Brexit: Theresa May faces cabinet ministers as DUP threaten to break alliance over EU exit
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Your support makes all the difference.Theresa May has gathered her senior ministers for briefings on the Brexit negotiations as the fierce battle to agree the shape of a deal with Brussels reaches its final weeks.
Ahead of next week's key EU Council summit, Downing Street admitted there were still "big issues to resolve" while officials in Brussels said there was "no breakthrough yet" in the talks.
Meanwhile, the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), which props up Ms May's government, dramatically flexed its muscles by insisting its 10 MPs would block the Budget - and potentially topple the government - if the prime minister breaches its Brexit red lines.
In a warning shot to Ms May, DUP MPs failed to back the government in voting against an amendment to an Agriculture Bill on Wednesday.
EU chief Brexit negotiator Michel Barnier also warned that checks on goods over the Irish border could increase tenfold after Britain leaves bloc - an ultimatum likely to infuriate the Northern Irish politicians.
Elsewhere, cabinet minister Esther McVey, who was not invited to attend the meeting, became the second member of Ms May's top team to repeatedly refuse to endorse the Chequers plan, although she insisted the prime minister had her full support.
If you want to follow the day's events, see our live coverage below:
Doctors will be able to prescribe cannabis products to patients from November 1, Sajid Javid has announced.
The new rules apply to England, Wales and Scotland, and follow several high-profile cases, including that of young epilepsy sufferers Alfie Dingley and Billy Caldwell, whose conditions appeared to be helped by cannabis oil.
More Tory anger over Universal Credit, this time from prominent backbencher Johnny Mercer.
Breaking story here: The surcharge for migrants to use the NHS will double to £400, the government has announced.
Hannah Deacon, mother of Alfie Dingley, a child who needs medical cannabis to treat his epilepsy, said it was a "momentous day".
"We urge the medical world to get behind these reforms so they can help the tens of thousands of people who are in urgent need of help," she said.
"I have personally seen how my son's life has changed due to the medical cannabis he is now prescribed.
"As a family we were facing his death. Now we are facing his life, full of joy and hope, which is something I wish for each and every person in this country who could benefit from this medicine."
HMRC boss Jon Thompson has received death threats after estimating that the Brexiteers favoured customs model could cost £20bn.
According to The Guardian, he told an Institute for Government event: "We have had to literally change how I travel and what my personal security is. We have had two death threats investigated by the Metropolitan Police for speaking truth unto power about Brexit.
"Those are real situations. I’m still not going to back away from [telling the truth] if I think something’s not going to work - it’s incumbent on me.
"We live in a democracy so in the end, it’s for governments to decide, ministers to decide what they want to implement. But our role as civil servants is to act with integrity and to give them our best advice."
Here's our story on his comments back in May:
John Major's attack on universal credit shows how far the Tories have moved from compassionate conservatism, writes Hannah Fearn, the Indy's co-comment editor.
Read her piece about the universal credit row, and what it says about the soul of the party:
A Tory MP has clashed with Chris Grayling after it emerged the government is planning to use part of the M26 motorway as a "parking lot" in the event of a no-deal Brexit.
Tom Tugendhat, the MP for Tonbridge and Mailing, claimed work had begun on the motorway in the south-east on Wednesday evening and said the community had been kept in the dark over the plans devised by the Department for Transport (DfT).
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