Exclusive: UK campaigners say it is ‘unacceptable’ no nature assessments were made on bee-killing Cruiser SB

The Conservative government did not carry out a legally required assessment of how green-lighting the use of a banned pesticide, described as a “death blow to wildlife”, would affect some of the most important nature sites, documents have revealed.

The previous government gave emergency approval this year for sugar beet farmers to use Cruiser SB for the fourth year in a row.

Zarah Sultana, one of seven from Labour left suspended over rebellion, says there is ‘moral imperative’ to scrap two-child benefit cap

Zarah Sultana has said she “slept well” after being suspended by the Labour party over a Commons rebellion on the two-child benefit cap – and suggested she was the victim of a “macho virility test”.

Sultana, one of seven from the party’s left stripped of the whip on Tuesday night for backing an SNP motion to scrap the cap, said on Wednesday: “I slept well knowing that I took a stand against child poverty that is affecting 4.3 million people in this country and it is the right thing to do and I am glad I did it.”

I look forward to many bills that will be coming forward in this government including nationalising rail, the new deal for working people, but I was also very honest that we should go further, we can make a real difference to people’s lives.

And when you’ve got anti-poverty campaigners, thinktanks, trade unions saying the key driver for child poverty in this country – which is the sixth-largest economy in the world – is the Tories’ two-child benefit cap, then it is a moral imperative on the Labour party to scrap that and do everything that they can to make sure that not a single child has to live in unnecessary hardship and poverty.”

Prime minister says family ‘very pleased’ to receive letters from former chancellor’s children about life in Downing Street

Jeremy Hunt’s three children left personal notes for Keir Starmer’s teenage son and daughter after last week’s general election, containing advice about living in Downing Street.

The prime minister said his children were “very pleased” to receive the letters from the Hunt’s children, who had lived in the flat above No 11 since their father was appointed chancellor.

We are embarking on the hard graft of making people’s lives better – and we will fight every day to restore hope

Last Friday, I stood on the steps of Downing Street and made a promise to the British people. I said the work of change would begin immediately. And I meant it.

My new cabinet hit the ground running. We’ve lifted the ban on onshore wind. We’ve created a national wealth fund to invest in and grow our economy. We’ve met NHS bosses to get the 40,000 extra NHS appointments we need each week and 700,000 urgent dental appointments up and running as quickly as possible.

Gareth Southgate’s side have made the hardest possible work of this – such is the only script our national psychodrama permits

Light the touchpaper on your flares, because England stands on the threshold of two days of giddy possibility. There is, quite simply, no greater weekend available to an England football supporter than the one leading up to the climax of a major tournament in which the national side has made the final. Truth be told, there is not a whole lot more English than trying to sound insouciantly au fait with that type of weekend. Let’s face it, we barely know what we’re talking about on this front (also very English). The reality is that England have previously made precisely two of those finals in the entire history of the game, and one of those was on a Saturday, not a Sunday. But listen: three of anything makes a trend.

Just as the long buildup to Christmas can be infinitely more joyful and infinitely less stressful than the day itself, so this is a weekend to be intensely savoured before the inevitable tip over into mindless something-or-other when the whistle blows for the end of play on Sunday night. To be clear: I am hoping for mindless euphoria but also preparing for one of the other mindless options available. Expect anything and everything other than mindfulness. With a dedicated breathing coach and movement therapist, there is a definite holistic approach to Gareth Southgate’s team bubble – but it’s fair to say English fandom remains wholly untouched by wellness. Unless you count sticking a flare up your arse – arguably the England fan’s equivalent of Gwyneth Paltrow sticking a jade egg up her vagina.

Marina Hyde is a Guardian columnist

We can now feel free to get on with our lives without worrying what the halfwits in Westminster might do next

Well, we’re all still here. According to most of the rightwing press, we were in for “Starmergeddon”. Plague, floods and earthquakes would only be the start. Famine would be along shortly thereafter.

But a week on from the Labour landslide and the country already feels in a better place. The grownups are back in charge. The rest of us can get on with our lives without having to keep one eye open for what the halfwits in Westminster might do next.

Without a timetable for the leadership race, the current uneasy truce might hold for a while – but it can’t last

When Tory MPs gathered on Wednesday night to hear Rishi Sunak address them for the first time since their worst election defeat, they were told to be on their best behaviour. The new chairman of the 1922 Committee, Bob Blackman , made clear to colleagues that they ought to behave respectfully – the last thing they needed was more bickering. “The suggestion was if you are angry, this wasn’t the right place to show it,” explains an attender.

In the Q&A session that followed Sunak’s speech apologising over losses, loyalty was the buzzword – particularly in reference to Suella Braverman, the former home secretary. She has been out and about recently, criticising Sunak and the Pride flag , and has not ruled out defecting to the Reform party.

Katy Balls is the Spectator’s political editor

Although Cameron and Osborne have been rebranded as Tory moderates, look back to 2010 and you’ll see how much devastation they truly caused

Lest we forget, here is an audit of the state of the country Labour inherits. Pin it up, brand it into public memory so no one can forget the ruination caused primarily by 14 years of crushing, growth-killing, public service-stripping austerity. The purpose of the book I’ve written with David Walker, The Only Way is Up, published today, is to draw a baseline from which to judge all that Labour does from now on: in future, look back on this benchmark to measure how it did.

Curiously, because of the mayhem caused by their riotous successors, a myth has grown that David Cameron and George Osborne were somehow Tory moderates by post-Brexit standards. But Cameron’s nonchalant demeanour, shielded by Nick Clegg’s willing connivance, disguised the extreme nature of an ideological first budget that set the trajectory for all the Tory years . Remember this: only seven weeks into power, Osborne announced a budget in which the balance of spending cuts to tax rises was 77% to 23%. That included £17bn cut from government departments; £11bn cut from benefits; a triple-lock rise for pensioners while freezing child benefit; freezing public sector pay; the lowest-ever real-terms increase in NHS funding; and petty meanness such as ending health in pregnancy grants and cutting maternity grants beyond the first child, while reducing corporation tax and raising the threshold for national insurance paid by employers. It set the tone for the years to come.

Polly Toynbee is a Guardian columnist

The Only Way is Up: How to Take Britain From Austerity to Prosperity by Polly Toynbee and David Walker is published today. Order your copy at guardianbookshop.com to support the Guardian and Observer

Labour under pressure to act on child poverty as aid group warns two-child benefit policy is causing ‘deep suffering and deprivation’

On water bills, consumer council for Water chief executive Mike Keil has said:

Millions of people will feel upset and anxious at the prospect of these water bill rises and question the fairness of them given some water companies’ track record of failure and poor service.

Over the summer we’ll be carrying out research with customers of every water company to gauge whether they feel the regulator’s proposals are affordable and deliver what people want. We expect Ofwat to listen and act on what customers tell us.

We look forward to working with the government. The Environment Agency has criminal power to take action against companies. We think there’s a strong case for extending that to company senior leadership. We look forward to working with the government as they work through their special measures package.

We will never look the other way while water companies pump sewage into our rivers, lakes and seas. This unacceptable destruction of our waterways should never have been allowed, but change has now begun so it can never happen again.

Today I have announced significant steps to clean up the water industry to cut sewage pollution, protect customers and attract investment to upgrade its crumbling infrastructure. That change will take time. Over the coming weeks and months, this Government will outline further steps to reform the water sector and restore our rivers, lakes and seas to good health.