new law that could see universities and student unions fined for failing to uphold “freedom of speech” could be repealed under Labour, the education secretary has announced.Bridget Phillipson said there were concerns the legislation would be “burdensome” on providers and the Office for Students (OfS) watchdog.The Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Act 2023, which was due to come into force next week, will be put on hold to allow for time to consider options “including its repeal”, she said.In a written ministerial statement on Friday, the education secretary said:I am aware of concerns that the act would be burdensome on providers and on the OfS, and I will confirm my long-term plans as soon as possible.To enable students to thrive in higher education, I welcome the OfS’s plans to introduce strengthened protections for students facing harassment and sexual misconduct, including relating to the use of non-disclosure agreements in such cases by universities and colleges

Kemi Badenoch accuses Conservative leadership rival of ‘dirty tricks’

Kemi Badenoch has accused one of her Conservative leadership rivals of a dirty tricks campaign against her as she continues to consider a bid for the top job.The shadow business secretary attacked her critics after a dossier was circulated claiming she was behind anonymous blog comments written 17 years ago in which the author celebrated being rude and made abusive remarks.Badenoch posted in response on social media that it was “amusing/alarming the extraordinary lengths people will go to play dirty tricks”, claiming that “apparently, a leadership campaign has sent a ‘dirty dossier’ of ‘strong comments’ from 20 yrs ago to the Westminster lobby”.She added: “We can do better than this, and I will be saying and writing more about how in due course.”Badenoch also said much of the “discourse across the political spectrum is obsessed with the petty and the puerile”

Eight charts that lay bare Labour’s spending inheritance from Tories

Rachel Reeves is preparing to announce Treasury analysis of Labour’s spending inheritance from the Conservatives in parliament on Monday to highlight why she will need to make “tough decisions” in her autumn budget.The chancellor’s audit is expected to show £20bn in commitments left unaccounted for by the previous government, building on a narrative that the Tories have left Labour with the “worst set of circumstances since the second world war”.After more than a decade of stalling economic growth, and with public services stretched thin, there is plenty of evidence to back up Reeves’s argument. However, there are also signs that some progress was being made before Keir Starmer’s landslide victory this month. Here are eight charts that lay out the economic legacy the new administration faces

Rachel Reeves expected to reveal £20bn shortfall in public finances

Rachel Reeves is expected to reveal a £20bn hole in government spending for essential public services on Monday, paving the way for potential tax rises in the autumn budget.Labour sources said the blame lay with the Tory government, describing it as a “shocking inheritance” and accusing the former chancellor of “presiding over a black hole and still campaigning for tax cuts”.They pointed to spending concerns on the asylum system, welfare, defence and prisons. However, work is still being done on the audit and the final figure of £20bn could shift as officials examine the spending commitments of each department.When Reeves sets out the findings of her Treasury audit on Monday, she will also announce the date of the spending review and the budget in October

Tom Tugendhat’s Tory leadership campaign mocked for ‘Turd’ acronym

From Donald Trump’s “Make America great again” (Maga) to Margaret Thatcher’s “There is no alternative” (Tina), political acronyms have long distilled what leaders stand for. Tom Tugendhat has now inadvertently created his own four-letter calling card: Turd.The Tory leadership hopeful briefly adopted the slogan “Together we can, Unite the party. Rebuild trust. Defeat Labour” when he launched his bid on Wednesday

Finding Labour a bit dull? Fear not, the Tory fun factory is up and running | John Crace

Go on. Admit it. There’s a small part of you that’s missed the psychodramas. Not necessarily the existential angst of lying in bed each night wondering what fresh hell the government was going to unleash on us the following day. But certainly the infighting