Steerpike

Rupert Lowe may have left Nigel Farage's Reform party, but he's certainly keeping himself busy. Now the MP has tabled an early day motion calling for a review of sentencing practices to ensure non-violent social media offenders don't get locked up – after the wife of a Tory councillor, Lucy Connolly, was imprisoned for posting a heated message about last summer's riots on social media. In a rare display of cross-party collaboration between the right and left wings of the Commons, ex-Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn startled onlookers by being the first politician to add his name to the motion's list of signatories. But he withdrew his support just as fast, after Lowe took to Twitter to praise Jezza's move.

To Prime Minister's Questions, where Sir Keir Starmer has announced that the Labour lot will in fact reverse parts of the controversial winter fuel payment – just weeks after the reds suffered defeat across the country over the policy in the May elections. Addressing the Chamber, Starmer remarked that 'we want to ensure that as we go forward, more pensioners are eligible for winter fuel payment' – confirming that the thresholds for the benefit will be looked at in the Budget. How very interesting… Speaking to parliamentarians at noon today, the PM confirmed the policy shift, noting: I recognise that people are still feeling the pressure of the cost of living crisis, including pensioners.

Back to the case of the fires linked to Sir Keir Starmer. Now a third man has been charged over arson attacks on properties belonging to the Prime Minister. A 34-year-old Ukrainian national, Petro Pochynok, has been charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life. It comes after two other men were charged in connection with the arson attacks. On Tuesday, 26-year-old Stanislav Carpiuc, a Romanian national, was charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life. Last week 21-year-old Roman Lavrynovych, a Ukrainian national living in London, was charged with three counts of arson with intent to endanger life and appeared at Westminster magistrates’ court on Friday.

In a blast from the past, the UK's onetime deputy prime minister Nick Clegg popped up again in London today to muse, 15 years on, about his party's coalition with the Conservatives. But despite this being the purpose of his talk, it didn't take the arch-Remainer long to get to the subject of the European Union. Lauding the coalition he helped lead as a 'five-year haven of stability' between the earlier financial crisis and the referendum on the EU that followed, Clegg blamed Brexit for slowing UK economic growth – and dubbed it 'one of the greatest acts of economic self-harm in modern times'. Is he happy then that Prime Minister Keir Starmer yesterday struck a new deal with our European allies? Er, no. 'It's a bit of a damp squib,' he huffed.

Last week, fires at two properties and a vehicle linked to Sir Keir Starmer were being probed by police – and now a second man has been charged in connection with the series of arson attacks on properties owned by the Prime Minister. It transpires that 26-year-old Stanislav Carpiuc, a Romanian national, has been charged with conspiracy to commit arson with intent to endanger life. The latest development comes after a 21-year-old man was charged with arson with intent to endanger life over attacks at properties linked to the Prime Minister. Roman Lavrynovych, a Ukrainian national living in London, is accused of starting fires outside two properties and burning a vehicle in north London.

With more than 650 councillors and a new MP to boot, Nigel Farage's teal army is clearly on the up. But while Reform UK is always happy to call out others’ volte faces – including Starmer’s Brexit ‘betrayal’ – Farage’s party now appears to be U-turning on one of its own manifesto promises: voting reform. Reform’s ‘Contract with You’, published last July, promised: Proportional Representation Voting for the House of Commons. Large numbers of voters have no representation in parliament and new parties are shut out of the political system. Voter turnout could be some 10 per cent higher with PR. A referendum is needed.

Ding ding ding! Sir Keir Starmer may have lauded it a 'landmark' deal but his agreement with the EU has gone done like a bucket of cold sick with the UK's most senior Brexiteers. Former prime minister Boris Johnson is the latest to take to Twitter to lambast the move – and the gloves are well and truly off. In a fiery pitch, BoJo scorns the PM's 'appalling sell-out of a deal', blasts Starmer for sacrificing Britain's freedom to 'do proper trade deals' and concludes tersely: 'Two-tier Keir is the orange ball-chewing manacled gimp of Brussels.' Tell us what you really think! Unleashing a vitriolic tirade on Sir Keir, the face of the 'Get Brexit Done' campaign picks apart the agreements on fishing, free movement and food standards.

While members of Sir Keir Starmer's Labour party have long struggled with the concept of biological sex, his voter base appears more confident on the subject. YouGov polling reveals that half of those who backed Starmer's army in last year's July election agree with the Supreme Court ruling that saw judges unanimously agree that 'sex' in the Equality Act refers to biological sex. In fact, two-thirds of British voters are in favour of the judgment, according to data collected between 8-9 May, in a revelation that may compel the UK government to be a little more decisive on the issue.

Today's the day of Sir Keir Starmer's big UK-EU summit and just hours ago it was confirmed that the UK had indeed struck a broad-ranging deal covering defence, immigration, food trade and fisheries with the European Union. The Prime Minister will hold a Lancaster House presser at 12.30 p.m. today to share the details – and in the lead-up to the announcement government ministers have been busy on the airwaves lauding the PM's progress. Yet Trade Secretary Jonathan Reynolds appeared just a little lacklustre when telling GB News his views on the agreement… 'I'm not the kind of man to get hyperbolic about these things...' Presenter Eamonn Holmes quizzed Reynolds on how he would rate what Starmer has wangled.