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3. Cameron and Miliband at PMQs: Politics live blog

Labour calls on party to work towards consensus on financial transaction tax after 11 EU members vote in favour

The Liberal Democrats will on Tuesday face pressure to break ranks with their coalition partners by voting in favour of the principle of a financial transaction tax.

Labour, which is to press for a Commons vote on the issue, called on the Lib Dems to help create a consensus on the so-called Robin Hood tax which would in turn encourage the US to support the measure.

Chris Leslie, the shadow Treasury minister, will seek to embarrass the Lib Dems when he tables an amendment to a European Union document which will be presented to MPs after the decision of 11 EU member states to introduce the tax. The document notes that the government is mounting a challenge in the European court of justice against the EU proposal for an FTT which could involve a 0.01% levy on bond and share transactions.

The Labour amendment has been worded carefully to make it more difficult for the Lib Dems to refuse to support it. The amendment calls on the government to support the principle of an FTT and to work with other global financial centres, including the US, to reach consensus on a "modest rate without creating negative economic consequences".

Leslie said: "If Liberal Democrats agree with the concept of a financial transaction tax, then this is the moment for them to show their support. There should be cross-party agreement to get negotiations under way and find a consensus especially with the United States government.

"The time has come for George Osborne to get serious about a financial transaction tax. The chancellor's begrudging acceptance of the principle after that 2009 G20 in Pittsburg has not just withered away into general antipathy – he has done whatever he can to put a spanner in the works.

"Yet at a time when deficits are persistently high because of rock-bottom growth, leading economies including Britain and the United States need alternative revenue measures from continuing financial market speculation to relieve pressures on lower and middle income households and the public services they use. There are many lessons from the banking crisis, the most obvious of which is that the sheer globalised might of financial trading can overpower the plans and defences of individual nation states. Governments shouldn't just shrug and accept this fate – which is why George Osborne should champion a reform agenda to harness international financial markets so that they serve our societies and economies."

Britain opted out of a scheme to introduce the FTT in the EU when 11 member states – Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Portugal, Greece, Austria, Slovakia, Slovenia and Estonia – announced earlier this year they had formed a "coalition of the willing". Their scheme would impose a levy on all euro transactions anywhere in the world.

The chancellor announced in April that Britain is to take the case to the European court of justice because of fears of the "extra-territorial aspects of the European commission's proposals". The City of London has the largest amount of euro-denominated transactions in the world even though Britain is not a member of the single currency.

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State-owned radio and TV network will keep broadcasting during restructure after shutdown by prime minister sparked crisis

A Greek court has ordered the state broadcaster ERT back on air while it is restructured, allowing squabbling leaders of the governing coalition to move towards a compromise that avoids early elections.

The ruling came six days after the prime minister, Antonis Samaras, suddenly switched ERT off to save money and please foreign lenders, sparking an outcry from unions, journalists and exposing a rift with his allies.

The top administrative court appeared to vindicate Samaras's stance that a leaner, cheaper public broadcaster must be set up but also allowed for ERT's immediate reopening as his two coalition partners had demanded, offering all three a way out of an impasse that had raised the spectre of a snap election.

All parties claimed victory from the ruling, which failed to specify whether ERT must restart with programming as before or only partially resume operations until its relaunch.

"The court decision is essentially in line with what we've said: no one has the right to shut down national radio and television and turn screens black," said Fotis Kouvelis, head of the small Democratic Left party in the coalition.

Evangelos Venizelos, head of the Socialist Pasok party, said the ruling vindicated his party's line and reiterated that he was against going to early elections.

An official from Samaras's New Democracy party – which has already scored a minor victory by securing the latest tranche of bailout funds partly due to ERT's shutdown – said the ruling affirmed the government's position that ERT had to be scrapped. "ERT is shut, ERT is finished," said the official.

A live feed of ERT – whose journalists have continued broadcasting over the internet in defiance of orders – showed workers breaking into applause after the court ruling. ERT's symphony orchestra began a concert outside its headquarters, playing an old news jingle to cheering supporters. "I've been here seven nights and this is the first time I've seen people smile," said Eleni Hrona, an ERT reporter.

During talks with his allies Samaras offered to reopen a pared-down version of ERT under temporary management, reshuffle the cabinet and update the coalition's agreement to improve co-operation among parties, a government official said.

Pasok's Venizelos said Samaras had appeared to accept the option of a cabinet reshuffle and better co-ordination. The three political leaders would meet again on Wednesday to agree on how to implement the court ruling.

"ERT is not the only or the main issue," he said. "The main issue is that this government must operate as a government of real co-operation and not as a one-party government."

The threat of early elections that had shaken financial markets appeared to recede as talk shifted to the reshuffle. "No political leader said we must go to elections," another official said. "Elections weren't even discussed."

The coalition parties over the past week had fed fears of a hugely disruptive snap poll by refusing to compromise over an entity widely unloved until its shock overnight closure.

Aware his allies stand to lose heavily in any election, the conservative Samaras had refused to turn the "sinful" ERT back on, vowing to fight to modernise a country he says had become a "Jurassic Park" of inefficiency and corruption.

His coalition partners had previously rejected Samaras's offer of a limited restart of broadcasts.
Ratings agency Moody's said the fraying political consensus on ERT's closure and slippage on a troubled privatisation programme after Athens failed to sell off state natural gas firm DEPA were negative for Greece's lowly C credit rating. "Without a compromise among coalition partners, the risk of new elections will increase," the agency said.

A senior eurozone official voiced concern that Greece was hurtling back to its days of crisis and drama, given the slow pace of public sector reforms and privatisations. "It's kind of deja vu with Greece," the official said.

Opinion polls over the weekend showed a majority of Greeks opposed the shutdown, due rather to its abruptness – screens went black a few hours after the announcement, cutting off newscasters mid-sentence – than to the decision itself.

In Syntagma Square outside parliament thousands gathered to listen to radical left opposition leader Alexis Tsipras protest against the ERT shutdown and attack Samaras as a "great Napoleon of bailouts".

"But he didn't see, nor did he predict, the Waterloo that ERT workers and the great majority of people prepared for him," Tsipras told crowds of flag-waving supporters.

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3. Greece’s PM offers to reopen ‘lite’ version of ERT

Antonis Samaras proposes pared-down state broadcaster after abrupt closure causes deep rifts in ruling coalition

Greece's prime minister, Antonis Samaras, has offered to reopen a pared-down version of the state broadcaster under temporary management and reshuffle the cabinet, a government official said on Monday,yesterday, to try to defuse a political crisis and avoid a snap election.

ERT's abrupt closure last week, carried out in the name of austerity to please EU and International Monetary Fund lenders, triggered a deep rift in the ruling coalition, throwing the debt-choked nation back into turmoil just as faint hopes of a recovery had begun to sprout.

Samaras made the offer to revive the broadcaster during talks with his coalition – allowing the two junior parties, the Socialist PASOK and Democratic Left, to pick the deputy minister who will oversee ERT in a transitional form. "It's a last-ditch move by the prime minister to reach a compromise and avoid elections," the official said.

The transitional broadcaster would pave the way for the smaller, cheaper public broadcaster that Samaras had initially promised would replace ERT. The official said Samaras had also offered to reshuffle his cabinet at the end of June and update the coalition agreement with his allies to try to improve co-operation between the parties.

Exactly a year after a parliamentary election brought Samaras and his two leftist allies to power, the parties have fed fears of a hugely disruptive snap poll by refusing to compromise over an entity widely unloved until its shock overnight closure.

"It's clear that over the last days any semblance of logic in dealing with this issue has been lost," said Costas Panagopoulos, head of polling company ALCO "The most absurd thing is that we are talking about a possible destruction of the country over ERT."

Aware that his allies stand to lose heavily in any election, the conservative Samaras had refused in a flurry of speeches to turn the "sinful" ERT back on, vowing to fight to modernise a country he said had become a Jurassic Park of inefficiency and corruption.

1. Greeks strike over state TV closure, PM offers talks
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3. Greek court orders state TV reopened, PM offers compromise

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Russian president says backing 'those who kill their enemies and eat their organs' flouts Europe's humanitarian values

A diplomatic breakthrough on the Syrian civil war at the G8 summit in Northern Ireland appeared unlikely when the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, chastised the west for considering arming Syrian rebels, saying they ate human organs. He said Russia by contrast was arming the legitimate government of Syria.

Speaking after a difficult meeting with Putin in Downing Street, David Cameron claimed both men were in agreement on the need to end the human catastrophe of the civil war. But there was little to suggest the two men made progress on how to convene a fresh Syrian peace conference in Geneva, let alone who should attend, or its agenda.

In icy exchanges at a press conference, Putin said: "You will not deny that one does not really need to support the people who not only kill their enemies, but open up their bodies, eat their intestines in front of the public and cameras. Are these the people you want to support? Is it them who you want to supply with weapons? Then this probably has little relation to humanitarian values that have been preached in Europe for hundreds of years."

Putin's remarks will find an echo on the Conservative benches, where there is strong resistance to arming the Syrian opposition. Cameron has argued that it is possible to arm the pluralist democratic elements of the opposition, and he too wants to drive al-Qaida from Syria.

The talks followed a decision by President Barack Obama's administration to arm rebels trying to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad after the US said it had obtained proof that the Syrian government had used chemical weapons. Some of the proof was provided by British scientists at Porton Down, and Cameron has now accused Assad of committing war crimes.

Cameron admitted the Russians and the UK held different points of view, but said the two countries would put aside their differences and focus on the "common ground" – organising peace talks between the parties in Geneva. Putin said he fully shared Cameron's view that the civil war could be ended "only by political and diplomatic means".

Cameron added: "We both see the humanitarian catastrophe. We both see the dangers of instability and extremism. We both want to see a peace process and a transition. The challenge for the G8 … is to put aside some of these differences."

The Russian leader, who arrived an hour late for the talks, said he wanted to help broker a peace deal for Syria, and he hoped the G8 summit in Northern Ireland could advance that process. Putin insisted his government was "not breaching any rules" in supplying weapons to Bashar al-Assad's "legitimate government" and called on partner G8 countries to respect the same rules.

"What I take from our conversation today is that we can overcome these differences if we recognise that we share some fundamental aims: to end the conflict, to stop Syria breaking apart, to let the Syrian people decide who governs them, and to take the fight to the extremists and defeat them," said Cameron.

In a sign of deteriorating relations among the G8, the Canadian prime minister, Steve Harper, claimed Putin was backing Assad's "thugs".

"I don't think we should fool ourselves," he said. "This is G7 plus one. We in the west have a very different perspective on this situation. Mr Putin and his government are supporting the thugs of the Assad regime for their own reasons that I do not think are justifiable, and Mr Putin knows my view on that."

Cameron was also under pressure from his coalition partners the Liberal Democrats to avoid dragging Britain into a military conflict. Nick Clegg, the Lib Dem leader, implied that the case for intervention was less clear cut than in Libya or Iraq.

The shadow foreign secretary, Douglas Alexander, said MPs of all parties were feeling unease. "For months Labour has called on the government to answer basic questions about their approach, such as how the prime minister would ensure that weapons supplied did not fall into the wrong hands, and how this step would help to de-escalate the conflict rather than prolong it.

"The G8 is a key window of opportunity for David Cameron to exert pressure on President Putin and it is vital that he uses the coming hours to do so."

Tory MP Julian Lewis said it would be "suicidal" for Britain to hand arms to an opposition the government admits includes extremist elements.

He told the BBC's Radio 4: "The reason it would be suicidal would be that in taking over Syria they would also inherit Syria's arsenal of weapons, including in particular the nerve gas which is the centre of so much attention.

"In the past we have gone to war because we feared that weapons of mass destruction might fall into the hands of al-Qaida and it would be absolutely crazy to assist al-Qaida to get their hands on the very sorts of weapons we must keep away from them at all costs.

"I have little doubt the prime minister would struggle to get this achieved by parliament, because so many think it is not in Britain's national interest."

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Stockholm's riots happened in the outskirts of the city, with the poor having been driven out of the centre by rising prices

Like those in London two years ago, the recent riots that swept across Stockholm recently were sparked when a man was shot by police. Yet the burning cars and battles with the police were in peripheral districts around the centre, while in London, "mixed" inner-city districts from Peckham to Clapham saw much of the unrest. That apparent difference hides a long history of mutual appreciation between the town planners of Britain and Sweden.

Sweden has long been a point of reference in British politics. The Labour right admired its partnership between unions and business, the Labour left preferred the independent foreign policy and a deeper, stronger welfare state. More recently, Conservatives have borrowed free schools from Swedish neoliberals, secure in the knowledge that the word "Swedish" makes a policy sound progressive. For planners, Sweden's towns have long been models of intervention and equality.

Sweden's Social Democrats, in government from 1932 to 1976, did not favour "social" housing directed specifically towards those in need, but universal public housing, via tenant-owned co-operatives, municipal-owned building companies, and rigorous rent control, under a specialised housing department.

Vällingby, to the west of Stockholm, built in the early 1950s, was one result – and a place of pilgrimage for British planners and architects. Tower blocks are interspersed with low-rises and terraces, just as in the "mixed developments" of the UK; but rather than vague municipal lawns, the low-rise flats have a forest just behind them, something borrowed in part for Cumbernauld new town. Vällingby's pedestrian precinct, conversely, was inspired by the centres of Coventry and Stevenage – but unlike them it still looks affluent and elegant.

The riots were largely confined to the estates built under the "million programme" of the 60s and 70s, when the Social Democrats tried to solve the housing question at one prefabricated stroke. Casually, these places could be compared with our stacked-up Ronan Points of the same era, but the similarities are deceptive. A typical million programme area on the outskirts of Stockholm is Flemingsberg, site of some of May's unrest. From the adjacent motorway it really does look monolithic, but on foot, it's verdant, pretty and bustling. A London comparison would be the Heygate estate – imposing from a distance, green inside. The striking difference with Vällingby and even more with the centre is that it's not racially homogeneous, with a high non-white population. It suggests Stockholm is a deeply segregated city. How did this happen?

Under conservative governments in the 1990s and 2000s, housing began to be privatised, with predictable results, especially given the British experience. Flats in the most desirable areas – here, the city centre – rocketed in price. Yet Stockholm has kept building, and British architects and planners have kept visiting. The "success story" is Hammarby Sjöstad, a waterside scheme which shames the likes of Salford Quays. As much as Vällingby, it shows the virtues of long-term planning over speculation.

But although some of Hammarby was built by the municipality, it's a wealthy and overwhelmingly white area, and rents are high. It offers little to those exiled to the peripheral million programmes. Hammarby implies that in Sweden, social democracy was only abandoned for the poor. Its innovations were retained for a bourgeoisie whose new areas are far more humane than those provided for them by British developers.

In Stockholm, the centre was cleared of the poor – the likely consequences in London of coalition's housing policies. The stark segregation visible there means that for the first time, it should stand as an example to London's planners of what not to do.

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Antonis Samaras tries to calm political crisis by offering partial reinstatement so transmissions can resume 'immediately'

Greece's prime minister, Antonis Samaras, attempted late on Friday night to end the turmoil over his decision to close the country's public broadcaster – with a proposal to partially reinstate the company so it could resume transmissions "immediately".

The proposed closure of the Hellenic Broadcasting Company (ERT) has led to the conservative leader facing his worst political crisis since assuming power a year ago.

He announced the apparent climbdown in the hope it would stem the public protests that have once again put Athens in the eye of the storm.

"To find a solution to the issue … I propose that a temporary committee of broad parliamentary acceptance be appointed," he said in a statement.

The committee, he suggested, should be set up "with the express purpose of hiring a small number of [ERT] employees so that the broadcast of news programmes can begin immediately".

But instead of calming tensions, his offer inflamed them. Within hours, his two centre-left coalition partners rejected the offer, reinforcing speculation that they would walk out of the uneasy alliance now ruling Greece if ERT is not quickly reopened.

Dimitris Trimis, the head of the country's association of journalists, ESEA, described the compromise as being "totally insufficient".

He said: "It proves that he is under tremendous pressure but it falls far short of the demands of unions and ERT employees who have already experienced huge cutbacks.

"He still wants to go ahead with his plans to radically restructure the organisation."

Prior to his announcement, Samaras had come under immense pressure, both at home and abroad, to switch the state-run channel back on.

Describing ERT as a huge drain on the public purse, he had previously insisted the broadcaster, which employs 2,700, would not be reopened until it had been overhauled in line with the demands of Greece's "troika" of creditors – the International Monetary Fund, the European Central Bank and the EU,

Earlier on Friday, the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) had urged Samaras to reverse his decision after emergency talks in Athens.

"We ask the government to re-establish the signal on TV, radio and web," said the body's president Jean-Paul Philippot, noting it was the first time in the history of Europe that a country had elected to shut down its own broadcaster.

Across the continent officials have also expressed dismay at the move made when the broadcaster was transmitting live late on Tuesday.

Berlin, which has bankrolled most of the bailout funds propping up the debt-stricken Greek economy, is said to be outraged at the prospect of political crisis in Athens shattering the calm before Germans go to the polls in September.

With all sides digging in their heels, the spectre of elections had become a real possibility.

"No one, with the exception of [neo-Nazi and fast-growing] Golden Dawn, wants elections in this country," said political scientist Dimitris Kerides.

"It was absolutely expedient that Samaras found a way to back down without losing face."

Analysts did not rule out the compromise being used as a bargaining chip ahead of crucial talks between all three coalition leaders on Monday.

Samaras, addressing the youth wing of his own centre-right party on Friday, accused those who defended the broadcaster of being "hypocrites," likening ERT to a den of "sin … and scandals that our people will learn".

The public prosecutor's office had ordered an official probe into the widespread corruption and malpractice that had bedevilled the company, he said.

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Justin Welby says he and Pope Francis agree on gay marriage and financial reforms after 'very personal' conversation

On the menu – a five-course affair, surprisingly plentiful perhaps for the era of the "poor church" – were sliced swordfish, pasta with prawns, tuna steak, semifreddo, fresh fruit and coffee.

But, as the pope met the archbishop of Canterbury for the first time on Friday – a meeting of two pragmatists creaking under the weight of centuries of fraught history – the real order of the day, at least in theory, was unity.

After visits to the tombs of both St Peter and John Paul II, Justin Welby – installed just days after the election of Pope Francis – held a "very personal" conversation with the former cardinal Jorge Bergoglio. It was clear, he said afterwards, that co-operation between the churches, despite the serious issues which divide them, was "an absolute necessity". The pope, he said, seemed to him "an extraordinary humanity on fire with the spirit of Christ".

On gay marriage, Welby declared he and Francis had proved to be "absolutely at one on the issues". In a press briefing at the Venerable English College of Rome, Welby added that the pair were "equally at one on our condemnation of homophobic behaviour". The pope, for his part, said in an address that he wanted to co-operate on the "importance of the institution of the family built on marriage".

On ethical reforms of the financial system, too, the men were onside. Welby, a former oil executive citing the influences of Catholic social teaching and the need for the banking system to find "new values", said the church's leaders had "got to find a way to make that happen". Francis, earlier, had spoken of efforts to achieve social justice, "to build an economic system that is at the service of man and promotes the common good".

They also raised the role that Christianity could play in international matters, such as the ongoing conflict in Syria, and human trafficking, said the archbishop of Westminster, Vincent Nichols, who joined Welby on his inaugural visit to Rome.

Such were the apparent points of commonality that, when it was announced that the archbishop would be making a more official return visit to the Vatican in December, Welby felt moved to clarify: "We're not planning on spending Christmas together. I do have a day job in England."

On this occasion, then, the deep differences that divide the Church of England and Anglican communion from the world's 1.2 billion Catholics were not the emphasis. "In terms of values and principles, there was a really strong commitment to working together … and recognising that there are major issues around that but recognising that this is an absolute necessity," said Welby.

The ordination of women was mentioned "in passing" but not dwelled on, said the archbishop, an ardent advocate for female bishops in the Church of England. In his address, Francis said he was grateful for efforts made by Anglicans to understand why his predecessor, Benedict XVI, had introduced a structure – the Personal Ordinariate of Our Lady of Walsingham – to allow disaffected members of the C of E to convert. They did not, Welby said, discuss it any further.

"The conversation," he explained, "was about how you feel when you get up in the morning and you've got these extraordinary days, and where do you go in prayer?" Asked if the by-now-famously-maverick pontiff had given the archbishop any tips on his style, Welby, ever a quip to hand, replied: "We naturally discussed the colour of cassocks."

1. Shift in style as outsiders Justin Welby and Pope Francis get together

A350 direct competitor to 787 and completes maiden four-hour return flight from Toulouse

The Airbus A350's maiden flight ended with a safe landing on Friday, setting the stage for intensifying competition with US rival Boeing in the long-haul wide-body aircraft market.

The four-hour flight marks a key step on the path to full certification for the jet, which can carry between 250 and 400 passengers and is the European aircraft maker's best hope for catching up in a long-haul market dominated by Boeing's 787 and 777.

Airspace at the airport in the southern French city of Toulouse, where Airbus has its headquarters, closed for both take-off and landing.

Airbus has 613 orders for the A350, and hopes Friday's flight will bring it momentum heading into next week's Paris air show, which is already shaping up as a battle of the wide-body planes.

More than half of the twin-engine jet consists of lightweight carbon-fibre designed to save on fuel, which makes up half the cost of long-haul flights.

The A350, which was delayed for two years as Airbus hashed out the new design, is a direct competitor with the 787 Dreamliner – minus the lithium ion batteries now under investigation for unexplained smoldering. Airbus abandoned its plans to use the lithium ion batteries despite their advantages in weight, power and re-charging speed.

"The A350 has the same innovations more or less as the Dreamliner, the 787," said Gerard Feldzer, a French aviation expert and former airline pilot.

"It is pretty much equivalent, the same amount or proportion of carbon for the lightness of the material, just as many electrical devices."

Boeing's list prices for its 787 line range from $206 million to $243 million. Airbus lists prices ranging from $254 million to $332m (£211m), and had 613 orders as of May, compared with 890 orders for the 787. Steep discounts are common on large orders, although the details are rarely made public.

Airbus claims the A350 burns 25% less fuel than the Boeing due to its lighter weight, redesigned Rolls Royce engines and new aerodynamics.

"The first flight is a very special moment in an aerospace company," Tom Enders, CEO of Airbus parent company EADS, said

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