This steep hike to rail fares will be a bitter blow for passengers struggling with overcrowded and unreliable trains.

This is the biggest annual price hike in 5 years.

The fact that fare rises are soaring above wage increases is another sign that people are losing out from higher inflation since the referendum.

Even if the government's plans for new customs arrangements with the EU were agreed to by the EU, these proposals will only delay the economic pain caused by leaving the customs union.

The only way to ensure 'free and frictionless' trade with the EU is to remain a full member of the Customs Union and Single Market.

It has emerged that the joint position on Brexit agreed in an article by Philip Hammond and Liam Fox was not even cleared with Brexit Secretary David Davis.

The Chancellor and Trade Secretary wrote a joint article for The Sunday Telegraph calling for a time-limited transition after Brexit that would involve leaving both the single market and customs union.

Today's news that the Garden Bridge project has been officially scrapped is very welcome. The entire project was a "scandalous waste of public funds."

This is the final nail in the coffin of the Garden Bridge.

Over £37m has already been spent on this vanity project by the previous Mayor.

It is a scandalous waste of public money.

It might be the height of the August holidays, but your Liberal Democrat team have been hard at work - as usual this week. Here's what we've been up to:

Friday 4th August

After comments from Sir James Munby - the UK's most senior family judge about a horrifying mental health case, Norman Lamb called for more and better investment in mental health.

Our research has revealed that almost ten fires a day are being caused by faulty white goods such as washing machines, tumble dryers and fridges.

A total of 9,574 fires in the past three years have been caused by faulty white goods according to responses Freedom of Information requests from 30 out of 51 fire brigades.

The Liberal Democrats have backed calls by the Chairman of the Parole Board, Nick Hardwick, for urgent action to address the backlog of people serving prison sentences with no fixed release date.

Indeterminate Sentences for Public Protection (IPPs) were abolished in 2012, but there are over 3,000 people in England and Wales still serving them, with many facing long delays for Parole Board hearings.

Over the summer, we heard that Philip Hammond was courageously fighting off the more extreme Brexiteers. Supposedly he was looking for a compromise to keep Britain within the customs union and single market as long as possible.

The rebellion didn't last very long. He has now teamed up with one of the more extreme and ideological supporters of a 'Hard Brexit.

It is now painfully clear who calls the shots in the Cabinet; it isnt' the Chancellor.

Today, Liam Fox's Department for International Trade has released figures claiming to show that sunglasses, swimwear and ice-cream are all big exports - and that means Brexit is going to be a success.

He also claims that the sale of £1.4m worth of UK flip-flops are "promising news for trade deals" as is the sale of £3.7m in card-games from the UK.

I'm not personally one of those who thinks we should weaken encryption because I think there is a parallel issue, which is cybersecurity more broadly.

Jonathan Evans, former Head of MI5

That was the former Chief of MI5 Jonathan Evans, speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme and stating that he would not support a clampdown on the use of encryption.