The Conservatives arrived in Birmingham to a predictably warm welcome.

British economic policymakers confront big challenges. They have to manage departure from the EU with the minimum damage. They also need to make the UK economy far more dynamic. The latter cannot be achieved if they do not abandon the myth that

Fears of the consequences of a Hard Brexit have sent the pound tumbling to a new 31-year low against the dollar. Speaking at the Conservative Party's annual conference in Birmingham on Sunday, Theresa May has ended weeks of speculation and revealed that she will launch formal Brexit talks with EU leaders before the end of March 2017. The timing means the UK looks set to leave the EU by summer 2019.

Legal measures to protect UK troops from "spurious" claims of misconduct have been unveiled by the government. The change in policy, announced at the Conservative conference, would mean parts of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) could be suspended during future conflicts. Defence Secretary Michael Fallon said the legal system had been abused "to falsely accuse our armed forces". The MoD has spent more than £100m on Iraq-related claims since 2004.

UKIP leadership hopeful Steven Woolfe says he is recovering in hospital after a reported fight at a meeting of the party's MEPs. The party released a statement from Mr Woolfe from his Strasbourg hospital bed saying he was sitting up having undergone a precautionary brain scan. UKIP sources said "punches were exchanged" during the row at a party meeting and Mr Woolfe banged his head. He was taken to hospital two hours later after collapsing, sources said.

Jeremy Corbyn is not up to the job of being Opposition leader, former shadow Chancellor Alan Johnson has said. Mr Johnson added fuel to the fire of Labour’s infighting on Saturday morning, telling BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that “many of my colleagues” were sceptical of the leader’s abilities. Mr Corbyn last night concluded the appointment of a new shadow Cabinet, promoting moderate Jon Ashworth to shadow Health Secretary and giving back posts to some MPs who resigned in June.

The UK's vote to leave the European Union has made the chance of a Eurozone collapse five times more likely, JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said.

Labour should ban men from standing in all future by-elections until half the party’s MPs are female, women’s champion Jess Phillips MP has said. With female politicians the likely casualty of the upcoming boundary review according to Mrs Phillips, she will demand Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn commits to their party becoming the first in Parliament to achieve gender equality.

A senior Irish MEP has suggested Northern Ireland should be given “associate membership” of the European Union after Brexit, with the Irish State paying its annual funding contribution. Fine Gael’s Brian Hayes last night said such an arrangement would allow Northern Ireland the right to trade on full or limited terms into the EU, and not be subject to the tariffs. He said while the Constitutional position of the North was settled and it would remain part of the United Kingdom, he said its trading relationship with the EU and with Ireland could be different.

JEREMY Corbyn cannot take part in a parliamentary Brexit debate because of his asthma, a note from his mother has confirmed. Following the prime minister’s U-turn over a Brexit strategy debate, Corbyn’s office hand-delivered the note which excuses the Labour leader and suggests he could go to the Commons library and read instead. Speaker John Bercow said: “It’s not just Brexit. She’s also excused Jeremy from anything involving Russia, detailed discussion of budgeting apparently sets off his migraine, and of course he can’t be there when competitive sports comes up, not after last time.

Theresa May has rejected the SNP’s claim that Brexit justifies staging another independence referendum as she was warned that her “days as Prime Minister of a United Kingdom are numbered" if Scotland’s remain vote is ignored. The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said Nicola Sturgeon should stick to her pledge that the 2014 referendum was a “once-in-a-generation” vote and urged her to respect Scots’ decision.

A new report by an influential parliamentary committee has recommended that the UK outlaw the word “Zionist” when used “in an accusatory context.” Published on Sunday, the Home Affairs Select Committee’s report also slams Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn for heading a party with “institutionally anti-Semitic” elements. Despite its overwhelming focus on the opposition Labour Party, the committee admits that there is no evidence of a higher prevalence of anti-Semitic attitudes within Labour than in any other party.

BORIS Johnson has prepared a magazine article about how great Marxism is, it has emerged. In the unpublished opinion piece Seizing the Dream, Johnson passionately argues that the time is right for the working classes to take control of factories and execute Alan Sugar. He writes: “While our children dress in rags, our masters have grown fat and bloated on the toil of the exploited proletariat.

Corruption has a disproportionate effect on the poorest and tackling it requires a co-ordinated, long-term approach across Government, with strong leadership from the top. But the continuing lack of transparency in the UK's Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies risks significantly hindering efforts to curb global corruption and damaging the UK's reputation as a leader on anti-corruption. In their report, Tackling corruption overseas, the International Development Committee addresses the approach of DFID and the wider UK Government to tackling corruption overseas.

Although the spin-doctors hate headlines and about “split” and insist on "unity", it is actually good to have disagreements between senior politicians and especially ministers. Debate and even dispute almost always leads to better policy, because ideas are fully tested and examined. So it is, in principle, a good thing that there is dispute in the Cabinet about what form Brexit should take. It is right and proper and in the interests of the nation as a whole that ministers test all the options, examine all the ideas with the harshest of critical gazes.

It has become a commonplace: The notion that many people who voted "Leave" in the EU referendum now regret their vote because they didn't think "Leave" would win or they didn't realise the consequences of leaving the Single Market would be so bad. If you search for "Brexit I didn't think it would happen" you get dozens of stories about hapless voters who thought they were merely casting a protest vote, not fundamentally altering the economic and constitutional basis of the entire country.

Theresa May has pledged to continue to "work closely" with the EU after Brexit, as she arrived for her first Brussels summit as prime minister. She said it was important to have a "united European stance" against "Russian aggression", including "sickening" violence in Syria. The PM is expected to call for a "smooth, constructive, orderly" Brexit. The European Council president likened the summit to a "nest of doves", adding Mrs May would be "absolutely safe".

A private members bill aiming to erase the criminal records of gay men convicted of now-defunct sexual offences was talked out by Tories in the House of Commons this afternoon. MPs shouted at Conservative minister Sam Gyimah to sit down as the cut-off time for SNP MP David Nicolson’s bill approached. However, the justice minister continued to speak, a vote was not called and the bill fell. If passed, it would have cleared the way for a pardon of nearly 50,000 men living with convictions for consensual homosexual activity.

A "Stop Brexit" party would beat Labour and Ukip if a general election were held tomorrow, a new survey has suggested. The YouGov poll of more than 4,500 adults in England and Wales found 50 per cent of people who opted for Remain during the EU referendum would vote for a new pro-EU membership party if given the choice. A further 3.9 per cent of people who voted Leave said they would support the anti-Brexit party.

Fears of a post-EU referendum recession in the second half of the year are expected to be proved unfounded by figures released this week. However, in the first official verdict on how the economy has performed since the Brexit vote, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) is expected to say growth more than halved from 0.7% in the second quarter to 0.3% between July and September. If the economists polled by Reuters are correct, it would be the slowest rate of growth since the third quarter of 2015...