UK politics live: Priti Patel says four-day week would have ‘devastating impact’ as smoking ban faces backlash

Education minister Baroness Jacqui Smith has pledged that portraits of former prime minister Margaret Thatcher will remain in No 10, amid reports Sir Keir Starmer had one moved after finding it “unsettling”.

Asked if she was ever unsettled by the portrait of the UK’s first female PM, Lady Smith told LBC: “There were several times I was unsettled in No 10 but it wasn’t usually by the portraits, I have to say.

“Keir Starmer, can’t win, can he? A few months ago, people were having a go at him because he said he thought he could learn from the leadership of Margaret Thatcher.

“Pictures of Margaret Thatcher will remain in No 10.

“You can take that as a Jacqui pledge, but I think probably Keir Starmer is more concerned about actually sort of cracking on with the job of getting the country to work properly than where the pictures are.”

Ireland’s premier is seeking legal advice over trade with Israel.

While noting that international trade policy is an EU competency, Simon Harris said he was writing to Irish Attorney General Rossa Fanning for “fresh legal advice” on the domestic possibilities.

Mr Harris said that “every lever” must be pulled to maximise pressure on the Israeli government to bring forward a cessation of violence in Gaza.

The leaders of Ireland’s three coalition parties decided on Thursday that the State would not procure any further defence or military equipment and contracts from Israel.

Speaking on Friday, Mr Harris said the action was “appropriate” and in line with rulings of the International Court of Justice.

In July, the UN’s top court declared Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territories unlawful and called for settlement construction to stop immediately.

Mr Harris said: “I think it’s really important when an international court makes substantive findings, that those findings are given effect in every way.”

Priti Patel has said she will get the Conservatives back to winning if she becomes party leader.

The Witham MP and former home secretary touted her experience in Cabinet and her work on immigration and policing while presenting herself as a “grassroots Conservative” as she launched her campaign in London.

She said she would get the party back to its “winning ways”.

Asked whether she believed the Conservatives could win the next general election, she said: “You bet we can.”

She said in a speech: “We are a patriotic party, a national party who believes in the union and the matters which concern hard-working people every single day.

“And I will lead us from opposition to government, so that we can serve the British people again and give them back the freedoms and the dignity that Labour will take away from them.”

She called Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s No 10 speech earlier this week “one of the most feeble, pitiful and dishonest speeches you will ever hear”.

Sir Keir Starmer’s potential move to ban smoking in outdoor areas like pub gardens has sparked sharp criticism from Nigel Farage and the Conservatives.

The Reform UK leader claimed the proposal could “close the last of the British pubs” and push cigarette sales into the black market, framing it as an issue of “social control” rather than public health.

The opposition within the Tories has also echoed Mr Farage’s concerns.

Robert Jenrick questioned the prime minister’s priorities, claiming that the UK faces “huge challenges” and that focusing on an outdoor smoking ban is “nonsense”.

This debate emerges against the backdrop of the Conservatives’ own proposal to create one of the world’s strictest smoking laws, which would prevent anyone who is 14 years old from ever legally purchasing cigarettes.

Border Force staff at Heathrow Airport will launch a four-day strike on Saturday in a long-running dispute over rosters.

Around 650 members of the Public and Commercial Services union (PCS) will walk out amid complaints that new rosters are inflexible.

The staff will then work to rule and refuse to work overtime from September 4 to 22.

The union said its research showed that four in five Heathrow Border Force workers suffer from stress at work.

More than one in four have taken time off due to stress or related mental health reasons since the introduction of the new rosters in April, said the union.

Most staff regularly worry about managing home commitments around work, according to the PCS.

The people of Scotland must take the decision over independence out of the hands of Westminster, the SNP’s depute leader has said.

Addressing the first day of the party’s conference in Edinburgh, Keith Brown said the “sovereign people of Scotland” were “supreme over the UK Supreme Court”.

Under Nicola Sturgeon, the court rejected a push for the Scottish Parliament to legislate for an independence referendum.

Support for the SNP at the next election, Mr Brown said, would also be support for a “convention of all democratically-elected representatives … who support Scotland’s right to choose”.

Such a convention could see the SNP working alongside former leader Alex Salmond and the Alba Party should they win seats.

In his address to members, Mr Brown said the ability to demonstrate how Scotland can achieve independence will be “central” to the SNP’s success in 2026.

“We have to first of all acknowledge Westminster’s stance – they’ve been clear,” he said.

Eton College will raise fees by 20 per cent as a result of the Government’s removal of the VAT exemption on independent schools, it said in a letter to parents.

The £52,749-a-year private boys’ school said fees will “likely” increase in January, meaning most parents will have to pay about £63,000.

Parents whose sons are in receipt of 100 per cent bursaries will not be affected by the increase, the college said.

From January, the government plans to remove the VAT exemption and business rates relief for private schools to enable funding for 6,500 new teachers in state schools.

Currently, independent schools do not have to charge 20 per cent VAT on their fees because there is an exemption for the supply of education.

In a letter to parents on Friday, the Berkshire boarding school said: “The Provost and Fellows regret that the government has chosen to tax education in this way.

“Furthermore, we are disappointed that the introduction of VAT will take place partway through an academic year and at short notice.

“We recognise the concern that will be felt by many parents following this announcement.”