Homing in on the housing crisis: where did it all start to go wrong | Michael White

Successive governments since Thatcher have helped make a bad situation worse by stoking up demand while inhibiting supply

Two days after the BBC again aired Cathy Come Home, Ken Loach’s 1966 drama about homelessness, up pops the Resolution Foundation to remind us that the problem hasn’t gone away. Far from it, in the opinion of some experienced observers.

According to the thinktank’s latest report , which led Tuesday’s Guardian and Radio 4 news bulletins, home ownership is at its lowest level (64%) since 1986 when Margaret Thatcher’s election-winning boom in council house sales was still gathering momentum. It peaked at 71% in April 2003.

Related: Home ownership in England at lowest level in 30 years as housing crisis grows

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Cameron is not the first to have pushed his luck with an honours list

Aides and chauffeurs have long been made candidates for awards by outgoing PMs, but now the public mood has changed

When is a good time to announce any kind of honours list In Britain? Never is a good time and always has been, as David Cameron was reminded when he opened the Sunday papers. There in the peaceful sunshine of his Oxfordshire constituency home, free from the care of state at last, he found his own resignation list plastered all over the front pages.

Related: Donors, aides and remainers dominate secret Cameron honours list

Related: Cameron’s ‘cronies’ honours list leads to calls for overhaul of system

Related: David Cameron, giving honours to your mates is utterly tawdry | Archie Bland

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Court to rule in case that could exclude Corbyn from Labour leadership contest – Politics live

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen

8.59am BST

Good morning. Today the high court is due to rule on whether Jeremy Corbyn can contest the Labour leadership without having 51 nominations from MPs and MEPs like his challenger, Owen Smith. It is expected that the court will back the decision of Labour’s national executive committee to let Corbyn stand without the nominations, and if that happens the leadership contest already underway will just carry on. But there is a chance that the court could rule against the NEC, and that would trigger – well, not just an appeal, but chaos too.

A decision against the NEC would not automatically mean that Corbyn could not be a candidate. But it would mean that he would have to obtain nominations from 20% of MPs and MEPs, which might be difficult for him.

A decision is to be given in a legal action aimed at overturning the Labour Party’s decision to guarantee Jeremy Corbyn a place on the leadership ballot.

Labour donor Michael Foster, a former parliamentary candidate, has brought the claim against the party’s general secretary Iain McNicol, who is being sued in a representative capacity, and Corbyn.

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Corbyn v Smith: a battle not for the ballot, but for hearts and minds

Any sensible judge knows that fiddling with the party rulebook will not win this struggle for the membership’s enthusiasm

“I’m with the Corbynites on this one,” is not a sentence I try to write very often, and I last did it when Corbyn voted against David Cameron’s token bombing raid over Syria last year. But here we are, facing an imminent high court ruling on whether or not the incumbent should be on the September leadership ballot paper.

Of course it should – and sensible judges know they should steer clear of what are essentially political decisions, not subject to the kind of legalistic jiggery-pokery evident in the court application launched by Labour donor and ex candidate, Michael Foster. No disrespect to Foster or his legal team, but it would be a disaster if they derailed the leadership contest now, even though we and the bookies assume that Corbyn will win handsomely and continue his reign of error. As I write, Owen Smith is laying out his challenger’s stall. Full marks for intelligent opportunism and courage, but it’s not going to reverse the Corbyn tide – not yet.

Related: Labour donor to mount legal challenge over leadership ballot

Related: This Labour battle isn’t Blairites v Corbynistas. It’s over progressive change | David Wearing

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Labour leadership: Millions of Labour supporters prefer May to Corbyn, poll suggests – Politics live

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including Owen Smith’s Labour leadership speech

9.32am BST

YouGov has now posted its poll findings on its website.

Here is an extract from the commentary from YouGov’s Matthew Smith.

The Conservative lead is now larger than at any time since the 2015 general election, and represents a remarkable turnaround for the party which was 3% behind Labour in late April. It is still unclear whether the results are sustainable or are just down to a new-PM bounce and the continued division in the Labour party.

Voters also expressed their support for new Prime Minister Theresa May, with 52% of them saying that she would be a better Prime Minister than Jeremy Corbyn, who was supported by just 18%. May’s efforts to reach out to Labour voters may be bearing some fruit, with 29% of 2015 Labour voters preferring her premiership to Jeremy Corbyn’s – every little will help when the Conservatives have such a slim majority. May is also overwhelmingly preferred to Corbyn among 2015 Lib Dem voters (66% vs 8%) and 2015 UKIP voters (75% vs 4%).

9.21am BST

Many people don’t trust pollsters anymore. If Labour party members, and the 180,000 registered supporters who signed up to take part in the leadership contest, are in this category, then Jeremy Corbyn has nothing to worry about.

But if voters in the contest are swayed by polling, then it’s a difficult morning for the Labour leader. Yesterday an ICM poll gave the Tories a 16-point lead. This morning new figures are out from YouGov. They put the Tory lead at a mere 12 points, but the Times has splashed on the figures, highlighting the finding that almost a third of those who voted Labour in 2015 prefer Theresa May as prime minister to Jeremy Corbyn. Here is the Times’ story (paywall) and here’s an extract.

When those who voted Labour in last year’s election were asked to choose between Mrs May and Mr Corbyn as prime minister, 29 per cent opted for the Tory leader. This equates to 2.7 million Labour voters out of 9.3 million. Among voters generally, only 19 per cent believe that the Labour leader would make a better prime minister. The poll also suggests that the EU referendum is leaving a lasting mark on Westminster politics. Thirteen per cent of people who voted to leave now back the Labour Party, against 51 per cent who support the Tories.

Mrs May’s Conservative government leads Labour by 12 points, the largest gap since her party returned to Downing Street six years ago, a YouGov survey forThe Times found. It is a bigger lead than Gordon Brown achieved during his bounce after succeeding Tony Blair. Labour dropped to its lowest share of the vote since the eve of the election in 2010.

The poll also found that Mrs May has started to attract some Ukip voters. It put the Tories on 40 per cent and Labour on 28 per cent, its lowest result under Mr Corbyn. Ukip was on 13 per cent and the Lib Dems on 8 per cent.

Tomorrow’s front page: Millions of Labour voters place May above Corbyn #Tomorrowspaperstoday http://pic.twitter.com/Q4WjtZoMkF

Today’s Yorkshire Post front page #yplive http://pic.twitter.com/n2Yk9dCTbS

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Labour leadership: Owen Smith questions Corbyn’s patriotism – Politics live

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen

8.47am BST

Good morning. Owen Smith, who is challenging Jeremy Corbyn for the Labour leadership, has until now been been quite complimentary about Corbyn’s values – he has criticised Corbyn’s leadership skills, rather than his beliefs – but there was a change of tack on Newsnight last night when he questioned Corbyn’s patriotism.

Smith said that Corbyn’s “metropolitan” politics meant he did not understand the importance of national identity. He told the programme:

One of the weaknesses we have had recently is that people worry that Labour isn’t serious about security, that it is a lesser issue for Jeremy. I’m not sure that’s right, but he has certainly got a different perspective on some of those things – on patriotism if you like; and on security, on defence I think I have got a more traditional Labour perspective on that – an old-fashioned Labour perspective, if you like.

I think Jeremy, to be honest, doesn’t really understand sometimes the way in which people have a very strong, perhaps socially conservative sense of place, sense of where they are from. I am not sure I’ve heard him talking much about Scotland and identity or about Wales and identity or indeed about England and identity.

I am saying that I think it is something that is not core to his set of beliefs. He has got a set of liberal perspectives and left perspectives on things and nationhood and nationalism and patriotism aren’t really part of his make-up.

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McDonnell accused of downplaying seriousness of Malhotra office row – Politics live

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen

9.11am BST

Good morning. After four weeks of intense turmoil after the Brexit vote, British politics is getting back to – well, normal probably isn’t quite the right word, but “non-frantic” is correct. The Commons is in recess, and sensible people are planning their holidays. And political correspondents are left with just three leadership contests to cover (Ukip, the Greens, and of course Labour).

On the Labour front, the “officegate” row is still rumbling on. As the Observer reported on Sunday, Seema Malhotra, the former shadow chief secretary to the Treasury, has accused staff working for Jeremy Corbyn and John McDonnell of entering her office without authorisation. McDonnell responded yesterday in an interview on the Andrew Marr show, dismissing the incident as an honest mistake. But last night Malhotra hit back, using an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Westminster House to accuse McDonnell of trying to downplay the seriousness of what happened. She told the programme:

I was pleased for my staff to hear John apologise and I think that was important, but I have found his reaction to my concerns extraordinary in trying to shift away from the seriousness of what happened … This is about the safety and security of MPs’ offices, about parliamentary privilege, which means people’s confidence that an MP’s office, where constituency and parliamentary business is carried out, is secure. It’s extremely sad that a team that is working incredibly hard were feeling intimated, so intimated by somebody from the leader’s office, that they didn’t want to leave anyone alone in the office because they weren’t sure who would come in, what would be said.

Related: Theresa May to rule out return of border checks between UK and Ireland

Related: Sir Philip Green labeled “worse than Maxwell” over BHS pensions black hole – business live

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PMQs verdict: May mimics Maggie – and surprises with jokes

The new PM clashes for first time with Labour leader at PMQs debating austerity, home ownership and Boris Johnson

Jeremy Corbyn quizzed May on her abandonment as home secretary of an inquiry into Orgreave, home ownership rates and the record of her new foreign secretary, Boris Johnson. In a memorable exchange on austerity, Corbyn asked if the long-term economic plan was dead and if there was a new one. May responded: “He calls it austerity, I call it living within our means.”

Related: May faces Corbyn in her first prime minister’s questions – live

A boss who doesn’t listen to his workers, a boss who workers to double their workload, a boss who exploits the rules?

Remind him of anybody?

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Corbyn even more popular with Labour members after no confidence motion, poll suggests – politics live

9.09am BST

Claire has already mentioned the YouGov poll of Labour members in the Times (paywall) but it is worth looking at the figures in more detail. YouGov polled Labour members during the leadership contest last year and their findings turned out be be a reliable guide to the eventual outcome.

Here are the key points.

Exclusive Times / YouGov poll – Jeremy Corbyn’s ratings go UP in last fortnight (from net +3 to +14) http://pic.twitter.com/av52WkggfY

Exclusive – Jeremy Corbyn beats BOTH Owen Smith and Angela Eagle in run-off ballots – with 57% saying they back JC http://pic.twitter.com/t69EGfNhx1

8.36am BST

Good morning. I’m Andrew Sparrow, taking over from Claire.

If you want to know how your MP voted in the Trident debate last night, we have a full set of party-by-party voting lists here.

Related: Trident: how your MP voted

8.22am BST

Hilary Benn says he has no leadership ambitions himself:

I am supporting Angela [Eagle] … it’s about time for Labour to have a woman leader.

There is a strong view … that there should be only one challenger.

I think that would be preferable, it’s the view of most MPs.

Jeremy has made a huge contribution and will continue to do so.

The Labour party is not going to split … It doesn’t belong to one particular group or any one individual.

I trust Labour party members … will realise, for all Jeremy’s qualities … how can he credibly turn to the people of Britain and say elect me as your prime minister?

8.16am BST

Hilary Benn, formerly the shadow foreign secretary until his middle-of-the-night sacking sent Corbyn’s shadow cabinet spiralling, is now speaking on the Today programme about last night’s Trident vote.

The longstanding policy of the Labour party has been to support the maintenance of our nuclear deterrent.

No one for a second thought that Jeremy would do anything other than stand up and express his long-held view … but it’s not the view of the Labour party.

Britain giving it up would not persuade any of the other nuclear states to follow our example.

8.05am BST

After apparently crashing shortly after opening the window for registering as a supporter – which, in exchange for £25, gets you a vote in the Labour leadership election – the Labour website now seems to be functioning without problems.

Until 5pm UK time on Wednesday, those who fancy it – and can promise they’re on board with the “aims and values of the Labour party and … not a supporter of any organisation opposed to it” – can sign up here.

7.55am BST

Sarah Wollaston, who chairs that health select committee, is on the Today programme.

She says MPs on the committee accept that health spending is going up, but that money has been shifted out of budgets for public health and training, as well as what she calls the “ongoing squeeze” on social care.

7.46am BST

The other item on the agenda when the Commons health select committee meets is, of course, its very critical report about pledges made by the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, on NHS funding.

As the Guardian’s health policy editor, Denis Campbell, reports:

The cross-party group of MPs refutes the health secretary’s persistent claim the government will have given the NHS in England an extra £8.4bn by 2020-21 compared with 2015-16. That was one of the Conservatives’ key pledges in last year’s general election campaign, and was repeated many times after that by David Cameron and George Osborne while they were still the prime minister and the chancellor.

It claims ministers have in effect performed a sleight of hand by cutting other parts of the Department of Health’s budget, such as public health and NHS staffing, in order to give NHS England itself a big increase in its budget. Critics have previously likened the strategy to “robbing Peter to pay Paul”.

7.33am BST

Simon Stevens, the chief executive of NHS England, appears before MPs on the health select committee later on Tuesday. And a column by Stevens in the Telegraph today gives a strong hint of what he’ll be saying:

The NHS wasn’t on the Brexit ballot. But it often felt as if it was. Emblazoned on the Battlebus, both Leave and Remain wrapped themselves in the mantle of a strong and better funded health service.

We’re still going to need committed professionals from abroad. Australian-style immigration points systems all admit nurses, doctors and other skilled experts.

It should be completely uncontroversial to provide early reassurance to international NHS employees about their continued welcome in this country.

7.00am BST

Good morning and welcome to our daily politics live blog.

Here’s a rattle-through all you need to know to set you up for Tuesday, before the live blog takes you along the way.

The person with the fewest nominations is Jeremy.

Party policy is also to review our policies.

Fifteen minutes into the PM’s Trident speech, and backbench MP David Cameron gets bored and surreptitiously pulls out his iPhone.

It will be the responsibility of everyone sitting around the Cabinet table to make Brexit work for Britain …

We will not allow the country to be defined by Brexit; but instead build the education, skills and social mobility to allow everyone to prosper from the opportunities of leaving the EU.

Is she personally prepared to authorise a nuclear strike that can kill a hundred thousand innocent men, women and children?

Yes.

The Constitutional Reform Act 2005 said that the prime minister could only appoint someone who appears to be qualified by experience. The lord chancellor is the only job in cabinet where there are personal conditions, laid down by statute, which have to be satisfied by the holder.

There is no one who could possibly suggest that Ms Truss met the bar set by that law. I wonder if the prime minister was even told about the statutory requirements before she appointed her.

What Owen Smith and other Leave deniers clearly believe, however, is that millions of voters have taken an ill-informed and reckless decision, one that proper grown-ups should have the chance to revoke. But instead of trying to put the sand back into the egg-timer, perhaps they should consider that for many Brexiters, their choice will have been as considered and closely argued as that of EU champions and liberals.

In terms of their own lives, leaving Europe and seeing an end to freedom of travel, or trade tariffs, or whatever else they object to, is obviously preferable. Who are Mr Smith and people like me to say that their view is less valid than ours, or that in their situation we might not feel the same? Are the majority of those 17.4 million far worse educated than the 16 million Remainers? It’s unlikely.

On Monday, [Boris] Johnson was gaffe-free and trying his best to be statesmanlike and switching between English and French. He told reporters the UK would maintain a ‘leading role’ in Europe and was not going to abandon it ‘in any way’ after leaving the EU …

There was even praise for the way in which Johnson spoke about the events in Nice. ‘Johnson spoke without looking at his notes at all,’ said another European diplomat. ‘He spoke in good French, saying the British people would stand united behind the French.’

Dunno about you guys but I feel sooo much safer with nukes…..phew……close one.

Last Monday, he was the Prime Minister. This Monday, David Cameron watches from the back rows http://pic.twitter.com/etoTxMa3lF

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May accuses Corbyn of ‘misplaced idealism’ as MPs prepare for Trident vote – Politics live

Rolling coverage of all the day’s political developments as they happen, including Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn opening the Commons debate on Trident renewal and Angela Eagle and Owen Smith at the PLP hustings

9.10am BST

Good morning. Theresa May is going to make her first appearance in the Commons today as prime minister and she will be opening the debate on renewing Trident. There is no reason why the prime minister has to open this debate – it would have been perfectly acceptable to leave it up to the defence secretary – and arguably there is no reason why the debate is needed anyway, because the Commons has already voted in principle to renew the Trident nuclear deterrent. But David Cameron scheduled a vote in large part because he wanted to highlight Labour divisions on this subject and May is implementing this strategy with relish. In comments from her speech released overnight, she accuses Jeremy Corbyn of “misplaced idealism”. She says:

We cannot compromise on our national security. We cannot outsource the grave responsibility we shoulder for keeping our people safe. And we cannot abandon our ultimate safeguard out of misplaced idealism. That would be a reckless gamble: a gamble that would enfeeble our allies and embolden our enemies. A gamble with the safety and security of families in Britain that we must never be prepared to take.

Related: Labour facing prospect of three-way split over Trident vote

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