Election results – live: Thornberry denies calling Labour Leave supporters ‘stupid’ as Tories and SNP clash over Indyref2
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Your support makes all the difference.Jeremy Corbyn has been criticised for an article in The Observer, in which he defended the “desperately disappointing” general election result and claimed political cynicism had been a driving force in turning former Labour heartlands blue.
The Labour leader was met with derision after saying his Labour movement “won the argument”, despite the party succumbing to its worst defeat in decades.
Meanwhile, Boris Johnson and his key adviser Dominic Cummings have declared a radical overhaul to the civil service is required in order to “get Brexit done”, dubbing it a “Whitehall revolution”.
The former director of the Vote Leave campaign has been a vocal critic of the civil service, with the move signalling that he and the PM’s plans for Britain could be more radical than their manifesto suggested.
John McDonnell: 'If anyone's to blame, it's me'
“Let me make it clear, it’s on me, I’ll take it on the chin," Mr McDonnell has told Andrew Marr. "Let me apologise to all those wonderful Labour MPs who’ve lost their seats. Let me apologise to all our campaigners, but most of all I apologise to all those people who desperately need a Labour government.
"If anyone's to blame, it's me - full stop."
Defending his party's decision to back a second referendum, which he admitted had failed, he said of backing either Leave or Remain: "Either way we were going to be hammered."
Asked about Jeremy Corbyn's unpopularity on the doorstep, he said: "The media did a number on Jeremy for four years every day ... they transposed someone I know as a man of honesty and principle into someone demonised in a way no other politician on this scale has been done before and I deeply regret that."
Nicola Sturgeon: ‘PM can’t ignore the will of the Scottish people’
Scotland’s first minister employed a turn of phrase heavily associated with Brexit to attack the PM, as she insisted Scotland “cannot be imprisoned” in the UK against its will.
“It’s quite a fundamental point of democracy,” she said, clearly relishing her party's strengthened mandate for IndyRef2 after the general election.
“You cannot just lock us in a cupboard and turn the key and hope everything goes away. If the union is to continue then it can only be by consent. If Boris Johnson is confident in the case of the union, eh should be confident enough to make that case and allow people to decide.
“If it’s to continue it can only be by the will and the consent of the people of Scotland," Ms Sturgeon added. "Scotland cannot be imprisoned within the United Kingdom against its will. These are just basic statements of democracy.
“The Tories might rage against the reality of what happened on Thursday … but ultimately they’re going to have to face up to it, because the will of the Scottish people can’t be ignored.”
Lisa Nandy 'seriously considering' running for Labour leader
The shadow secretary for energy and climate change detailed the need for Labour to speak for both lifelong Labour voters in former industrial regions and those in metropolitan areas.
The Labour MP for Wigan told Andrew Marr: "We need to think very seriously about how we're going to take that very hard road back to power and who is best placed to fix it."
Labour's former general secretary calls for Corbyn's immediate resignation
Labour's former general secretary Iain McNicol has called for Jeremy Corbyn to immediately resign so a caretaker Labour leader can hold the Tories to account, and - showing the potential civil war ahead for the party - called for a centrist like Harriet Harman or Hilary Benn to assume the role.
Saying the opposition needs someone who can hold Boris Johnson's "feet to the fire" over Brexit, Lord McNicol told Sophy Ridge: "I think Jeremy should stand down now and we should move to a caretaker leader.
"Go to one of the grandees from before, so like Harriet Harman or Hilary Benn or Yvette Cooper, bring in someone who can actually put the pressure on Boris Johnson on the Conservatives while we go through the next leadership election."
He criticised Labour's campaign for focusing resources too heavily on trying to win Tory seats rather than protecting Labour ones and blamed Corbyn and his ideology for the failure.
"The biggest issue and the one that kept coming through time and time again was Jeremy, and was his ability to be prime minister and trust in him. It just wasn't there when you were speaking to people on the doors," Lord McNicol said.
McDonnell says new Labour leader could be decided in 'eight to 10 weeks'
Mr McDonnell said he expects the leadership change will take place in eight to 10 weeks, and said shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey "could be a brilliant leader" before praising shadow cabinet ministers Angela Rayner, Richard Burgon and Dawn Butler.
He said: "My view is I think it should be a woman leader next."
Mr McDonnell said he would "prefer others" to Labour MP Jess Phillips before describing her as "really talented", adding: "I want someone who actually has been really solidly involved in the development of existing policy - that's why Becky and Angie and Dawn and others have been so good."
He also said it was "most probably time for a non-metropolitan", adding: "I think it is time for a non-London MP, we need a northern voice as much as possible."
Asked on whether he and Mr Corbyn were trying to fix the party for the next generation in their image, Mr McDonnell replied: "We're not into that sort of conniving politics of the past, we've never been that."
Rishi Sunak says UK will ‘level up’ to avoid independence referendum
“The prime minister has been very clear," Mr Sunak told Andrew Marr. "He is unequivocally committed to the union, he passionately believes in it, and as you see this new government getting to work, strengthening our union and levelling up and uniting the country will be at the heart of our agenda.
He repeated Michael Gove’s earlier assertions that another referendum on Scottish independence was not on the table, despite Nicola Sturgeon claiming she has a clear mandate to hold one after Thursday’s electoral victory.
'Absolutely' no prospect of second referendum on Scottish independence, says Michael Gove
Here's more detail from Andrew Woodcock and Lizzy Buchan on the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster's comments about Scottish independence as the battleground for the future of Scotland in the wake of the begins to take shape in the wake of the Tories' and SNP's dramatic victories.
Green MEP dubs Rishi Sunak's refusal to detail 'revolutionary' plans for Whitehall as 'sinister'
Rishi Sunak refused to be drawn on the alleged plans of the PM's right-hand man Dominic Cummings to radically overhaul the workings of government.
Dominic Cummings has previously stated his desire to get rid of permanent civil servants, replacing them instead with external advisers, and to reduce the size of the cabinet from dozens of ministers to just six or seven.
Molly Scott-Cato, the Green MEP for whom the Lib Dems stood down in Stroud and endorsed in Thursday's general election, in which she was defeated by the Tories, called Mr Sunak's assertion that the public were not interested in how government works "sinister".
Mr Sunak also remained vague on the report into Russian interference, saying "it will be published when it is appropriate".
Here's another minor detail about the picture that has everyone talking this morning.
It shows the moment Boris Johnson realised, in the words of today's Mail on Sunday, that the "gamble of his life" had paid off. The Sun's eagle-eyed deputy political editor has spotted something isn't quite right with Dominic Cummings' attire.
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