And we're off...published at 09:02 BST 20 September
This week's episode of Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg has just started.
As a reminder, we won't bring you continual text updates throughout, but you can watch live at the top of the page.
Summary
Liberal Democrat leader Ed Davey says he wants the UK to join the new European Union's migration pact to curb small boat crossings
The pact aims to speed up the asylum process and increase the number of irregular migrants returned to their home countries
He also calls for a temporary 10p cut on fuel duty to bring down the cost of living. Davey adds he will set out plans to permanently cut taxes at his party's conference this week
Equalities Minister Bridget Phillipson says the UK economy is in a "strong position" going into the upcoming Budget
She rejects criticism from Sir Jim Ratcliffe - the billionaire owner of Manchester United - who has described the country as "on the slide"
This page won't carry regular text updates
And we're off...published at 09:02 BST 20 September
This week in politicspublished at 08:50 BST 20 September
Image source, PA MediaImage caption, Lady Justice Thirlwall said there was a "toxic negativity" towards whistleblowers at the Countess of Chester hospital
Here’s a recap of some of the biggest political stories of the week:
- Monday: Government plans to restrict donations to UK political parties from British voters living overseas to £100,000 made progress as a bill on the topic was scrutinised in the House of Lords
- It came as Reform UK faced fresh scrutiny after receiving two donations totalling £72m from two British crypto billionaires who have both recently lived abroad - Nigel Farage said the donations were "100% compliant with the law today"
- Tuesday: The Thirlwall Inquiry, a report into how serial killer Lucy Letby was able to murder babies at the Countess of Chester hospital, was published and found the hospital "missed opportunities" to prevent the murders - prompting Health Secretary Yvette Cooper to announce officials would "urgently develop plans" to introduce live-streaming cameras on cots in England's baby wards
- Wednesday: Lib Dem leader Ed Davey set out his plans for the country in a series of quick-fire interviews on BBC local radio stations ahead of the party's conference this weekend, proposing closer ties with the EU as a way to tackle the small boats crisis - for which he repeatedly blamed the Conservative Party and Farage
- Thursday: King Charles warned AI executives of the "existential dangers" posed by the technology falling into the wrong hands at a summit in Ayrshire. The comments came after a series of warnings from people inside the industry over the week about the rapidly evolving capabilities of advanced or "frontier" AI models and the regulation needed to keep them in check
- Saturday: The Lib Dems began their autumn conference in Brighton, with Davey describing the party as "a firewall against Nigel Farage and Reform". He said many of the seats Reform needs to win in order for its leader to get into No 10 "are seats that we will defend and indeed win"
Phillipson and Davey to face questions on Sunday with Laura Kuenssbergpublished at 08:38 BST 20 September
In today's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, we'll be hearing from cabinet minister Bridget Phillipson and Liberal Democrats Leader Ed Davey.
Davey's appearance comes as the Lib Dems' annual conference is under way in Brighton - he'll be making a keynote speech there on Tuesday, but first he'll be fielding questions from Kuenssberg.
Musician and songwriter Sting will also be joining the programme today. On the panel are broadcaster and former MP Gyles Brandreth, campaigner and broadcaster Nicola Thorp and The Economist's editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes.
We won't be bringing you live text updates during the show, but you can watch live at the top of the page from 09:00 BST.
