Paul McNamara , Senior Political Correspondent

Rishi Sunak might be famously teetotal but he chose a beer festival this morning to talk up the government’s changes to alcohol duty – which will mean most drinks becoming more expensive.

London’s Mayor Sadiq Khan has got the green light to extend his controversial ultra low emission zone, Ulez. The High Court has thrown out a challenge by five Conservative-led outer London councils to stop it expanding to cover the whole of the city. 

The boss of NatWest, Dame Alison Rose, has resigned after admitting she gave information to the BBC about Nigel Farage’s relationship with the bank, and had made a “serious error of judgement”. 

The boss of NatWest Bank has admitted to a “serious error of judgement” by discussing the bank’s relationship with Nigel Farage.

The Conservatives are facing a big battle later this week in three by-elections in Somerton and Froome; Selby and Ainsty; and Uxbridge and South Ruislip – which are expected to be heavily contested by Labour and the Liberal Democrats.

Councils in England and Wales are pushing for a ban next year on single use vapes saying they are a danger to the environment as well to health, particularly that of children. 

One in twenty adults in the UK have run short of food, and couldn’t afford to buy more – according to official figures on the cost of living crisis.

Successive governments have failed to grasp and respond to the scale of the threat posed by China, according to a wide-ranging report published today by the Intelligence and Security Committee. 

Another teaching union in England says its members have voted to strike in the autumn over pay and workload. 

The controversial Illegal Migration Bill is back in the House of Commons.

The parliament’s standards committee has recommended an eight-week suspension for the former government Chief Whip Chris Pincher. But what has been the reaction in Westminster where the government is facing both electoral and legal challenges?

None of us like to think of our own death, but when we do, most of us hope we will be in our homes, peacefully, surrounded by loved ones.

There’s been another falling out in the Conservative party – this time over why Climate Minister Lord Zac Goldsmith chose to resign earlier today. 

There was some comfort for mortgage payers today in the form of a package of measures promised by lenders. 

It’s been a week since the MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip, one Boris Johnson, stepped down ahead of a scathing report showing he lied to parliament over lockdown parties at Downing Street. Today it was announced he has a new job, writing a column for the Daily Mail, but that too has breached ministerial…