Simon Case to stand down as cabinet secretary at end of the year – UK politics live

The UK’s top civil servant will leave his post on health grounds in a move expected to be welcomed by some Labour figuresSimon Case to stand down on health groundsRobert Jenrick has used a campaign rally just outside the Conservative conference to paint the issue of migration in highly stark terms, saying his party will “die” if it does not commit to quitting the European convention on human rights. (See 8.23am.)Speaking to supporters in a studio theatre at Birmingham Rep, Jenrick repeated his styling of the issue in Brexit terms, saying the choice was between the “leave” of leaving the ECHR or “remain” of staying in it, and that this was a chance to “get migration done”.This is more than just, ‘leave or amend’ – frankly, our party doesn’t have a future unless we take a stand and fix this problem. It’s leave or die for our party – I’m for leave.Foreign national offenders in our country,who we have struggled to deport because of our membership of the European Convention on Human Rights – that’s the issue I was raising.What is the biggest challenge we face as a party?Our biggest strategic challenge is the fact that the average age above which you are more likely to vote Conservative than Labour is now over 60. Continue reading...