Lib Dem members criticise ‘trans-exclusionary’ rule change for party elections

Liberal Democrat members have reacted angrily to an unexpected change in rules governing the party’s internal elections to reflect the supreme court’s ruling on biological sex.The party’s LGBT+ group described the move as “explicitly trans-exclusionary” while Young Liberals said the changes were “unacceptable and untenable”. The official women’s body for the party, Lib Dem Women, have expressed “grave concerns” at both the substance of the announcement and the manner it was communicated. Some Lib Dem MPs are understood to be perplexed at the sudden turnaround.Voting in elections for posts on internal committees as well as the role of Lib Dem president began on Tuesday

Kemi Badenoch smiles from the stump as she heads towards oblivion | John Crace

It’s common knowledge that Kemi Badenoch is not an early morning person. Or an any time of morning person. Look at her in the wrong way and you’re likely to catch an earful.So it must have taken a lot of persuading from Conservative central office to get her out and about at 9am. But needs must

Ministers to delegate some public appointments in attempt to cut delays

Ministers are planning to speed up public appointments to bodies such as Ofcom, the Environment Agency and BBC by allowing more of the hiring process to be delegated to senior officials.In the biggest shake-up of the public appointments process in a decade, the Cabinet Office is producing new guidance governing how candidates can be picked for about 4,000 public roles.The changes are being made because of excessive delays in the hiring system and extended vacancies, with ministers currently consulted at every step of the process – meaning only about one in seven appointments were completed in less than three months.Under the new rules, ministers will be able to choose to delegate much more of the process to officials, while retaining the final say over who is chosen and the job specification.Others changes include allowing candidates to remain on a “reserve list” for two years rather than 12 months, ensuring that they can be considered and hired quickly if an appointment falls through – without having to run an entirely new hiring campaign

No 10 refuses to say if ethics adviser saw proof Reeves’s rental breach was ‘inadvertent’

Downing Street has refused to say whether Keir Starmer’s adviser on ministerial conduct has seen any evidence to support Rachel Reeves’s claim she made an “inadvertent” mistake in failing to get a licence to rent out her south London home.As pressure mounted on the chancellor, despite the prime minister saying an apology should end the matter, No 10 also declined to say whether Reeves contravened the ministerial code or had broken the law in breaching Southwark council rules.In an exchange of letters with Starmer late on Wednesday, Reeves said that when she rented out the house she had not been told by the lettings agency that homes in that area needed a £945 licence before they were rented out.In his reply, Starmer said that having consulted his independent adviser on ministerial interests, Laurie Magnus, he was satisfied the breach was “inadvertent” and that given her prompt action once she knew about the licence, an apology was sufficient.Pressed repeatedly at a media briefing whether Magnus had seen any evidence to back up Reeves’s case or had simply taken the chancellor at her word, a Downing Street spokesperson refused to say, noting that Magnus’s advice was always confidential

Tories will not deport legally settled people, Badenoch clarifies

The Conservative MP Katie Lam spoke “imprecisely” in stating the party would deport large numbers of legally settled families from the UK, Kemi Badenoch said, adding she had no plans to make tougher immigration rules retrospective.Badenoch’s comments to reporters after a speech in London end days of confusion over Tory migration policy, particularly over whether many thousands of people who have made lives in the UK could lose their status of indefinite leave to remain (ILR) under a future Conservative government.In an interview earlier this month, Lam, a shadow Home Office minister, said that the party’s policy was to revoke ILR, and people would “go home” in order to ensure the UK was mostly “culturally coherent”.Her comments prompted some Conservative MPs to complain to party whips, and renewed focus on a Conservative draft bill tabled in May, under which people would lose ILR if they or a dependant claimed any benefit or if their income was less than £38,700.While Badenoch’s spokesperson initially said Lam was “broadly in line” with party policy, the Tories then said its policy on ILR had changed, while refusing to say if changes to rules would be made retrospective

Boris Johnson tells Tories to stop ‘bashing green agenda’ or risk losing next election

Boris Johnson has warned the Conservatives they will not win the next election by “bashing the green agenda”.The former prime minister said he had not seen the Conservatives “soaring in the polls as a result of saying what rubbish net zero is”.Johnson’s intervention comes after Theresa May and John Major criticised the Tories for speaking out against net zero, making him the third former prime minister to step in on this issue.Kemi Badenoch has committed the party to repealing the Climate Change Act and abandoning the commitment to reach net zero by 2050, arguing that the target threatens to bankrupt Britain.The repeal of the act would remove the need to meet “carbon budgets” – ceilings, set for five-year periods, on the amount of greenhouse gas that can be emitted – and disband the Climate Change Committee – a watchdog that advises on how policies affect the UK’s carbon footprint