Politics Live - readers' edition: Friday 1 September

Theresa May watching a game of wheelchair basketball between Great Britain and Australia during the Wheelchair Basketball World Challenge Cup in Tokyo today on the final day of her three day visit to Japan. Photograph: Pool/Getty Images

8.08am BST

I’m not writing my usual blog today but here, as an alternative, is the Politics Live readers’ edition. It is a place for you to discuss today’s politics, and to share links to breaking news and to the most interesting stories and blogs on the web.

Feel free to express your views robustly, but please treat others with respect and don’t resort to abuse. Guardian comment pages are supposed to be a haven from the Twitter/social media rant-orama, not an extension of it.

You can read all today’s Guardian politics stories here.

And here are some of the main ones on our site this morning.

• The international trade secretary, Liam Fox, has ratcheted up the government’s war of words with the EU over Brexit by saying Britain will not be “blackmailed” into paying an excessive exit settlement to speed up a deal.

Related: Liam Fox accuses EU of trying to 'blackmail' UK over Brexit deal

• The UK’s approach to Brexit is nostalgic, unrealistic and undermined by a lack of trust, the EU’s chief negotiator has said in his strongest criticism of the UK’s stance at the talks so far.

Related: UK’s approach to Brexit is ‘nostalgic and unrealistic’, says EU negotiator

• The Home Office has launched a leak inquiry into how a “seriously misleading” ­account of an official report into student migration appeared in the press on the morning of the report’s publication.

Related: Statistics chief criticises leak of Home Office student migration report

• An influential pro-Corbyn group inside the Scottish Labour party has urged its supporters to avoid a civil war in the contest to succeed Kezia Dugdale.

Related: Corbynites in Scottish Labour call for 'comradely' leadership battle

• The leader of a campaign to stop rescues of migrants crossing the Mediterranean has been invited to speak at the annual conference of Ukip’s youth wing.

Related: Leader of anti-migrant Defend Europe campaign to speak at Ukip youth rally

Council byelections take place on Thursdays. There was one yesterday. Britain Elects has the result.

Only one by-election tonight: a free-for-all on North Somerset Council.@andrewteale's preview: https://t.co/gzrnLQT22K

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) August 31, 2017

Labour GAIN North Worle from North Somerset First, North Somerset Unitary Council.

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) August 31, 2017

North Worle result:

LAB: 36.4% (+21.7)
CON: 32.4% (+3.7)
LDEM: 16.4% (+4.1)
IND: 8.2% (+8.2)
UKIP: 6.7% (-14.6)

No NSF (-23.1) as prev.

— Britain Elects (@britainelects) August 31, 2017