Lara Prendergast

Following Andrea Leadsom's announcement that she is bowing out of the leadership race, Graham Brady, chairman of the 1922 committee, has confirmed that Theresa May is now the only remaining candidate. While he refused to confirm that she was now the country's Prime Minister, he ruled out re-opening the contest, which means it is almost certain that May has got the top job. Gove has also voiced his support: Andrea Leadsom spoke with great dignity and courage today. I wish her every success in the future. We should now move as quickly as possible to ensure Theresa May can take over as leader. She has my full support as our next prime minister.

Since Brexit became a reality early on Friday morning, my Facebook feed has been filled with mournful posts written by friends who voted Remain. Those who voted Leave seem to be staying quiet. This is understandable. Most of my friends are in their twenties. They tend to be educated and globalist in their outlook. They have enjoyed the freedom of movement that the EU offered them, and feel they have benefitted overall from Britain being a member. It is painful to see the comity of the EU suddenly stripped away, and I sympathise on many counts. The vote for Brexit will no doubt be a defining political moment for my age group. I sense that more people now feel politically engaged than ever before.

It is, at times, unclear that George Osborne is aware that the under-30s are voting in this EU referendum. When he talks about house prices plummeting post-Brexit, he talks as if this will strike fear into everyone’s hearts. For older people seeking to downsize, this might be true – but for almost everyone else, it’s not. And when I hear the In side arguing that we should all be terrified of Brexit because it will cause house prices to fall, I can’t help but wonder if this is the best single reason to vote ‘out’. For most people my age, one of the worst changes in Britain has been the way property prices have spiraled out of control – indeed, how the economic system is conspiring against my generation.

Labour's Lisa Nandy has just been on the Daily Politics, where she suggested that Naz Shah should be suspended from the party. When asked about Bradford West MP Naz Shah's comments about Israel,  Nandy told Jo Coburn that the Labour party should 'suspend anybody who makes anti-Semitic comments in line with our policy and investigate it'. She said: 'We have a policy that people who make anti-Semitic remarks are suspended and an investigation carried out...and the policy ought to be followed without any exception.' 'There has to be a suspension and an investigation when something like this occurs because it is so serious and it does have a knock-on effect outside of parliament. 'There is a real problem for the Labour Party if we don't look like we're taking this things seriously...

After months of waiting, the Electoral Commission has announced that Vote Leave has been given the official designation for the EU referendum. This means that MPs including Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and Frank Field will now become the official faces of the Leave campaign, while Nigel Farage and Ukip donor Arron Banks, who were behind the Grassroots Out campaign, will be sidelined. Britain Stronger in Europe will be the official Remain organisation. Explaining its decision, Claire Bassett, Chief Executive of the Electoral Commission said: 'Where there are competing applicants for a particular outcome the law is clear, we must designate the applicant which appears to us to represent those campaigning for that outcome to the greatest extent.

I'm technically 3/4 Kiwi and 1/4 British, although having lived in the UK most of my life, it doesn't often feel this way. But when it comes to rugby, I support the All Blacks, and when I go walking in the mud, I wear gumboots, not wellingtons. So I've taken a vague interest in the fact that New Zealand has held a referendum about whether to change its national flag, but has now voted by 56.6 per cent to keep the status quo; that is, the traditional flag which features the Union Jack on it. I can see why this has caused so much tension and why it has divided opinion.

Simon Danczuk's lightning-fast suspension from Labour - as they investigate whether he sent 'lewd' texts to a seventeen-year-old girl - is an embarrassing note to end the year on. Especially for an MP like Danczuk who has spent much of the last few years positioning himself as a campaigner against child abuse. He has described today's story in the Sun as being 'not entirely accurate' but has suggested that his behaviour 'was inappropriate'. 'I was stupid and there's no fool like an old fool' he said via Twitter. https://twitter.com/SimonDanczuk/status/682531578434686976 Danczuk has now had the party whip removed, so he will sit as an independent MP. He seems to think it won't last long.

In the new year the EU referendum battle will heat up, and it seems the Conservative party are already starting to shuffle things around in preparation. Stephen Gilbert, the party's current deputy chairman, has today announced that he is standing down from this position. When Gilbert originally became deputy chairman, it was agreed that he could also hold non-executive roles with other groups. In November, he took up a part-time position at Populus, the official polling company for the main campaign to keep Britain in the EU, Britain Stronger in Europe (BSIE). While this position was in accordance with Conservative party rules, the move infuriated plenty of Tory Eurosceptics, who felt it undermined the party's commitment to remain neutral during the referendum.

Uber aren't going to be thrilled to hear that Muhaydin Mire, the man who has been arrested on suspicion of knifing a man at Leytonstone station, while shouting 'This is for Syria', was reportedly one of their drivers. On social media, London cabbies have already started to capitalise on this, by making the case that you're better off sticking with them if you want to avoid catching a ride with a jihadi. A new hashtag is currently doing the rounds: #HeWasAnUberDriverBruv - and the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association has been quick to adopt it, while also wondering how many more 'TFL licensed terrorists' are out there.