Writing the summary…
Martin Rowson on John Healey’s first budget – cartoon
Source: The Guardian
Original reporting
The Guardian: read the full reportFollow this story
Earlier reports and follow-ups on the same developing story.
Related stories
BBC Politics
Reform councillor quits over offensive remarks
Alan Feeney was captured on undercover filming calling Asian homeowners "parasites".
The Guardian
Burnham says ‘too much time is wasted in those dramas’ when asked about Scottish independence – as it happened
This blog is now closed Burnham spoke of Ravenscraig, once the pride of Scotland’s steel industry that employed tens of thousands of people before it closed in 1992. He said: When it closed, it wasn’t just a works that shut, it was a whole community which saw the pillars underneath it just taken away, collapsed beneath it. That was a decision taken hundreds of miles away without any real consequences for what that would mean for people here, taken by people who would never have to live with those consequences, or see those consequences. I was the MP there for 16 years from the early 2000s, just after the pits had shut in the 1990s. It broke my heart to see the old miners shuffling into my surgery, carrying oxygen bottles, still struggling to get compensation for the damage that was done to their lungs. It pained me to drive past the wasteland around Bickershaw Colliery, one of the last p
BBC Politics
Labour calls for M4 relief road, seven years after axing the plan
Seven years after the party axed the project, Labour says the Welsh government should build the road.
The Guardian
UK risks losing key role in European space industry over satellite contract, says Airbus boss
Guillaume Faury writes to Andy Burnham warning him against choosing US firm Lockheed Martin to build Skynet satellites The boss of Airbus has told Andy Burnham that choosing its US rival Lockheed Martin to manufacture military satellites could cost the UK a key role in the European space industry, intensifying a last-minute lobbying effort for the £2.4bn contract. It is understood that Guillaume Faury, the chief executive of France-headquartered Airbus, has written to the prime minister suggesting that the choice of provider of the Skynet system could have effects for decades to come on the UK’s strength in military satellites in Europe, in an effort to tip the contract away from its US rival. Continue reading...
BBC Politics
Burnham invites Swinney to work together on 'deeper Scottish devolution'
On his first substantive trip to Scotland since becoming PM, he says politicians should focus on solutions "right now" and move beyond the issue of Scottish independence.
BBC Politics
Damages for Greens deputy over false disorder claims
Mothin Ali is handed damages over claims made by a TV presenter and a social media commentator.