A 15-year-old boy has become the first to be charged with the more serious
offence of riot in relation to disorder in Sunderland on 2 August, the Crown
Prosecution Service said, PA Media reports.

Most people so far have been charged with violent disorder, which carries a maximum sentence of five years for adults, but the charge of riot for adults carries a maximum sentence of ten years.

There are, if my abacus is correct, 79 days until we find out who the next leader of his majesty’s official opposition is going to be, which means, especially on quiet news days, we have got a lot more campaigning by Kemi Badenoch, James Cleverly, Robert Jenrick, Priti Patel, Mel Stride and Tom Tugendhat ahead of us.

James Cleverly has just posted a video where he says the key to success is to “make fewer promises, and the ones we do make, make them on the issues that matter the most, and make sure we do what we say we are going to do.”

He then went on to say “it is very tempting” to just make “easy” promises to people when you want their vote, and illustrated it with the suggestion that he was wearing red socks because of one such ill-advised exchange.

Headteachers in Scotland will be able to ban mobile phones in schools – but the Scottish government does not intend to bring in a nationwide ban on the devices in classrooms.

A Scotland-wide ban on the devices in schools is “not considered to be appropriate or feasible”, new guidance from ministers has stated.

It comes as SNP education secretary Jenny Gilruth said there “are undoubtedly growing behavioural issues associated with mobile phones”.

As a result, she said the guidance makes clear head teachers will be “empowered to take action up to and including whole school bans” where they believe this to be necessary.

Making clear ministers are “not introducing a monolithic national policy”, PA Media report the education secretary said: “The Scottish government does not intend to dictate approaches to our headteachers – they know better than anyone the specific approach which will work best in their school.”

Tugendhat accuses Labour of 'feeding union paymasters' by trying to end rail strikes which Labour say previous government 'provoked and prolonged'

Tom Tugendhat has played down the impact of people inciting violence online, suggesting that arresting people for what they have posted online is not getting to the root cause of what has been causing violence.

The Conservative leadership candidate told viewers of GB News:

This isn’t about the technology, it’s about the root causes. Of course you and I would both argue that people should be civil online, just as they should be civil on in person. Of course we should, but that’s not the root cause.

The root cause is that there are people with fanatical and hateful ideas in our country, who were trying to divide us, who are secretarian of various different kinds, or who are trying to express political views through violence. Now that’s just wrong.

And it’s also wrong that we have got a series of criminals who simply haven’t been detained over many years. And indeed, as you’ve already seen, those who committed the riots in recent weeks have a pattern of crime, many of them for burglary and assault, and frankly, they should have been in prison years ago. What they’re doing is they’re exploiting the opportunity to commit more crime.

I’ve always been at the opinion that, you know, what happens online is a bit different. Twitter isn’t Britain, right? It’s a perspective. It’s a view. But it’s not the same thing. Crime is actually happening on our streets. And I think that’s priority to be made now.

Speaking on GB News, Tom Tugendhat has repeated his call for a change in the culture of police leadership in the country, and for the setting up of a new national security police force.

The Conservative leadership candidate told viewers:

We need to look at the way in which the National Police Chiefs Council and the College of Policing are operating. We need to make sure we’re getting the right leaders in.

What we’ve got here is a situation where we haven’t got two-tier justice, we’ve got completely inconsistent justice. We don’t have police officers regularly arresting – and I don’t blame the individual officers. This is a question of leadership. This is a question of making sure we get the right decisions by police leaders and political leaders, and that’s not what we’ve seen from Keir Starmer. It’s not what we’ve seen from Yvette Cooper.

Tugendhat again called for the Metropolitan police to be stripped of its counter-terrorism duties, which could be taken up by a new national security police force. He said:

The Metropolitan police have two duties. They have one, which is obviously their territorial policing responsibility, you know, keeping people safe on the streets. And then they have the national responsibility, counter terrorism policing and so on. Now I think, frankly, that’s just too great a span. I’d like to see a new police force, the national security police force, set up, so that it’s actually able to operate supporting counter-terrorism operations around the UK.

You’ve heard me saying how Iranian agents have tried to do harm in our country. You’ve heard that the National Security Act that I introduced has already led to more arrests in my time as security minister of Chinese and Russian agents than in the previous decade. You know, we need to be absolutely up to date on this and responsive to the threats that we really do face.

Regardless of whether they cancelled their summer holidays or not – and our community team are harvesting your views of whether Keir Starmer did the right thing here – there are very few politicians on the airwaves this week during recess, and of those that are, most of them are vying to be the next leader of the opposition.

Tom Tugendhat has just appeared on GB News from Ynys Môn where as part of his pitch to lead the Conservatives he was saying that the senior members of the party need to listen to their members more. He told viewers:

It’s an amazingly beautiful place, and it’s not my first visit. I’m here because for me, Unionism is absolutely indivisible from Conservatism. You know, this is all about who we are as a country. We are so much stronger together. We are a fantastic country.

Very sadly, the failures of the Conservative party at the last election, that loss of trust that we all know about, that we’ve really got to fix, has led to there being no Conservative Welsh MPs.

Now we’ve got to turn that around. And that starts by listening to our members, listening to people on Ynys Môn, and listening to people in Wales and across the United Kingdom.

Scotland’s cabinet secretary for finance and local government, Shona Robison, has said the Scottish government’s finances require “exceptional measures” to be put in place and confirmed a freeze in public sector recruitment in all but “essential frontline” posts.

PA Media quote her telling BBC Radio Scotland: “We have said essential frontline posts will be able to be recruited.”

She added the Scottish government would be “making sure that the controls on recruitment are enhanced to make sure we prioritise only those essential frontline posts.”

The finance secretary has already imposed emergency spending controls across Scottish government departments, with further spending in 2024-25 said to be only permitted if it is “truly essential or unavoidable.”

The Scottish finance secretary criticised the UK government for failing to ensure rises for NHS workers and council staff are fully funded, and said that “has led to the position where we are having to take these exceptional measures in order to constrain spend and create the headroom to manage.”

Education minister Jacqui Smith has appeared on GB News, where she was questioned about Labour plans to support free speech at universities.

Smith said she fully supported free speech on campus – “You don’t go to university only to hear things you agree with or that you feel comfortable with. You go there to be challenged and that has to remain in place” – but said that legislation planned by the previous Tory administration risked bringing in unintended consequences.

She told viewers of GB News:

The problem with the legislation that was being proposed was it came from a place of that I agree with, of wanting to defend that freedom of speech for students, for visitors to universities, for academics, but what people told us, both universities and student unions and others, was, ‘look, it’s not going to work as it was intended’.

If you’re not careful, you’re going to get swamped with complaints about free speech, when actually there are lots of other things that students and universities need to worry about as well.

What we’ve done is we’ve said it was due to come in on the first of August, we’ve stopped that in order that we can think about whether or not this legislation or another way is the best way of safeguarding free speech.

The question of free speech on campus has become politically fraught, with right wing voices frequently complaining that so-called “cancel culture” and a stifling of free speech by the left leaves them unable to voice their views, while also arguing, for example, that pro-Palestinian demonstrations or protest about colonial-era statues should be restricted.

Yesterday, former prime minister Liz Truss insisted that a banner of a lettuce with some googly-eyes and the slogan “I crashed the economy” was an attempt to “intimidate people and suppress free speech.”

Thousands of prosecutions for alleged fare evasion brought by train companies are set to be declared void after a judge’s ruling, PA Media reports.

Four train companies including Northern Rail and Greater Anglia brought prosecutions against thousands of passengers using the single justice procedure (SJP), despite not being permitted to do so.

At a hearing in June, chief magistrate Paul Goldspring told Westminster magistrates court that he believed the prosecutions were “void” and “probably unlawful”, with lawyers for rail companies telling a further hearing last month that they were “in agreement” the cases should be quashed.

In a ruling at the same court on Thursday, Judge Goldspring said that six “test cases” should be declared a “nullity”, so it was “as if as though the proceedings never existed”.

Giving a summary of his judgment, he said: “Parliament did not envisage these offences being prosecuted through the SJP. They should never have been brought through that process. This is, to my mind, a paradigm nullity.”

The exact number of those affected is unknown, with a previous hearing told that about 75,000 people could have been prosecuted for fare evasion offences under the SJP, and the judge observing that was a “best guess”.

I’ve got to be honest, it isn’t very often you get to type “paradigm nullity” in the politics live blog.

Transport secretary: government putting 'passengers first' unlike previous Tory decisions to 'deliberately provoke and prolong' strikes

More shadow cabinet members have piled in to criticise the government for the way it is portraying the economy and to criticise the fact that Labour appears to have successfully struck a pay deal with train drivers.

The shadow chancellor, Jeremy Hunt, addressing GDP figures which show 0.6% growth after several consecutive quarters of stagnation or recession under Rishi Sunak’s government, said:

Today’s figures are yet further proof that Labour have inherited a growing and resilient economy. The chancellor’s attempt to blame her economic inheritance on her decision to raise taxes – tax rises she had always planned – will not wash with the public. Labour promised over 50 times in the election they would not raise people’s taxes and we will hold them to account on their promises.

Shadow leader of the House of Commons, Chris Philp said:

14% rise for train drivers (taking average salaries to £69k for a four day week), 22% for doctors and a further £10bn of pay rises at over 2x inflation for many other public sector workers. These are the choices the Labour government is making that will lead to tax rises this autumn.

Earlier Labour’s chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, defended Labour saying the economic situation remained challenging for the new government, saying “The last Conservative government left this new Labour government with the highest tax burden since the 1940s, the highest debt burden for over 60 years and a huge cost for just paying the interest on that debt every single month.”

Shadow home secretary James Cleverly has commented on the publication of a report into London’s Metropolitan police which found the UK’s biggest police force is providing an inadequate or failing service in seven of eight key crime-fighting areas, and there are “serious concerns” about its management of dangerous offenders.

The candidate for the Conservative leadership said “When police forces fall short, it is the public and victims that suffer. As home secretary, I pushed the Mayor of London and Met to improve professional standards and performance. They must do better, and address the issues raised in this report urgently.”

The report on the Metropolitan police was described as “devastating” by one Whitehall source and comes after the Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, who took office almost two years ago, vowed sweeping reforms.

Most public pronouncements from MPs so far this morning have been along the lines of “congratulations on your A-level/T-levelBTec results and there are still plenty of opportunities if you didn’t get the results you were hoping for”. You can follow the latest on exam results in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in our live coverage, which is being hosted by Rachel Hall …

One variation from that is foreign secretary David Lammy, who has congratulated India on celebrating its independence day. He posted:

Congratulations to the people of India, and Indians around the world on the 77th anniversary of independence. In Delhi, I saw the strength of the UK-India living bridge. Together we will boost investment, create jobs and address future challenges together in the years ahead.

Lammy had a similar message yesterday for Pakistan, saying:

Wishing Pakistanis in the UK, in Pakistan and around the world a happy 77th independence day. Today we celebrate our deep cultural ties and strong people to people links. I look forward to developing our vibrant relationship further.

India and Pakistan gained independence in 1947 in a bloody partition by British colonial forces, which led to the deaths of at least 1 million people and the displacement of about 15 million.

The government has said that its child poverty taskforce met yesterday to start the work on its strategy, which it expects to publish in spring.

Co-chaired by work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall and education secretary Bridget Phillipson, the government said it will “hear directly from struggling families and children, frontline staff and leading campaigners, charities and organisations across the UK to shape the strategy.”

Kendall said “Child poverty is a scar on our society. It harms children’s life chances and our country as a whole. We will take action in every department, with a comprehensive strategy to drive down poverty and drive up opportunity.”

Phillipson said “this taskforce, working across government, is essential to ensure all departments are supporting this ambition and delivering on our mission of breaking down the barriers to opportunity for every child.”

The taskforce will be supported by a new child poverty unit in the Cabinet Office, the statement said.

Martin Kettle has written for us this morning that Keir Starmer made a mistake by cancelling his holiday, partly because of the precedent he has now set for the rest of his time in office. Kettle argues:

Everybody needs a holiday. A proper holiday. A break from routine. A chance to relax, and focus on other people and other things. Prime ministers unquestionably need such moments, too – perhaps more than most. Yet by first postponing and now, it appears, by cancelling his family summer holiday in Europe, Starmer has made holidays a reputational issue. Starmer the human being has lost out to Starmer the politician.

You can read more here: Martin Kettle – In cancelling his family summer holiday, Keir Starmer has made his first serious mistake

PA Media report that police investigating a disturbance last month at Manchester airport have passed a “comprehensive” file to the Crown Prosecution Service.

Video widely circulated on social media showed an officer kick and appear to stamp on the head of one man, then further footage emerged showing how the incident, in which police officers were also injured, developed.

One officer is under criminal investigation for assault in connection, while another has been advised they are also under criminal investigation for assault. Four men arrested on suspicion of affray and assault remain on bail.

The initial footage led to protests in Rochdale and Manchester city centre.

Reform UK’s Richard Tice, MP for Boston and Skegness, has repeatedly on social media demanded to know why charges are yet to be bought for the men arrested, implying it is an example of what he styles “two-tier policing” compared to the fast-track justice processing of far-right rioters and some counter-protestors who took part in violent disorder across England and Northern Ireland in recent weeks.

A further three people have been charged today after disorder in Bristol earlier this month, Avon and Somerset police said, and two more men have been charged in Merseyside.

Conservative politicians have seized on the latest GDP figures to suggest that Labour have inherited a well-functioning economy, and that the party is exaggerating the depths of financial mismanagement it is accusing the last administration of.

Shadow health and social care secretary Victoria Atkins has responded to chancellor Rachel Reeves’ earlier comment “We are under no illusion as to the scale of the challenge we have inherited from the Conservatives after more than a decade of low growth” by saying “You inherited the fastest growing economy in the G7 in the first six months of 2024.”

Chief secretary to the Treasury, Darren Jones, has had no truck with this line of argument. PA Media report he told broadcasters in a clip:

The last Conservative government left this new Labour government with the highest tax burden since the 1940s, the highest debt burden for over 60 years and a huge cost for just paying the interest on that debt every single month.

And as the Chancellor and I set out in parliament a few weeks ago, they left us with over £20bn of bills coming through the door here at the Treasury with no money to pay for it. That doesn’t sound like a good inheritance to me.

Challenged as to whether Labour were attempting to put a negative spin on some positive economic news, he said “What we inherited from the Conservatives was the worst fiscal inheritance since the second world war. We’ve got much, much more work to do to recover from the mess that we are left with.”