What is really going on in politics? Get our daily email briefing straight to your inbox Sign up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

It's muggy, BBC pay's in the headlines, we've got Brexit talks...and it's the last day of Parliament.

Sounds like a good day to bury bad news.

The Tory government has snow-blinded the British public with a last-minute paperwork avalanche just hours before MPs start their summer break.

At 5.30pm today, Parliament enters recess until September - meaning ministers can't be forced to answer questions for nearly seven weeks.

And just by chance they're publishing 22 written statements and countless more annual reports, policy papers and statistics.

It's nicknamed Take Out The Trash Day after a famed episode of White House drama The West Wing.

We prefer the words of Labour MP Toby Perkins: "An absolute affront to Parliament".

Here are nine of the most scandalous or interesting pieces of news that got slipped out just time for the summer break.

1. A massive rail programme's been scrapped

The Tories have performed a massive U-turn over their pledges to rail passengers by dropping a crisis-hit electrification drive.

Plans to electrify the Midland Main Line were already delayed by THREE years over cash shortages in 2015.

Now they've been dropped altogether between Kettering, Sheffield and Nottingham.

Ministers have also ditched electrification plans between Cardiff and Swansea - a major route in south Wales - and between Windermere and Oxenholme in the Lake District.

Transport Secretary Chris Grayling cynically claimed the move, because of "new bi-mode train technology", was a GOOD thing because it would mean less weekend engineering.

But Shadow Transport Secretary Andy McDonald attacked him for ditching a vow David Cameron made way back in 2012.

“Today’s announcement confirms they have been taking people for a ride," he fumed.

Lib Dem MP Jenny Randerson added: "This decision is a betrayal of passengers. The Liberal Democrats secured vital investment for rail electrification when in government - that was then delayed by the Tories and now has been scrapped altogether."

Labour MP Paul Blomfield tweeted: "Govt sneak out electrification betrayal today to avoid challenge in Parliament. Disgrace!"

Video Loading Video Unavailable Click to play Tap to play The video will start in 8 Cancel Play now

2. Police officers are at a 30-year low

(Image: Getty Images Europe)

The number of police officers has fallen to a 30-YEAR low - at the same time as cops record biggest crime surge in a decade.

Official statistics show there were 123,142 officers across all ranks in England and Wales at the end of March this year.

This was a fall of 0.7% on 2016, and the lowest number at the end of a financial year since comparable records began in 1996.

A Home Office report warned: "Records earlier than this are not directly comparable; however, they indicate that this is the lowest number of officers since 1985."

In separate figures released at almost exactly the same time, the Office for National Statistics recorded the largest annual rise in crime in a decade.

The number of crimes in England and Wales recorded by the police rose 10% on the same period in 2015/16, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

3. We've got fewer soldiers - again

(Image: Corporal James McAllister (RLC))

As of today, the number of fully trained, full time soldiers is 78,010 - a drop of 7,000 since Michael Fallon became Defence Secretary in 2014.

Across the Army, Navy and Air Force, the number of service personnel has dropped by 570 since June 2016, to 196,400. And the number of full time, fully trained servicemen and women is down by 1,1860 over the same period to 138,130.

Overall recruitment is down by 7.4% compared to 2015-16. But in better news, the depletion of forces is slowing down a bit. 15,030 people left the UK regular armed forces in 2016-17, which is 1,300 less than the previous year.

Labour’s Shadow Defence Secretary Nia Griffith said the drop in army numbers was “deeply concerning", adding: "If the government was serious about tackling this crisis in recruitment and retention, they would agree to lift the public sector pay cap to give our Armed Forces the pay that they deserve.”

4. We sell weapons to human rights abusers

(Image: Getty)

Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson published a ‘damning’ list of 30 ‘human rights priority’ nations - and we’ve sold weapons to six of them.

The Foreign Office report assesses the human rights situation in 30 nations, including Afghanistan, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan, Somalia, and Saudi Arabia.

…all nations sold weapons by the UK government since 2010.

The section on Saudi Arabia said Britain is "deeply concerned" about executions and the case of Raif Badawi, the blogger given 1,000 lashes.

And the report said Britain has "significant human rights concerns" about China, including its use of the death penalty and detaining human rights lawyers without trial.

Lib Dem Foreign Affairs spokesperson Jo Swinson MP called the report “damning”, adding: "When you sell weapons to countries with serious human rights concerns and regulate an arms dealer less than a scout leader, you have to seriously question the judgement of ministers.”

5. The number of ministers taking private jobs has soared

(Image: PA)

The number of ex-ministers and civil servants waltzing into the private sector has soared in the past year, new figures reveal.

Some 52 former ministers applied to take jobs outside Westminster in 2016/17, up nearly 60% from 33 the previous year.

And 55 former civil servants took outside jobs in the same period, up from 36 and 41 in the previous two years.

The figures were revealed today by the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) - designed to police the 'revolving door' from Whitehall to the private sector.

The watchdog, which cost £281,000 to run last year, has been branded "futile" after its chair admitted she had "zilch" powers to stop ex-ministers flouting the rules.

Acoba puts conditions on ex-ministers and ex-civil servants, such as banning them from taking the job, using privileged information or lobbying government for two years after they leave office.

But it does not normally block jobs altogether, and a National Audit Office report this week found no Whitehall department had an "assurance" that ex-staff were following the rules.

6. Britain's state school maths shortage is 'concerning'

(Image: PA)

One of the many big dumped documents is an 89-page expert report - commissioned by the government - on Britain's maths shortage.

Author Sir Adrian Smith, Vice-Chancellor of the University of London, warned of the "significant gender gap" between boys and girls studying maths at ages 16 to 18.

"Despite increases in recent years, AS/A level further mathematics numbers in state schools are still low," he added.

"This is of concern, given the role of further mathematics as a ‘passport’ to mathematical study at some research-intensive universities."

In a dig at Tory austerity, he said funding levels for post-16 education "are of particular concern" because cuts limit how many courses can be provided.

And he made a string of 18 recommendations, some of them urgent, for the government to take action.

7. £1.1m of taxpayer cash was blown over Brexit

(Image: Dan Kitwood)

The Tory government blew more than £1.1MILLION of taxpayer cash fighting the Brexit Supreme Court case "every step of the way".

Ministers refused to back down when Remain campaigner Gina Miller won a ruling that said MPs should vote before triggering Article 50 - the two-year exit from the EU.

MPs only got their vote after the government mounted a failed four-day battle at the Supreme Court.

The small print of the Brexit Department's annual accounts revealed the total cost of the Article 50 case to taxpayers, from start to finish, was £1.143million.

Liberal Democrat Brexit Spokesman Tom Brake said the bill was a "kick in the teeth" that could have been avoided.

Astonishingly, the accounts also revealed the Brexit Department has not spent a penny on consultants in the entire financial year - because they are all working for free.

There are fears of their huge influence, with anti-lobbying campaigner Tamasin Cave warning: "These firms don’t ever work for nothing."

8. A court has forced the Tories to re-write immigration rules

(Image: Carl Court)

Up to 5,000 families in limbo will finally discover their fate after a Supreme Court judgement forced the Tories to re-write immigration rules.

Officials now explicitly have to make a child's best interests their "primary consideration" when considering whether to let someone bring their foreign family to Britain, even if they don't meet an £18,600-a-year income test.

The changes were slipped out today five months after the Supreme Court said the income test overall was lawful, but aspects of it had to change.

Five thousand families are affected, the Home Office said, and all their cases were on hold while the rules were rewritten.

9. And finally... Will terminally ill EU citizens' partners get to stay in Britain?

(Image: Rex Features)

Theresa May has made what she calls a "fair and serious" offer to let 3.2million EU citizens stay in Britain after Brexit.

They'll get a special status if they've lived here for five years.

But the EU say it's not good enough - and now a quietly-released parliamentary answer has left more unanswered questions.

Labour MP Paul Blomfield asked what would happen to non-EU family members whose disabled or terminally ill relative dies before reaching the five-year mark.

Home Office minister Brandon Lewis tried to assure him that under the existing Free Movement Directive, they are protected.

And those with "retained rights" will be helped.

But as for the future, he said only: "We will set out the details of the new scheme, including detailed eligibility criteria, in due course."