Jeremy Hunt claims Labour changing debt definition will ‘punish families with mortgages’ – as it happened

Former chancellor says ‘increasing borrowing means interest rates would be higher for longer’ as Reeves says it will ‘make space for investment’

Nigel Farage, the Reform UK leader, has said that “no one knows” who Robert Jenrick, the Tory leadership contender, is.

Of the two candidates left in the contest, Jenrick is the one who is doing most to appeal to Tories who defected to Reform UK, because he is saying Britain should leave the European convention on human rights.

I know the fella. Is he the chap that one day was on the very much on the left of the Conservative party and is now on the right of the Conservative Party?... No one knows who he is.

I’m sure government can agree that support and providing opportunities for young people should be central to the policy of any government. We are glad to see the government working to build closer economic and cultural ties with Europe. We want to forge a new partnership with our European neighbours, built on cooperation, not confrontation and move to a new comprehensive agreement.

We must build rebuild confidence through seeking to agree partnerships or associations helping to restore prosperity and opportunities for British people.

We are not going to give a running commentary on the negotiations. We will obviously look at EU proposals on a range of issues, but we are clear that we will not return to freedom of movement.

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Ofcom receives 8,000 complaints over Ed Balls interviews on Good Morning Britain

Complaints followed Balls’ interview with his wife, Yvette Cooper, and Labour MP Zarah Sultana on Monday

The media regulator Ofcom has received more than 8,000 complaints after an episode of Good Morning Britain in which the home secretary, Yvette Cooper, was interviewed by her husband, Ed Balls.

Balls, a former Labour cabinet minister and a regular presenter on the ITV breakfast programme, questioned his wife’s response to far-right riots during Monday’s edition of the programme.

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Put aside differences to focus on growth across UK, Ed Balls tells politicians

Former shadow chancellor is one of the authors of a new academic paper on how to bridge the regional divide

Britain needs a 20-year cross-party consensus to level up the economy and unleash the untapped potential of regions outside London and the south-east, the former Labour shadow chancellor Ed Balls has said.

Balls, one of five co-authors of an academic paper on bridging the UK’s regional divide, said it was vital that Labour and Conservative politicians put aside their differences in order to embed necessary funding and governance reforms.

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‘We’re frenemies’: George Osborne and Ed Balls to launch economics podcast

Former chancellor and ex-shadow chancellor will discuss and analyse the state of the British economy

George Osborne is launching an economics podcast with his “frenemy” Ed Balls in an attempt to capitalise on the success of shows such as The Rest is Politics.

Osborne, the architect of the Conservatives’ austerity policies which imposed deep cuts on British public services, spent four years opposite Balls in the House of Commons. But since leaving frontline politics the pair have become a marketable media double act, appearing together on political shows to debate the state of the economy.

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Blair and former PMs should not act as political ‘figureheads’, says Ed Balls

Ex-Labour minister tells Hay festival that the involvement of former leaders in the ‘next phase of politics’ may not be sensible

Ed Balls has said former prime ministers such as Tony Blair and David Cameron should not attempt to return as “figureheads for the next phase of politics”.

The former cabinet minister’s comments addressed Blair’s upcoming Future of Britain conference, which is seen as an attempt to reinvigorate centrist politics in the UK by taking inspiration from the success of La République En Marche, the recently created centre-left party that brought Emmanuel Macron to power in France.

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Ed Balls rules out political comeback for Labour in Wakefield byelection

Former shadow chancellor says he has ‘no intention’ of putting himself forward to stand for the West Yorkshire seat

Ed Balls has ruled out a return to politics as a Labour candidate in the upcoming Wakefield byelection.

The former shadow chancellor, who lost his Morley and Outwood seat at the 2015 general election, wrote on Twitter that he had “no intention of putting myself forward” for the contest.

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US message to Britain in bilateral trade talks: it’s us – or China

Proposed clause viewed by diplomats as lever to deter closer UK relations with Beijing

The US government has been privately pressing the UK in bilateral trade talks to make a choice between the US and China.

The US is seeking to insert a clause that would allow it to retreat from parts of the deal if Britain reaches a trade agreement with another country that the US did not approve.

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