Thanks for joining us for another day of updates from the very heart of Westminster.

We'll be back on Sunday for all the latest - and another packed episode of Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips.

The decision to approve the UK's first coal mine for 30 years has been thrown out by a High Court judge.

Today's ruling likely forces Angela Rayner, the Labour government's housing, communities and local government secretary, to reconsider the planning application for the Whitehaven coal mine - this time taking into account the full damage it could do to the climate.

Mr Justice Holgate said in his judgment: "The assumption that the proposed mine would not produce a net increase in greenhouse gas emissions, or would be a net zero mine, is legally flawed."

At a hearing in July, the newly elected government had already decided not to defend the previous Conservative administration's decision to greenlight the project, following new legal developments.

The future of the proposed mine is now uncertain.

The Conservative leadership competition is approaching the crunch point.

In the first round of voting by Tory MPs last week, the former home secretary Dame Priti Patel was voted out.

A second vote took place on Tuesday evening, in which former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride was eliminated.

Here's a reminder of who's left vying for Rishi Sunak's job:

James Cleverly

Mr Cleverly became the first to officially enter the contest with a post on social media, saying he wanted to "re-establish our reputation as the party who, in government, helps grow the economy".

The Essex MP, who was home secretary until the last election, is one of the Tories' most experienced former cabinet ministers, having also been foreign secretary, education secretary and party chairman.

Tom Tugendhat

Mr Tugendhat was the second Tory to put himself forward, just moments after nominations opened.

The former security minister is regarded highly among the One Nation group of moderate Tory MPs.

Robert Jenrick

The former immigration minister was the third to announce he was running, after Mr Cleverly and Mr Tugendhat.

Mr Jenrick held several ministerial roles, including communities secretary - a position he lost in one of Mr Johnson's reshuffles.

Kemi Badenoch

Mrs Badenoch, the ex-business secretary, was the final Tory to announce she was standing.

She is seen as a darling of the right and has impressed some in the party with her no-nonsense approach.

What happens next?

Later this month, the remaining candidates will give speeches to the party's conference, setting out their stalls to both MPs and party members.

MPs will then vote again to narrow the field to two candidates.

The party's wider membership will then vote, with the winner announced on 2 November.

With the winter fuel allowance vote passing in the House of Commons, Beth, Harriet and Ruth discuss the row and government’s approach to dealing with the unpopular policy. 

They also look at MPs who have second jobs presenting TV shows (or podcasts) and what sort of extra work or broadcast appearances they should, or shouldn’t, be paid for. 

Plus, with both Harriet and Ruth now in the House of Lords, they discuss how the unelected chamber could be modernised, and if it should even exist.  

👉Click here to follow Electoral Dysfunction wherever you get your podcasts👈

For more information on dates and tickets for our tour, go to: www.aegpresents.co.uk/event/electoral-dysfunction-live/

Email us at [email protected], post on X to @BethRigby, or send a WhatsApp voice note on 07934 200 444.  

Sir Keir Starmer has refused to rule out axing the 25% single-person council tax discount, saying decisions on the public finances had to be looked at "in the round".

The prime minister said he would not be drawn on the future of the tax break for people who live alone ahead of Chancellor Rachel Reeves' budget on 30 October.

Scrapping the discount could further hit some pensioners living alone who have already suffered the loss of winter fuel payments, but Sir Keir insisted he was not punishing elderly Britons.

The Local Government Association, which represents councils, has argued that cash-strapped authorities should be given the power to vary the single person discount, which is worth about £3bn a year.

Sir Keir was challenged about the potential impact of scrapping the discount for elderly people who live alone and denied the assertion it was a "punishment beating" for pensioners.

"No, absolutely not," he told reporters accompanying him on his trip to Washington.

"And let's just try to quash this now. The budget is on October 30. So, between now and then, you are all going to ask me questions, as you did before the election, 'will you rule out X, Y, Z?'

"And knowing that I'm not going to say before the budget what we're going to do, you will then write a story saying, 'refused to rule out X, Y, Z'.

"I'm not going to say before the budget what we're going to do."

Crime and policing minister Dame Diana Johnson has had her purse stolen - while meeting senior officers to discuss shoplifting and thefts.

It happened as the Labour MP attended the Police Superintendents' Association's annual conference in Kenilworth in the West Midlands.

During a speech at the event, Dame Diana said the UK had been "gripped by an epidemic of anti-social behaviour, theft and shoplifting".

She later discovered her belongings had been stolen, although no "security risk" was identified, officials said.

There was no growth in the UK economy in July, official figures show.

It's the second month of stagnation, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said as GDP - the measure of everything produced in the UK - flatlined in the weeks following the election of the Labour government.

The flatline was not expected by economists, who had anticipated growth.

Our business correspondent Paul Kelso reports on the state of the UK economy:

By Mollie Malone, news correspondent

A significant sigh of relief for the government and for the prison service who have been battling a chronic overcrowding crisis for the best part of a year.

The release of thousands of people under a new policy has clearly had an impact reflected in the statistics after just a few days. But there are questions on how long it lasts – for a couple of reasons.

First – there are fears that the mass release of thousands of people in such a manner doesn't prepare offenders for the community properly and that perhaps reoffence and recalls are inevitable – defeating the point entirely.

And second – remember we are still in the midst of the rapid sentencing of rioters after the events in the summer.

Plus – many say that if we continue to send people to prison in the way we are today, with lengthy sentences for some – well we will quickly be back to the same position.

Some prison insiders say we could return to that point within 9 months to a year.

So temporary relief and respite. But some realism too about how long it lasts.

The Conservative leadership competition is approaching the crunch point.

In the first round of voting by Tory MPs last week, the former home secretary Dame Priti Patel was voted out.

A second vote took place on Tuesday evening, in which former work and pensions secretary Mel Stride was eliminated.

Here's a reminder of who's left vying for Rishi Sunak's job:

James Cleverly

Mr Cleverly became the first to officially enter the contest with a post on social media, saying he wanted to "re-establish our reputation as the party who, in government, helps grow the economy".

The Essex MP, who was home secretary until the last election, is one of the Tories' most experienced former cabinet ministers, having also been foreign secretary, education secretary and party chairman.

Tom Tugendhat

Mr Tugendhat was the second Tory to put himself forward, just moments after nominations opened.

The former security minister is regarded highly among the One Nation group of moderate Tory MPs.

Robert Jenrick

The former immigration minister was the third to announce he was running, after Mr Cleverly and Mr Tugendhat.

Mr Jenrick held several ministerial roles, including communities secretary - a position he lost in one of Mr Johnson's reshuffles.

Kemi Badenoch

Mrs Badenoch, the ex-business secretary, was the final Tory to announce she was standing.

She is seen as a darling of the right and has impressed some in the party with her no-nonsense approach.

What happens next?

Later this month, the remaining candidates will give speeches to the party's conference, setting out their stalls to both MPs and party members.

MPs will then vote again to narrow the field to two candidates.

The party's wider membership will then vote, with the winner announced on 2 November.

Six British diplomats have been expelled from Russia after being accused of "spying and sabotage".

The country's FSB security service said they worked in the "political department" of the British embassy in Moscow.

A Whitehall source told Sky News the diplomats were kicked out in August as part of a wave of tit-for-tat expulsions.

The source strongly denied the individuals had been involved in spying.

The FSB claimed the Eastern Europe and Central Asia branch of the Foreign Office was now a "special service whose main task is to inflict a strategic defeat on our country".

News of the latest expulsion comes as President Vladimir Putin warned against Ukraine getting approval to use Western-supplied long-range missiles against Russia.

He said it would "significantly change the very essence, the very nature of the conflict" and "mean that NATO countries, US, European countries are at war with Russia".