Keir Starmer says he wants ‘serious and pragmatic’ relationship with China – as it happened

Prime minister says he wants to ‘be clear about issues we do not agree on’ after meeting Chinese president Xi Jinping at G20

Keir Starmer has held his bilateral with Xi Jinping in Rio at the G20, offering to meet his counterpart, the Chinese premier Li Qiang, in Beijing or London at the earliest opportunity.

But the PM also raised human rights issues with Xi, including the sanctions on parliamentarians and the persecution of Hong Kong and British citizen Jimmy Lai.

A strong UK China relationship is important for both of our countries and for the broader international community.

The UK will be a predictable, consistent, sovereign actor committed to the rule of law.

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Prince Harry to continue lawsuit against Sun publisher, high court hears

Duke is ‘one of two claimants whose claims are still live’ against NGN, court told, the other being ex-MP Tom Watson

The Duke of Sussex is continuing his lawsuit against the publisher of the Sun over allegations of unlawful information gathering, the high court has heard.

Prince Harry “is one of two claimants whose claims are still live” against Rupert Murdoch’s News Group Newspapers (NGN), his barrister David Sherborne said, with the other being the former deputy Labour leader Tom Watson. The court was told 39 cases had been settled since a previous hearing in July.

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Labour leadership: NEC meets to consider arrangements for election to replace Corbyn – live news

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

Ian Murray, Labour’s only surviving MP in Scotland, is preparing to enter the contest to become Labour’s deputy leader on a platform of constitutional reform and countering nationalism.

Murray, an arch critic of Jeremy Corbyn’s and an opponent of Brexit, is expected to signal his intention to run tomorrow after being asked to stand by other Labour MPs. His plans to run are thought to depend on getting sufficient early nominations, but it would fuel the brewing conflict between the party’s pro-Corbyn wing and its centrists.

There are no doubts that constitutional and nationalist issues are engulfing our politics. I have the experience and knowledge of dealing with both, and the Labour party has ducked this issue for too long. English nationalism from the Tories and Scottish nationalism from the SNP are squeezing the Labour Party and we must stop it.

[The] danger for our party across the UK is what I have been warning of since 2015. If we don’t tackle the big constitutional issues with reference to our own values and the national interest, then we lose our core purpose.

After listening to Angela Rayner’s speech this morning, my colleague Kate Proctor concluded it was hard to see why she was running for the deputy Labour leadership when she might be a strong candidate for leader. (See 12.23pm.) It is not hard to see why. It’s a good speech, with some compelling lines and a superb opening.

Here is the opening.

I wanted to make this speech here, on the estate where I grew up and lived for most of my life.

I talk about my background because for too long I felt I wasn’t good enough; I felt ashamed of who I was. It took me time for that shame to turn into pride.

We fell into the trap of describing a platform of revolutionary change. By the standards of recent politics, it was, and rightly so.

But actually, we could have told a simpler story.

Many of the friends I grew up with, my own family even, voted to leave the EU.

They felt like we treated them as embarrassing aunts or uncles.

There are also lines beyond which there is no dialogue and no compromise possible.

And the first line in the sand is antisemitism.

Nor should we take for granted the new voters we have won over, any more than we should have done those we have lost.

For all that’s said about London, we made no net advance in seats there either. We faced a fight to hold others like Dagenham and Rainham - a place that, like my own constituency, has so much to gain from a Labour government, but where too many people felt our party had lost touch with them.

Across Europe social democratic parties are collapsing.

The once mighty German SPD, the biggest and oldest social democratic party in the world is on 11 percent

I don’t pretend that I have all the answers. That is the point of being a collectivist. That by the strength of our common endeavour, we achieve more than we do alone.

That final sentence is a quote from the new Clause IV introduced by Tony Blair.

I owe much of my life to Labour.

The Labour governments that provided the welfare state, Sure Start, and the minimum wage, which gave me the help I needed to not just survive but succeed.

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Tom Watson quits as Labour deputy leader and steps down as MP

Move will reopen debate about party’s direction under Jeremy Corbyn

Tom Watson is quitting parliament and stepping down as Labour’s deputy leader, reopening the debate about the party’s direction under Jeremy Corbyn. Watson, who is one of Labour’s best-known figures, has represented the constituency of West Bromwich East since 2001.

In a letter to Corbyn released by Labour, he said his decision to step down was “personal, not political”.

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Brexit divisions threaten to plunge Labour party conference into chaos

Senior shadow ministers publicly defy Jeremy Corbyn with calls for Labour to back remain

Jeremy Corbyn was struggling to contain an open revolt by some of his most senior shadow ministers, MPs and party activists last night as anger over his refusal to back a policy of remaining in the EU threatened to wreck the Labour conference.

Related: What should Labour do about Brexit? Five key party voices

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Jeremy Corbyn: I’ll stay neutral and let the people decide on Brexit

Labour leader’s call for ‘sensible’ deal is signal to party that he will resist call to pick sides

Jeremy Corbyn has set out the four pillars of a “sensible” Brexit deal he would negotiate with the EU, as he pledged to carry out whatever the people decide in a second EU referendum as Labour prime minister.

The Labour leader set out how he would go into an election offering to negotiate a Brexit deal involving a customs union, ahead of next week’s autumn conference where activists will launch a bid to shift the party’s position towards campaigning to remain in the EU.

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Problems investigating historical child sex abuse | Letters

This crime needs specialist units to investigate, says Sara Newman, and a group of mental health professionals say there are lessons to be learned from Carl Beech’s trial

Carl Beech and the Metropolitan police’s investigation have done a great disservice to all victims of this terrible crime (Report, 27 July). There are many problems concerning the investigation of historical child sex abuse. The gathering of facts can be almost impossible as the passage of time may have erased any evidence, and what does survive needs properly resourced and trained officers to bring it to court. I wonder if the taboo and heinousness of this subject conspire to for ever hold it in an investigative system lacking in rigour, ingenuity and the will to make change.

I also see that Beech claimed criminal injury compensation to the tune of £22,000. How was this possible? There is something seriously wrong when conviction rates are this low and innocent people have their lives shattered. Is it not time we admitted that this crime needs specialist units who are well trained and resourced, so that when a child or adult makes the brave decision to report, they can be supported by a system they can trust, and see justice done.
Sara Newman
Groombridge, East Sussex

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Unions agree Labour should back remain in referendum on Tory deal

Party poised to announce move in surprise consensus but will still seek deal if elected in time

Labour is poised to declare it will campaign for remain in a second referendum on any deal put to parliament by a Conservative prime minister, after trade union leaders including Unite’s Len McCluskey backed a change of policy.

The joint position agreed by the unions on Monday would not commit Labour to an explicitly pro-remain position in all circumstances: unions also agreed Labour should seek to deliver a Brexit deal if the party won an election before the UK left the EU.

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Labour must back Remain to survive, warns Tom Watson memo

Deputy leader fears ‘catastrophic’ vote loss to Lib Dems and Greens

Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson, has warned MPs and peers that an analysis of the party’s losses in recent local and European elections that was presented to the shadow cabinet last week dangerously underestimated the crisis it will face if it fails to back another Brexit referendum.

In a briefing document circulated to more than 100 Labour MPs and peers yesterday, Watson says sections of the analysis leaked to the media have “skewed” understanding of the party’s plight. He warns that if Labour does not face the actual lessons and become a Remain party, it risks electoral disaster.

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Labour under pressure to ballot members on second EU referendum

Campaigners say thousands of signatures have come in from members on the issue

Labour’s ruling body is facing demands to ballot all party members about whether to start campaigning immediately for a second EU referendum, as thousands sign petitions asking for the party’s policy to change in the wake of the European elections.

Campaigners in the Labour party wanting a “people’s vote” wrote to the national executive committee on Tuesday requesting a members’ ballot or special conference. Each of these options has been endorsed by Labour’s deputy leader, Tom Watson.

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Corbyn backs referendum on Brexit deal after EU election exodus

To break parliamentary deadlock, deal has to be put to public vote, Labour leader says

Jeremy Corbyn has pledged to support a second referendum on any Brexit deal after the Labour leadership came under overwhelming pressure to halt the exodus of its remain voters who backed pro-EU parties at the European elections.

The Labour leader said he was “listening very carefully” to both sides of the debate after the party fell behind the Liberal Democrats and also lost ground to the Greens.

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May faces Tory backlash over Williamson sacking as No 10 seeks to rule out police inquiry – live news

Rolling coverage of the day’s political developments as they happen

This is from Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt.

View in Whitehall: the leak from the National Security Council is not being referred to the police because a judgment was made that a crime was not committed

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Second referendum is only way to beat Nigel Farage, warns Tom Watson

Labour deputy leader in shock intervention that threatens to ignite row at party’s highest levels

Labour will never defeat Nigel Farage if it continues to “sit on the fence” over Brexit and offers only “mealy-mouthed” support for a second referendum, the party’s deputy leader says today.

In an extraordinary intervention that exposes the tensions at the top of the party over Brexit strategy, Tom Watson warns that Labour will lose to Farage’s new “far right” Brexit party in May’s European elections if it continues to give the impression that “we half agree with him”.

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Labour may call fresh vote of no confidence in Theresa May

Shadow foreign secretary also says it is likely Labour would pursue policy of leaving the EU in government

Emily Thornberry, the shadow foreign secretary, has said Labour is considering calling another vote of no confidence in Theresa May’s government following parliament’s failure to pass her Brexit deal with 10 days before the UK is due to leave.

The prime minister survived a vote of no confidence in January, the day after her Brexit deal was rejected for the first time. Her deal has since been voted down two further times.

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People’s vote Brexit rally draws 1 million marchers – video report

Official figures put the numbers at the people's vote Brexit march on Saturday at over 1 million. People from across the UK travelled to central London to demand a second vote on whether the UK should leave the EU

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