Holding court

Brexit campaigner Gina Miller – who has won a legal battle against ministers over Article 50 – has threatened to take the Government to court if the next prime minister attempts to shut down Parliament to push through a no-deal Brexit.
 
This comes as Amber Rudd appears to have u-turned from being in stark opposition to leaving the EU without a deal. Speaking on the Andrew Marr Show on Sunday, Rudd said the circumstances have now changed because there was time to use the threat of no-deal to get a better deal.
 
Rudd has nevertheless pledged to fight any bid by the next prime minister to suspend Parliament to force no-deal through.

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson and Jeremy Hunt will go head to head later today when they take part in a debate hosted by The Sun and talkRadio in London. The race to succeed Theresa May in Number 10 enters the final stage, with the winner announced in less than 10 days’ time.
 
Ballot papers from the party’s 180,000 members are reportedly coming in more slowly than expected – Hunt’s supporters are hoping that this might help him close the gap on frontrunner Johnson.

Slow lane  

China’s economy grew at its slowest pace since the early 1990s in the second quarter of 2019, according to official figures by China’s national statistics bureau. The economy grew by 6.2% from a year earlier in the three months to June, a drop from 6.4% growth in the first quarter of the year.
 
The slow is partly a result of China’s ongoing trade war with the US, which has hurt businesses and weighted on growth. The country has attempted to stimulate the economy this year by boosting spending and introducing tax cuts.
 
There are concerns that China’s slowing growth could have a knock-on effect on the global economy. Meanwhile, the country’s industrial production rose by 6.3% in June, while retail sales rose by 9.8% year on year.

Can't fly with me

A series of planned strikes at Heathrow airport are set to cause disruptions in the next few weeks. More than 4,000 workers, including security guards, engineers, passenger service operatives and drivers, are set to walk out over pay on 26 and 27 of July, 5 and 6 August and 23 and 24 August.
 
There are concerns that the action could lead to airport shut down, but Heathrow have said they would implement contingency plans to ensure the airport remained open.
 
The moves comes after an 18-month pay offer amounting to 2.7% was rejected. Members of the Unite union backed strike action in eight separate strike ballots amid anger over pay differences between workers doing the same job at the airport and a pay hike for Heathrow’s chief executive John Holland-Kaye.

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