
The number of visitors to the UK rose to 3.5 million in June, up 7% from the same month last year, according to official figures. The number of visitors from North America shot up by 34%, and visitors overall spent £2.2bn, a rise of 2%, the UK Office of National Statistics, ONS, said.

Lord Hague has compared Brexit to taking control of a gun, saying it is possible to find a solution without using it to “shoot your foot off”. The former Conservative leader said he believes there is sufficient common ground among the different political parties to negotiate with the EU.

The number of students accepted on to UK degree courses has fallen this year, early UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) figures show. In total, 416,310 people have taken up places, down 2% compared with the same point last year.

Over the past 12 months, I've said many times that while the UK is leaving the EU, we are not leaving Europe. No one voted to end the special ties between the UK and Ireland or to undermine the unique arrangements between Ireland and Northern Ireland which have underpinned the peace process and have been in place well before our membership of the EU.

United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May has said it is important to condemn far-right views wherever we hear them as she was asked about Donald Trump's response to clashes in the United States. The PM said: I see no equivalence between those who propound fascist views and those who oppose them.

The United Kingdom government has said it does not want any border posts between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland in its new position paper on Brexit. The paper is part of its negotiations with the European Union and the broad ideas in the document appear familiar.

The UK has set out the ambitious new customs arrangement it wants to secure with the EU after Brexit. Ministers said the plans would mean the freest and most frictionless possible trade with the rest of Europe and could include a temporary customs union after Brexit to prevent border problems as the UK leaves the EU.

Theresa May is expected to be back in Downing Street this week as ministers prepare to flesh out their negotiating position on Brexit. The return of the Prime Minister, who has spent three weeks on holiday in Italy with her husband Philip, coincides with the publication this week of a series of new position papers on Brexit – including one on the fraught issue of the border between Northern Ireland and the Republic.

Prime Minister Theresa May reiterated the UK Government’s strong and wholehearted support for the Falkland Islands right to self-determination and underlined UK is seeking a more productive relation with Argentina but cautioned that the full potential of the relationship depends on Buenos Aires meeting the public commitments of the September 2016 joint communiqué.

The UK will need a transition period to help businesses adjust after Brexit, the chancellor and the international trade secretary have said. In a joint Sunday Telegraph article, Philip Hammond and Liam Fox stressed any deal would not be indefinite or a “back door” to staying in the EU.