Your morning briefing: What you should know for Friday, June 7

Labour narrowly wins Peterborough by-election

The Brexit Party has failed to secure its first MP as Labour scraped past to win the Peterborough by-election.

The contest was closely fought as Nigel Farage’s party, which was launched less than six months ago, was beaten by just 683 votes.

It was hailed as a "remarkable result" for such a new operation, an official statement from the party read.

"If we can come so close in our 201st target seat, no seat is safe," it warned.

Jeremy Corbyn said it was a "great win" for his Labour party and represented a rejection of the Tories' handling of Brexit.

May to officially stand down today

Theresa May will today formally stand down as Tory leader.

She will carry on as Prime Minister and acting party leader until a successor is in place.

But once Mrs May officially confirms her decision later, a call for candidates to replace her will be issued.

Nominations for the Tory leadership contest will then open at 10am on Monday before closing at 5pm on the same day.

Rain and flooding to batter south-west England

Heavy rain and flooding could today spark power cuts and severe travel disruption in the south of England.

A yellow weather warning for rain was issued for the south-west, west London, parts of the West Midlands and south Wales.

The Met Office alert comes into force at 2pm on Friday and ends at 11pm.

High streets suffer worst May on record

Britain's high streets have suffered their worst May since records began as sales plunged, figures show.

A significant drop of 3.3 per cent was recorded and follows four months of poor results, the latest analysis found.

The lifestyle sector continued its collapse and has now failed to record growth for 16 months.

England out of Nations League

England’s hopes of winning the Uefa Nations League are over after calamitous defending gifted the Netherlands a 3-1 semi-final, extra-time win.

Marcus Rashford gave Gareth Southgate’s side a 32nd-minute lead from the penalty spot before Matthijs De Ligt equalised with 17 minutes left.

England thought they had won it when substitute Jesse Lingard completed a wonderful team move with a cool 83rd-minute finish. But the goal to be ruled out for offside on VAR.

John Stones was then caught in possession by Memphis Depay who forced a brilliant save from Jordan Pickford, but Kyle Walker could only bundle the loose ball into his own net under challenge from Quincy Promes.

On this day…

1329: Robert the Bruce, King of Scotland from 1306, died of leprosy at Cardross Castle on the Firth of Clyde, and was buried in Dunfermline Abbey under the High Altar.

1520: Henry VIII and Francis I of France met in a glittering ceremony at the Field Of The Cloth Of Gold, near Calais.

1929: The Papal State, extinct since 1870, was revived as the State of Vatican City in Rome, as a result of the Lateran Treaty.

1945: Benjamin Britten's opera Peter Grimes was premiered at Sadler's Wells, London.

1946: Television resumed after the war, and announcer Leslie Mitchell said: "As I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted..."

1989: Peter Shilton made his record 109th appearance for England against Denmark, passing Bobby Moore's long-standing record.

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